In this post, I describe the results of my barbell training and running in early 2015.

Per my last post on barbell training, I worked for awhile on a derivative of the Greyskull Linear Progression (GSLP), a program with a basic rep scheme of 5-5-5+, where the 5+ is an AMRAP set. Loading progress by 5lbs/workout for lower body lifts and 2.5lbs/workout for upper body lifts. Once the trainee fails at the third set of (at least) 5, she takes 10% off the bar for the next workout and works back up. The GSLP philosophy is that during the reset, one focuses on setting new PRs in the third set for rep maxes at each load: that way, one is always doing work which drives adaptation, not simply repeating the same work as before. During the reset, one is increasing volume rather than intensity.  Continue reading Quick update on training →

In this post, I speculate that American attitudes about guns and wealth are linked by a general optimism about the world, and about one’s ability to determine one’s own destiny.

John Steinbeck said, “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” This claim has often been used to explain why the poor in America seem so often to vote for right-wing policies which are opposed to business regulations, labor rights, powerful unions, and the welfare state. In short, Steinbeck suggests that the American poor don’t see themselves as essentially poor, only poor through some turns of circumstance which will be righted shortly through a combination of personal virtue, talent, and hard work. Continue reading American optimism, guns, and wealth →