Day: August 5, 2019

Trying to add deadlifts

As I age I am getting concerned about my overall body strength. Then I saw this:

Note: that is roughly what I lifted when I was in my early 20’s.

So I added these today (to save my back)

My legs were a bit dead so no running/walking today:

rotator cuff
pull ups: 5 sets of 10
bench: 10 x 135, 1 x 185, 1 x 190 (no spotter, sore shoulder (left))
incline: 10 x 135
decline: 10 x 165
military: 8 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated supported, 10 x 40 standing
rows: 2 sets of 10 x 50 single arm, 10 x 110 machine
goblet squats: 6 x 30, 6 x 50, 6 x 60
leg presses: 10 x 230
hex dead lifts: 4 x 135, 1 x 225 (harder than I thought it should be), 4 x 185 (wow…my bench and dead are roughly equal right now)
planks (2:30 front, one on each side taking pains to keep my arm under my shoulder)
head stand
knee stretches

More mass shootings this past weekend and I get fed up with the rhetoric

Of course, the victims of the mass shootings are, by far, the biggest tragedy of all of this. No question.

No, the shootings weren’t caused by us “turning away from God” nor were they caused by “toxic masculinity.” Yes, I know, the AR in AR-15 does not stand for “assault rifle” and no, I don’t want to hear from the SFBs that blather on about that. Yes, the AR-15 is basically a military weapon with the ability to shoot automatically taken away. It has no practical self defense purpose nor is it a sporting rifle. I can shoot rapidly without jamming and it is designed to cause horrific wounds. Seriously, read any bit of survivalist literature on the subject.

And the Dayton shooter had one of these:

AR-15s really have no self defense purpose (you protect your home with a shot gun and sidearms) nor does it have a sporting purpose. I’d be fine with a ban, or at least a “machine gun like” restriction where only certain very carefully chosen people could have them..or some sort of extreme regulation (kept under lock and key at approved shooting ranges, etc.)

With that being said:

1. Deaths due to guns is a complicated subjects. Most gun deaths are suicides. (here and here)

2. The US has a LOT of guns and the problem will be hard to solve; we can take steps of make it better.

3. Mass shootings are only a small percentage of gun deaths in the US.

4. And yes, death by mass shooting is rare; I am far more likely to die in a car accident driving to the game than I am to die at a mass shooting at the game. So I am still going to games and marathons.

Nevertheless, for reasons stated above: I want banning, or at least, tight regulation of AR-15 type weapons and I want POTUS to quit his xenophobic, divisive rhetoric. It is wrong to demonize large groups of people by origin, religion, race, etc. And it is wrong to tell Americans to “go back to where they came from” or to refer to other people in dehumanizing terms.