An Occurrence at Outback Steakhouse

Or not. Evidently no guns went crazy and shot up the place, regardless of the nearness to alcoholic beverages and the unsuspecting public.

How surprising!

 

(Apologies to Ambrose Bierce)

Dynamic Stretching vs. Static Stretching

A post over at my friend Joseph’s blog got me thinking about this subject, which comes up periodically on various and sundry forums, emails lists and whatnot I frequent.

He mentions that several other shotokan guys recommend working out first, then stretching, which AFAIK is correct to a point.

You want to do static stretching after a workout rather than prior to it as static stretching before working out hasn’t been shown to actually decrease injuries (Andersen, 2005; Fields et al. 2007) , static stretching prior to working out can actually decrease performance (Fowles et al., 2000; McDaniel L. et al. 2008) and in some cases can even contribute to injuries rather than prevent them (Ingraham, 2003); (somewhere there’s another study that shows similar results for baseball players but I’m having trouble tracking it down).

Does this mean that static stretching is awaste of time? No, absolutely not. Range-of-motion specific stretching for the activity you’re engaging in is great; there’s tons of literature to show that increased mobility and decreased muscle tightness have a positivie impact on performance (I’m not going to cite any further studies – if you’re looking for literature leave a comment and I’ll find some but I only included citations for the ‘static stretching pre-workout bad’ section since that’s where people usually say “Show Me!”). You simply need to include it as the last portion of your workout prior to cooldown/cessation of activity. This way you gain the benefits of increased RoM without decreased performace or risk of injury.

What you should always do prior to exercise of any sort is warm up. A good way to do this and gain some RoM/muscle looseness benefits is some form of dynamic stretching. Things like arm circles, walking lunges, trunk rotations, ball strtches or those lovely things my generation was fed as “calisthenics” like toe touches and squats. They get the blood flowing to your muscles and increase oxygenation while moving the muscle through its range of motion. Usually developing a set of sport/activity-specific ones makes the most sense.

So in a nutshell: warm up first using some form of dynamic stretching, engage in activity, do static stretching as part of your cool-down. Repeat as often as possible *g*. I recommend this site for some good basic information on flexibility training (and training in general).

 

Andersen, J. C.. Stretching Before and After Exercise: Effect on Muscle Soreness and Injury Risk. Journal of Athletic Training 40(2005): 218-220.

Fields et al. “Should Athletes Stretch before Exercise?” Sports Science Exchange, 2007, (20) 1.

Fowles JR, Sale DG, MacDougall JD. Reduced strength after passive stretch of the human plantar flexors. J Appl Physiol, 2000, 89:1179-1188.

Ingraham SJ. The role of flexibility in injury prevention and athletic performance: have we stretched the truth?  Minn Med., 2003, May:86(5):58-61.

McDaniel L. et al. How does static stretching affect an athletes performance?, Sports Coach, 2008; www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article027.htm

Gun Show

Just got back from the Crossroads of the West gun show in Mesa. Nice little show, nothing too exciting. I did pick up a nice little Galco IWB holster for the XD 9mm, have to try it out tonight.

A Woman Who Can Stand and Bang

Sarah Kaufmann outstrikes Shayna Baszler, who is admittedly a good submission fighter. Shayna needs to work on her striking; she got outboxed and it dazed her. She also gassed early, which Sarah did not. Sarah clearly was the smarter fighter, finding her range and forcing Shayna to sit in her pocket and take a beating while also pacing herself. Baszler seems to have relied too heavily on her submission abilities and got comfortable.

Also, the Strikeforce referees appear to be mostly idiots who don’t understand when groundfighting should be stood up. Almost as much so as that idiot announcer who thinks every inside leg kick is a cut kick and every overhook, with or without an attempt at a leg reap/sweep/hip toss, is a whizzer

Woman With a Gun

Goes on about her business and blood doesn’t run in the streets. Whoda thunk?

Congratulations!

To my friend Joe, who just received his Ikkyū rank in Shotokan karate. Soon he’ll be ending his tenure as the world’s longest-running brown belt ;-).

Wolrd’s Shortest Slasher Flick?

h/t Infidel Bloggers Alliance

It’s Always Nice to See a Local PD Being Reasonable About Open Carry

From a memo issued by the Bellevue WA PD, found over at Joe Huffman’s:

It has recently come to our attention that a group calling itself, “Pacific Northwest Open Carry” and with a spokesman named Lonnie Wilson, has an agenda that deals with the peaceable open carrying of a handgun in a holster. He says that while doing his research to write an informational bulletin for the public and for law enforcement, he asked a number of BPD officers if it was legal to carry a handgun in public, in the open, in a holster. He says he received a variety of answers, ranging from, it is legal, to, it is a felony, to, you will be stopped and arrested for brandishing.

As a refresher, the Corporals will go over the following:

1. Washington is an “open carry” state for firearms. This means a person may carry a firearm in an exposed holster unless there is something that makes it specifically illegal. For example, carrying a weapon onto school grounds or other prohibited places or carrying a weapon by most convicted felons or anyone convicted of a domestic violence crime.

2. Unlawful carrying or display. RCW 9.41.270 occurs when the person carries or displays a weapon in a manner under circumstances at a time and place that manifests alarm for the safety of persons or with an intent to intimidate. This is something more than just walking around with an exposed firearm. If there is a dispute for example and one person, while angry, displays the weapon to scare the other person.

3. Carrying without a Concealed Weapons Permit, RCW 9.41.050, occurs when a person carries a CONCEALED pistol on his person and does not have a CWP. A person with a CWP can carry a firearm in a vehicle without having the weapon on his person.

It’s when I see things like this that I’m glad I live in a state with a long history of open carry (the whole Tombstone thing aside *g*) and the majority of LEO’s understand the law and mostly don’t give one grief for open carrying. I have yet to be bothered and see others open carrying frequently.

Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws

An organization I was unaware of, but can get behind.

www.dsgl.org

About:
Our mission is to educate our fellow doctors and their patients, the public, about gun laws that are counterproductive and the deceitful tactics of those who advocate gun control. We offer a healthy dose of common sense to the national gun debate by shedding light on what gun laws are sensible, and which ones most certainly are not.

Read more here.

My mother would love this.

Fried blood with spices.

Thanks, but none for me. My mother, OTOH, is a fan of blood soup, blood sausage (or any sausage), organ meats prepared in various and sundry ways, head cheese, scrapple, and brains fried in butter. Mmmmm, braaaaaiiiinnnnzzzzzz…