Virtual Bruno

Outline of a workable fitness plan for the old man

2013-03-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have been giving a lot of thought to a workout for a mid-fifty-something who probably should have died several years ago. I've been ruminating on this plan for some time, since I retired ... the problem this old guy has is that he tends to really overdo things ... then he keeps PUSHING it and doing the kind of things that worked when he was still only a forty-something, but that bullshit DOES NOT work anymore now that he's a mid-fifty-something.And injured. So his shoulder, back, knee or liver issues return ... and THEN he's get thrown off his schedule.

That old mid-fifty-something guy is me. I have gotten better at actually bothering to THINK first, to avoid obvious obstacles, but I am still far from perfect.

I KNOW that need to stay fully hydrated, drink my green juice and eat right AND I need a sustainable, coherent plan ... I know that plan will be governed by weather and by the work on my "harm farm" [doing stuff deliberately, the hard old school way] and, most importantly, it is NOT going to become the most important thing I do ... I am still arrogant enough to believe that my other commitments, other considerations come first. Or more correctly, I don't particularly care if I live five seconds more ... I absolutely do not care ... I have tried to care and I just cannot care whether I live or die. Other considerations, other commitments come first ... before whether I live or die ... that's the way it is and always will be ... so my fitness plan needs to reflect that.

My fitness plan is still a work in progress ... but right now, the GENERAL outline of the desired plan looks something like this:

Monday – Digging, working on core strength, throwing techniques
Tuesday – Interval training in gym,max repetitions in fixed time
Wednesday – Gripping / seizing workout, grappling set-ups for pressure points, joint locks
Thursday – Distance mud slogging, elliptical cardio, ruck humping
Friday – Weight lifting, conventional strength training, body striking
Saturday – Plyometrics, sprints, bullwork, big pushes on big projects
Sunday – Recovery, walking, practicing with fire arms, planning my next week (reading about chinese martial arts, judo techniques and BJJ, krav maga and MCMAP, SEAL fitness and nutrition guides)

In essence, the point of the plan is based on recognizing that I am OLD (i.e. low dose of HGH) ... I don't recover as fast any more; so I need to work smart to avoid an injury that breaks the workout cycle and discipline ... but I still need to attempt to stay fit by attempting to incorporate different martial arts / fitness styles AND I am still learning a lot about things like anatomy, massage, chiropractic, health, wellness, diet.

Six rules

2013-03-13T21:22:00.003-07:00

Maybe you have seen the silly viral video of "Man With Concealed Carry Permit Arrested For Exposure Of Gun" ... if you haven't, perhaps you will ... it's almost a guarantee that you will see it if you are involved in law enforcement or law enforcement training. This cop and this motorist are BOTH really lucky to be alive ... change the circumstances ever so slightly and this doesn't turn out so well [for either one] ... BOTH made severe mistakes, both made careless assumption about the other.

The video reminds me of MY "rules" for thinking about these kinds of deadly force situations:

When you carry a weapon, EVERY confrontation that you get involved in is an ARMED confrontation. Somewhere, out there, there is someone who can take your gun away from you and use it against you. Just because it hasn't happened yet, don't expect your ridiculously good luck to continue. See rule #6.
Unless you have good reason to actually KNOW otherwise, you have to assume that everyone you meet might be ARMED. Some of the people who are armed are actually dangerous. Nothing is more dangerous than believing you possess superior firepower when you really don't know what kind of enemy you face. See rule #6.
There are weapons everywhere lying around that can be improvised quickly if a person can break their freeze and react more rapidly than you can. Most people, especially nurses and doctors [who carefully study and work with anatomy everyday], instinctively, reflexively know something about how to attack pressure points or weak areas. That means every confrontation with another person could rapidly escalate into an deadly confrontation. See rule #6.
Nobody else has to follow your rules or the rules of your jurisdiction. Laws are things that idiots debate. People behave according to their own rules ... there are no referees or rules in fights ... prison might be a deterrence for you, but it is not a deterrence to many people ... there are no fouls, no free throws or penalty shots, no rematches -- there doesn't have to be a next time ... it doesn't matter if the other guy cheats. See rule #6.
You might believe that your understanding of the rules of physics or human physiology or martial arts and fighting with weapons will govern most things, but your understanding is severely limited, biased and flawed. See rule #6.
If you are still alive, there is ONLY one reason. God ALWAYS bats last.

Give me ONE EXAMPLE ... just ONE EXAMPLE

2013-02-26T23:09:00.001-08:00

Give me just ONE EXAMPLE of where government has taken on a problem and made it better.

Milton Friedman was right when he said If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand ... but that does not really show us how TERRIBLE it would be if government were given this problem to solve. Stefan Molyneux is right when he says that whenever you use the coercion and violence of government to attack a problem, you get exactly the opposite of what you want.

Laws that attempt to legislate morality not only don't work and are a waste of time, they actually undermine morality ... and they undermine Christianity and help those who belief in the violence and coercion of government. Laws that attempt to legislate morality make Christians lazy. Christians are called upon to be the salt of the earth; they are also called upon NOT to put any faith or trust in government. Christians must follow Christ's admonishment and stay focused on their role paying loving attention to the things [under their care] that belong to God. It is dead wrong and flat out evil to render those things over to Caesar.

An unborn child is a person and when you try to use government to enforce idiotic laws about something that God has already decided, you will get many more abortions [even if they are not recorded] ... you will less respect for the sanctity of marriage ... you will get an increase of all kinds of nasty immoral stuff ... prostitution, lack of respect for women, pornography, sex slavery and all kinds of immorality that you cannot even begin to imagine ... all because Christians will get lazy.

Many self-described Conservative Christians have focused a lot of their effort on proving how Christian they are building their political power, by being the Pharisees preaching in the temple, by collaborating with Caesar and the Roman government, gaining access to political power and the coercion wielded by the Big Government Roman centurions. These Pharisees would rather not be like Jesus, spending time with the lepers, the prisoners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the sinners.

Do not attempt to legislate and coercively force people to be moral unless you want people to MUCH less moral. The Danish theologian, Søren Kierkegaard, got it right when he said that making Christianity the official religion made individuals inattentive to living their faith ... Danish citizens were officially "Christians" and showed regularly in church as required by law without having the slightest idea of what it meant to have a living faith in Christ.

You won't find one example of where government has made a problem better, but you can BE ONE EXAMPLE of what trying to be more like Christ is all about.

Love letter to the GOP Leadership ... stop screwing around, it is the FUTURE liabilities, STUPID!!!

2013-02-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Obama is the white dawg in this picture and the GOP leadership is the pig. Both of you really want to make PORK together ... and BOTH of you are disgusting ... but the GOP leadership is MORE DISGUSTING for letting yourself get humped.

The reality is that the sequester does not matter all that much ... in comparison to more than $200 TRILLION worth of unfunded future liabilities. You should NOT be cooperating with the POTUS at all right now ... let the attacks and pain come!

The American people need to hear the truth from YOU ... they need to hear it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again ... it is NOT the inconsequential problems that we face now, it is the FUTURE liabilities, STUPID!!!

FOCUS ... and STAY FOCUSED ... on the future liabilities of the Federal government that are now well over $200 trillion.

I expect Obama and OFA to come on full bore with stupid shit and the Santa Claus and Federal government Easter Bunny routine. EVENTUALLY, people will GROW UP and listen to the truth. I expect stupid shit from Democrats. I didn't expect you cowards to burrow into a hole and hide OR when you're not hiding, you pretend to enjoy getting humped by the Democrats. You can either turn around and start fighting OR people like me are going to let the big dawg take you behind the junkers and let you guys get your humping out of your system!

WHY isn't the Iowa GOP capturing the 2nd Amendment vote

2013-01-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

WHAT is WRONG with the GOP?

No ... REALLY ... what is wrong with the GOP? Why isn't the Iowa GOP using the attacks upon the 2nd Amendment and support for 2nd Amendment among a broad cross-section of Iowans as the the basis for growing the Party?

Why isn't the Iowa GOP attacking on this issue? What is WRONG with the GOP?

No one in the political realm is talking about this problem in a sane rational manner ... if you get AWAY from the lost, clueless, incompetent zombies in the GOP ... you start finding people who are doing what the GOP should be doing.

There are examples of independent people who GET THIS and who can talk in a sane, rational manner ... so the real question is WHAT the hell is WRONG with the GOP leadership? Why has the GOP leadership unilaterally decided to disarm? WHAT the hell is WRONG with the GOP leadership?

Another over-reaction by media and entertainers who are OUT OF CONTROL!

2012-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

As one might expect, the media is completely ignoring the data on the reduction in violent crime and has CHOSEN to over-react to another shooting.

Shooting deaths by people who were law-abiding citizens [before they killed anyone] are almost non-existent ... yet there are all kinds of entirely idiotic proposals to regulate the use of firearms by law-abiding citizens ... none of these proposals will have ANY impact on criminals, EXCEPT the proposals would make it EASIER and MORE PROFITABLE to be a criminal.

It's not about gun control ... it is about control.

It's about control, coercion and violent suppression of the activities of hundreds of millions of people that will be necessary when socialism runs out of other people's money.

It's not about gun control ... it is about control.

I can accept that Obama was re-elected President

2012-11-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

I cannot accept that I live in a country that re-elected Santa Claus ... in spite of the fact that the US is facing a MASSIVE problem of over $200 trillion in FUTURE unfunded liabilities.

Oh, well, it is what it is. It is time to saddle up and FIX this. That's all.

I might feel bad about the fact that I live in a country populated by people who [by a margin of 51% to 47%] chose to express themselves as a divided nation with the House of Representatives STILL controlled by a large majority of 234 solid seats [and maybe more, depending on recounts still in progress ...].

The election results, especially the Republican majority in the House, tells me that there are still a majority of people in the country who understand that things are badly broken -- overall, the people have voted in favor of DIVISION. So now we get DIVISION! It was too optimistic to expect that we would see people understand that there is no free lunch.

IDIOTS do want to believe in Santa Claus and the vote from one of those idiots counts as much as the vote from a responsible person.

But realistically, there is reason for some optimism ... after all, we still have 234 seats in the House ... it'll be tough and contentious battle ... or I should say, "HOPEFULLY, it will be a tough and contentious battle!" ... but this majority is still something we can work with ... we know what we have to do, there will be opportunities to go after the Democrats, it's not going to be easy ... it is time to saddle up, get ready for the fight and FIX this.

The LAMEST, most incompetent President EVER

2012-10-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Did you see the debate last night! Watch it again if you missed it or have already forgotten how bad Obama looked.

How is it possible for a PRESIDENT to do any worse, to look any less well-informed, to look any more completely unprepared and out-of-his-league?

Stanislav Petrov's intuition ... and the all-out first strike nuclear attack the fall of 1983

2012-09-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

When I look at the accounts that have come out since then, as we learn more about Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov's rapid intuitive reasoning that makes no sense whatsoever, i.e. "a flat out guess" and how that guess lead to the Soviets averting an all-out first-strike nuclear launch ... which would have been countered by an overwhelming and automatic response from the US ... annihilating all life on the planet.

It wasn't just a one-time incident. There were PLENTY of other incidents that happened that fall!

You may not remember times such as the fall of 1983, but I know that I do. I remember that point in time very, very well ... it was a pivotal time for me ... it also was for you, whether you realized it or not!

The environment between the USA and USSR was so charged in the fall of 1983 that more incidents were going to happen and eventually, as we humans played Russian roulette long enough, we would have gotten lucky. Consider what we now have learned more about the Soviet's response to a simulated attack in Exercise Able Archer ...when I look back at those times, I am more and more and more convinced that the ONLY reason that we are alive today is PRAYER ... or the actions of Higher Power.

I believe that prayer [for our leaders] is extremely important. Of course, we can work to elect competent leaders but PRAYER for their wisdom is essential. We must pray that a higher power will provide the circumstances that lead to better outcomes. Prayers for leaders matter. Ronald Reagan was a superb leader, a man of immense intuition and deep complexities, certainly not the ignorant and passive President that some would like to portray. Most of all he was humble man who really listened, especially to his wife, and he was capable of making important, pragmatic shifts in policy in the light of new information. Not many have that capability -- we were blessed to have such a man as President during such a tumultuous time in history.

The Soviet's response to Able Archer is perhaps the best example of Reagan's simple and profound wisdom ... and the importance of prayer in setting up fortuitous circumstances that lead to the US just happening to come by game-changing information ... upon learning of the Soviet reaction to Able Archer 83 [which was completely counter to what NSA and DoD experts believed the Soviet "no-first-strike" reaction would be] by way of the double agent Oleg Gordievsky, a British SIS asset, President Reagan commented:

"I don't see how they could believe that—but THAT is something to think about."

Indeed. Thinking about something like that made ALL of the difference. I do not believe we would be alive today if Reagan had not changed course. Eventually, we would have "gotten lucky" if we kept playing the same game. My only explanation for the luck that we had to survive multiple close calls, to get information from a double agent, to have the good fortune of a leader like Ronald Reagan who could stand up the security advisors and DoD analysts who were WRONG is PRAYER. Prayer is the ONLY reason that I have that explains how we survived long enough, until the Reagan Reversal [beginning in early 1984] got our nuclear policy back onto a slightly more sane and reasonable track.

That reversal paved the way for [listening more to Maggie Thatcher, less to his hawkish advisors and] working with Mikhail Gorbachev, encouraging Perestroika and Glasnost, silencing the hawks in his Administration who were still stuck fighting the Cold War the old way. When it came to helping Gorbachev and winning the Cold War in a different way, President Reagan was truly far out ahead of ALL the advisors in his Administration ... and I do not believe that would have been possible without the impact of prayer.

Back in the fall of of 1983, I believed in a Higher Power and things that I could not explain, could not understand, but still things that I KNEW. It's the same today. I believe in PRAYER! It's not about me. Of course, I am praying for you, but I do not really matter at all in this. I've already been taken care of. This is about YOU. I believe in prayer; I believe that YOUR prayers matter.

Benghazi

2012-09-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

WTF!

It's just like Carter's epic failure in Iran in November, 1979 ... but probably worse. WTF!

WTF!

Why ISN'T Boko Haram classified as a terrorist organization?

2012-08-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, on August 8th, the radical islamic sect Boko Haram opened fire inside an evangelical church during a service in the northern State of Kogi, killing 19 worshippers ... Boko Haram has killed nearly 1000 Christians so far this year ... and yet the terrorist sect is not classified as a terrorist organization by our State Department ... this is a BIGGER LIE than all of the lies that the Japanese government fabricated about the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Why is it NECESSARY for governments to LIE to their people? Why do people believe the propaganda that comes from the main stream media, which is ALWAYS anxious to cultivate relationships with the powerful, whether the powerful are on the Right or on the Left?

Why are people so damned GULLIBLE? Why won't people take control of their own information?

I became a Lifetime NRA member today; membership # 190300626

2012-07-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

I simply cannot believe the media OVERREACTION to the July 20th shooting in Aurora.

I simply cannot believe it! There is something DRAMATICALLY wrong with my country. I simply cannot understand WTF is going on! I can understand a bit of a reaction ... but this is just flat out unprecedented!

Shooting deaths by people who obtain guns legally and were law-abiding citizens [before they killed anyone] are almost non-existent ... deaths might happen, but they are not anywhere near the number of INCREASED deaths since 2000 in things like poisoning from opioid analgesics. Drill down to reality! Look at the data! LOOK at the data and epidemiological analysis from the CDC!

And yet, as a result of this blatant OVERREACTION to a tragic event ... there will be all kinds of entirely idiotic proposals to regulate the use of firearms by law-abiding citizens that will not prevent ONE of these things! None of these proposals will have ANY impact on criminals, EXCEPT the proposals would make it EASIER and MORE PROFITABLE to be a criminal.

I really appreciate the NFIB

2012-06-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Courts decision on the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act today was troubling ... to say the least, but I continue to appreciate the NFIB, particularly for their advocacy on issues like healthcare.

Drones in America, by the EPA!!

2012-05-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

WTF!

WTF!

WTF!

Killing 4-H projects, Comrade Vilsack?

2012-04-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

What is your problem, you giant lame-ass fake-Iowan candy-ass?

Money for King

2012-03-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel up to attending the event, but I dropped off my checks for the Primary and the General election. I gave as much as I could to Congressman King. I appreciate his strong voice.

He offends people sometimes, but most of those people really NEED to be offended ... I wish they could be offended more.

Back at it

2012-02-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

I have been really sick this winter ... not just a little sick -- sick enough to think it was over ... at one point [earlier this month], I needed to use a walker ... REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sick.

But it didn't kill me, so as badly out of shape as I am ... it's time to get back at it.

I ordered 1000 asparagus plants earlier this winter ... when they get here, it'll be time to start digging ... if I can dig five in a day, I'll do that ... if I can do 25, I'll do that ... maybe eventually, I can crawl out of the abyss.

The anniversary

2012-01-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

It's one year ago since my father passed away. I miss Dad, but I realize that it's for the best that he's gone. He was pretty feeble the last couple years; he would turned 80 a week ago Sunday which is not bad for a guy who was pretty sure that he would not live all that far past 65.

I know that he is PERFECT now, but I still owe him EVERYTHING. He was/is my best friend and my life is a reflection of his.

Auctioneering scholarships

2011-12-30T23:29:00.000-08:00

I decided to provide 4 scholarships for 2012 ( 1 each term ) for worthy auction school candidates to go to World Wide College of Auctioneering ... I don't know if I will do this in the future, but I do know that the world needs more entrepreneurs ... being a capable public speaker or proficient at auctioneering is one great skill to have as an entrepreneur. It is necessary to be able to stand in front of people and LEAD.

Every day is Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Let's just say that I am concerned about Veterans today ... more so than usual.

Worthless, lying bastards

2011-10-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Has EVERYTHING in the corporate world become completely hopeless ... is lying constantly necessary ... what the hell has happened to my country ... what the hell has happened to my friends?

Keeping the powder dry

2011-09-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

I am really trying to understand this loss of confidence that I see in American companies, in America, in starting up new companies ... the birthrate of new employer firms has never been lower ... and it looks like it's going to decrease even further.

I think I need to step back and re-analyze things ... it's not just the budget and credit downgrade thing -- it's also stuff like how Japan reacted to the earthquake, tsunami, nuke disaster with some heroism, but mostly by obfuscating and lying on the part of government officials ... I need to step back and KEEP MY POWDER DRY!

I am just not sure what's going on in the world. I am really not sure what to make of things. Not sure at all.

So maybe it's time to take a throwaway job ... just something to keep me busy ... maybe there's somebody who I can help.

The credit downgrade

2011-08-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

I retrieved my tin hat from the closet to think about conspiracy theories ... actually, I don't believe in conspiracies, but I do sort wonder what's going on.

I am starting to believe like there is a bit of collusion by different parties underway to DESTROY America ... or take it down a peg ... was it really necessary for S&P to cut America's credit rating, or was it coaxed, pushed by people who'd benefit from a bit of a collapse [and dead-cat bounce rebound]?

Are OTHER countries really a better risk than America? Are OTHER countries really going to be standing tall if there's a big enough disaster to take America down?

The budget deficit, Bowles-Simpson and Joe Biden

2011-07-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

Biden is an incompetent goof ... only a MORE incompetent goof would put him in charge of budget negotiations.

Breathing exercises to build power, enhance cellular health, regulate the mind, manage the emotional fire

2011-06-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

We take things like eating or breathing for granted; even though we may go through different stages in life when we are active, even athletic ... most adults probably use less than 50% of their lung capacity -- as we age ... past 35 or so, probably younger in obese adults ... we slowly start paying the penalty for unregulated breathing and poor cardiovascular health with increased incidence of bone marrow and neurological ailments. If we don't take responsibility for understanding and regulating the body's energy, our bone marrow becomes weak, diseased and subject to cancer. Reduced oxygen in the bloodstream cripples the healthy genetic transfer necessary for limiting DNA damage in cellular replacement of brain cells. Unless we really want to be victims or helpless blobs controlled by someone else, we simply CANNOT take eating or breathing for granted! If we want to be in control of our lives, we need to be control of what we eat, we need to be in control of how we breathe.

The lungs are very much like your posture or your the stomach ... as someone who has never thought much about this before, I now know how important it is. Good posture is something you should work on everyday -- it will not magically appear. The same is true for the condition of your stomach ... the more you eat, the bigger your stomach gets. The bigger the stomach gets, the more that feel the need to eat. In most cases, this process is rather gradual -- no one begins eating like a pig; it's starts very gradually as something that you'd barely notice. After a decade or two of not really watching what you eat, it's likely that you [like most American adults] will have developed a weight problem. If you want to reduce your weight, there aren't any pills or secrets or special diets. It is very simple you need to get in the habit of eating less ... if you SUDDENLY change your eating habits, you will be miserable AND you will get very sick because your body [especially the intestinal system and the microbes in that system] still needs the diet it is used to. If you want to reduce your weight, you need to eat less ... and [especially if you are older] you need to make the change gradually OR the change will make you ill and almost certainly will not stick.

We might crave the drama of a TV show (e.g. Biggest Loser) or stark contrast of a fat Before and a herculean After picture ... we want to be stars; we want to be the center of a universe of adoring fans. We want big results; heroic efforts. We not only want to do a couple push-ups -- we want to ride in RAGBRAI and then go on to become one of the world's most successful triathletes! We KNOW that we deserve to play Lead role in our own autobiographical movie and we think need to hear the theme from "Rocky" playing in the background ... but if we want the change to be healthy and to stick, we need to sustain the change more gradually, over a longer period of time. The movie of you life takes about 100 years to complete; maybe not quite that long, but it definitely takes at least 50 or 75 years ... if we try to go too fast or don't get started now and work every second, our movie will be worse than an irresponsible 6th grader's project started late at night before the big science fair.

We should start with relatively simple breathing exercises and then steady, continually, gradually escalate to more advance breathing techniques to regulate, relax and calm down, to improve the function of the cells and make the circulation healthier, to build power for our exercises, martial arts and weight training, to lead the qi to "wash" the bone marrow.

Regular deeper breathing ... relax, close your eyes, try to focus all of your mental and physical energy on on deepening your breathing, try to build a consistent, sustainable habit that uses about 70% of your lung capacity... find an enjoyable form of active exercise [that you can sustain] such as gardening, digging, chopping wood, rapid walking, running, bicycling, lifting weights that forces you to breathe more deeply to expand your lung capacity.

Normal abdominal breathing ... place one hand on dan tian area [below stomach], place other hand on chest; the hand on your dan tian should move up and down like it is on top of a wave; the hand on your chest might feel the waves but should not move as if it's resting on the beach.

Reverse abdominal breathing ... except think about movements when you are laughing or crying

Embryonic breathing ... breath like a baby; your body's midsection drives the movement [in an exaggerated form, this includes even your hips]