Quote of the proficiency

Round counts do not build proficiency. Familiarity builds proficiency.
~Xavier

There has always been an emphasis on round count in practice, but it's really about meaningful practice.

Making 1000 loud noises with your gun won't do much if you don't pay attention to what's happening to you, and your gun while you make them.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you would be surprised what you can accomplish with 80% dry fire, and 20% live fire training.

Jeff Cooper recommends taking your (EMPTY) firearm to the couch, and practicing by shooting every "O" you see on your teevee. I can attest to the success of this form of training.

You will be amazed when spotting a target, snapping your rifle to your shoulder, lining the sights on your target, and achieving a motionless trigger break comes as naturally as reaching your hand out, and catching a ball in the air.

It's a good feeling.

Weapon Maintenance

I've was neglecting my workout toward the end of last year, and realized I wasn't developing the lung capacity I should have, so I decided to bite the bullet and do something I've been neglecting. Run.

Of course, running is the most utilitarian skill of survival. Why go straight to survival? Why not just run for fitness? Well, because if I think everything is going to be rainbows and sunshine until the day I die, I don't really care if I'm fat and happy. But, as with so many other things in my life, I'd rather have the ability to run and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Ok, so I want to be able to run. Second problem; the only cardio I did while I was working out properly was stationary bike, and stationary bike exercise does not translate to running exercise. Aside from that exercise, I've been sitting in front of a computer for 6 years, during which time, I developed asthma as a result of a respiratory infection. (I got better :) I pretty much had the lung capacity of a smoker. So I'd have to take it slow. Real slow.

I found this Couch to 5K Running Plan somewhere on the blogosphere, (if you're the gunblogger that posted it, lemme know, and I'll attribute it) and I bookmarked it because it included the word "couch," and actually seemed possible for someone as out of running shape as me.

So all that was left was getting vertical in the morning, strappin' shoes to my feet, and going outside.

I started Monday with what I called my run-jog-walk-wheeze, and got a no-nonsense view of how incapable I really was. It would be good drive to get out of bed next time.

Since I was getting up early, instead of dragging myself out of bed, into the shower, and to work, I had time to fix a proper breakfast. So I've been eating three egg whites with one full egg scrambled with a cut up polish sausage and two pieces of toast. The combination of the 20 minutes of activity and the hearty breakfast has made my days a lot easier to get through. More energy, more positive attitude, sleeping better, just good all around. I'm seriously thinking the human body was meant to run with at least 20 minutes of cardio a day.

The first day was bad. Legs got tight and sore on my shins quickly, and I couldn't keep pace with the 60/90 timing. My lungs weren't keeping up with my legs. I couldn't get oxygen into my system fast enough.

Second day I didn't feel very sore, so instead of skipping the day as in the schedule, I did the second workout. I could tell my lungs were catching up with my legs, and held the 60/90 timing pretty well. I had extra time after I finished breakfast, and instead of just watching the news (if I could find it), I started playing with the violin until it was time to get ready for work. More energy, more activity.

Third day (today) I didn't feel sore again, so I went for it. It had rained, and it the air was cool. I could beat the 60/90 timing by a bit, and my lungs had caught up with my legs, which doesn't say much, but it was definitely an improvement.

I think I'm going to continue not skipping a day between workouts.

I intend on posting my progress to hold myself accountable to teh intarwebz. Who knows? Maybe I'll get back to running as fast as I did in high school track.



This is still funny though.

You spend 1/3 of your life on your bed. Buy a good mattress.

Over the last several months (kind of hard to remember specifically, but within the last 6 months), I've had progressively worse night's sleep. Our mattress was old, but I didn't believe that I could sleep on it fine for all those years, and then suddenly a switch flips, and I can't sleep on it.

The weird thing was that I had no problem getting 8 hours with REM sleep, but when I woke, I was no longer tired, but I was also not rested. I was fatigued, but couldn't go back to sleep. I snore, and after seeing what sleep apnea looks like, I decided to do a sleep study.

Kaiser is actually pretty good about it, all you have to do is get an appointment (took a month, they're in high demand), pick up the equipment, get instruction on how to use it, use it while you sleep at your home in your own bed (none of that sleep-at-the-hospital nonsense), then return it the next day.

Coincidentally, the day I did the study was the last day we had the old mattress. That day was a bad day. I felt like I hadn't slept for three days, and I probably could have slept standing up, so I didn't think it was a good indication of the restfulness of my sleep with the old mattress out of the equation. The nights since then have been much better, and the only exceptions could be explained with appointments and events modifying my sleep schedule. However, I was cautiously optimistic that the old mattress was the cause of all my problems.

Now I don't have to worry. I got the call this morning that the data from my sleep study had been reviewed, and that I was not having breathing problems while I slept.

So those months of suffering were just because I didn't want to buy a new mattress, because I didn't think a mattresses could suddenly (for lack of a better word) break.

Sleep on good mattresses folks. You spend one third of your life on 'em.

Targetting your workout ... to your whole body.

Take two dumbbells, and one exercise ball.

Sit on the exercise ball with the weights in your hands, and walk your feet forward. As you roll off the ball, lean back and keep your butt off the ground, until the ball is only touching your upper shoulders, neck, and head.

Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle, and most of your torso should be parallel to the ground. Your only support should be at your feet, and the ball at your shoulders.

Now push the weights upward as you would if you were laying on a bench, but only do one at a time.

If you're doing it right, your thighs, abs, sides, back, and chest should be flexing to keep your body horizontal. Pushing up one weight at a time throws off your balance slightly, and causes your sides and abs to work to keep you balanced. For a harder workout, bring your feet closer together so you need to use your muscles more for balance.

Not eating less, just less calories

I've been taking lunch to work for a while now, and noticed my waistline has been responding. The weird thing was that I thought I was eating more than I would normally have eaten from a fast food place.

Then it occurred to me that it wasn't the amount of food, it was the quality.

One volume of food, in the form of a (dinosaur shaped) pb&j sandwich, cheez-its, snack pack applesauce and pudding, probably had half the calories of the exact same volume of food from the local fast food place.

I'm full (actually, I usually can't even finish all the lunch), it's cheaper, and it's better for me. Win, win, freaking-win.

The little things, and all that.


(It's bittersweet when you realize that losing love handles means printing more.)

Eliminate Your Tactical Gut

There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men.
~Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Earlier, Stingray wrote a post on Weapon Maintenance. No, not the weapon you hold in your hand.

...cast your mind’s eye around the collection of folks you go to the range with, or the ones at the gun shop, or the last group you went to Blackwater with. How many of them had a gut that entered the room several seconds before the rest of them, or had to stop every few minutes for a quick puff?

I won't call it scathing, but Stingray pulls few punches. Worth the read.

Tam couldn't help but post this...

[insert stifled laughter here]

...and add the following.

There's no point nattering on teh intarw3bz about the proper technique for "low crawling" if your ass is going to be sticking in the air just waiting for some marines to plant a flag atop it.

PDB has picked up the gauntlet cast in no particular direction, and issued his own.

We live in increasingly dangerous times.

I started my workout two months ago.

Should you?