keep it alive

making a post to keep this blog alive.

Godspeed and Party On.

Year in review 2013

Last year's http://getinmyguardbro.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-year-in-review-2012.html

Here were my goals for 2013, let's see how I did.

1. -Care for my body with diet. Minimize Wheat/Grains/Legumes/Dairy. I'll allow myself some wiggle room, but if my main drive is to keep these foods to a minimum, I'll do better overall.
2. -Keep up the intermittent fasting to keep between 185-190. I'm 191 after all the holiday madness, so I feel like I'm doing OK on that front. I'll be able to tighten back up here in a bit.
3. -Be a good husband and father. This is not difficult, but I guess I feel obligated to put it down.
4. -Get stronger. I will continue on with the 5/3/1 program and break PRs. I will also not neglect my cardio and keep up with the road work. I'll have two jogging buddies, so it will be great.
5. -Try to get back into Jits and or MT at some point this year. If this doesn't happen, I will train solo in the basement at least once a week.
6. -Practice dry-fire, and implement a regular dry-fire program (this one is important to me). I will also practice lots of one hand work to help me deal with possibly having to hold my son while dealing with a gun problem. Admittedly, shooting has gone down as an interest for me. Now I feel obligated to maintain and improve, but not as much because it's new and exciting, more so because I know just how perishable it is.
7. -I'll maintain the relationships I've built in the training community, and stay up to date on my information and try to contribute as I can. I still feel like a total newbie on nearly all the subjects I'm interested in, but I love to help someone who is less knowledgeable than me find some light.
8. -Take AMIS
9. -Read for 2 hours a week. Any topic, try to make it a book or blog, not a forum. Can't be directly gun related.

This year's goals were pretty broad in scope. I knew that if I wanted to be successful in meeting my goals, I'd have to keep it more general. I wasn't sure what having a baby would do to my free time. So I think I did pretty good on this, considering. I'll try to be more specific for 2014.

I feel like I did pretty well caring for my body with diet. I did some dietary experimentation this year, but I felt like I was in control the whole time. I mark that as a win. I will say that when I do the strict paleo thing, I seem to become lean pretty rapidly. I also tend to have minimal gastric distress and less energy highs and lows. I just sort of coast along. If I keep the starchy tubers and rice in there, I can also do glucose dependent exercise with little risk of bonking. I can also get leaner when I do intermittent fasting. I did a few weeks of Ketogenic dieting (low/no carbs and ketogenesis), a good portion paleo, a good portion mostly paleo, and even a 6 week 'bulk' where I ate everything to the point of being stuffed. My weight at the end of the year is 213. This weight gain of 20 lbs over the course of the year was planned, and welcomed. I put a lot of time into eating and training. Now that I'm strong(er)/fat, I'll probably maintain it for a few months, continue to get stronger, continue to keep my protein up, and hopefully reset my weight homeostasis to this larger size. This should set me up to diet down in spring.

I'm doing my damnedest to keep being a good husband. The father part is hard, but only because of the time it requires to do it well.  Trying to keep my wife sane and at the same time keeping myself sane is actually quite a challenge. The baby is a year old now, and is doing wonderfully. Keeping the seemingly suicidal infant from accidentally killing himself requires a lot of time. Luckily we have our moms to help. I could do better at the husband bit. I'm pushing back at having all of my free time taken away, so that causes some tension. I understand her occasional frustration, and hopefully she understands my need to be alone from time to time. I'll keep giving this the energy it deserves. That is, most of it.

Getting stronger is something that I'm even more obsessed with than I was at the end of 2012. I've been at full tilt learning mode on programming and ways to get stronger since I started weight training again in 2012. I've lifted heavy. So heavy, in fact, that I gave myself a hernia (dammit). I slowed down for a month, and then just started up again. It's not healed, and in fact, apparently will never heal up on it's own. I just have to listen to my body and when I feel weird down there, just stop and rest it. 

I broke a bench press PR this year. I did several 5 and 6 week programs. I did the 10,000 kettlebell workout and mass made simple from Dan John. I tried Dogg Crapp training. I did 5/3/1 early in the year. Now, I'm doing StrongLifts 5x5. I guess I'm a program hopper. I regret nothing. 

I didn't get back into MMA this year. It will have to be in 2014.

My dry-fire practice actually has picked up considerably this year. I credit this to getting my home gym set up and my SIRT training pistol. Now, between sets of my workouts, I dry fire. It has made a great difference in my drawstroke, draw index, and first shot accuracy and time. I rigged up a velcro belt with a Safariland ALS and some old Raven mag pouches and I can work all my stuff. It's great. My actual live fire time still hasn't picked up, but I haven't completely regressed because of dry-fire. It's great.

I have maintained my friendships, and fostered new ones. I'm very lucky to be involved in that community. I've also been able to help some guys on their fitness goals. So I'm trying to give back as much as I'm taking. I feel good about it.

I took AMIS. See the AAR in the previous post.

My reading has increased considerably this year. I read a metric shite-tonne of fitness articles and blogs. I think I handily met this goal.

On to the self-defense audit...

Using the same 6 categories as previous years, I'd rate my strengths as follows:

1. Mindset
2. fitness
3. tactics
4. pistol
5. deescalation
6. empty hands

I certainly feel the lack of empty hand training for this year. I'll get back to it as soon as I can. My fitness is very good this year. I'm stronger than I've ever been. I probably can't run as far, but that aspect can be trained up rather quickly. The strength thing is what takes time. I've got to keep building my strength base. I've done more dry fire this year than in previous years. I still need to compete in IDPA to keep the competition aspect on point. I feel like I'm putting the tactics together more and more as I pick my friend's brains and take some really relevant training.

Goals for 2014:

1. Keep the family happy, healthy, and safe.
2. after moving, join up at ATT gwinnett or some other Jits program (this could possibly displace my deadlift and bench goals, I'd prefer to do martial arts over weights)
3. Move closer to my new job, get yard, basement, and pimp out both of those things with man shit.
4. Once I move, compete in an IDPA match every 2 months, at minimum (I'll be closer to a solid local match)
5. Deadlift 500 lbs
6. Compete in at least 2 5ks or 1 10k
7. Benchpress 300 lbs
8. Continue to put time into helping local trainers with their courses, and continue writing my own courses
9. Keep the diet in check using a combination of low carbs and intermittent fasting, while keeping the protein up. I'd like to try to get to 10-12% bodyfat, just for the hell of it.
10. Take a training class (with Shivworks as the default, but might expand my horizons and take a speed/performance shooting class)
11. Keep dryfire practice up, get a more regimented routine.

I think that's pretty good.

AAR: ShivWorks AMIS in Americus GA 12/14-15/2013

This was my first trip through the wonderful and scary world of solo structure movement. Before we dig into all this, you should just go ahead and put this on the top of the heap for classes you need to take. It's not up for discussion.

Like I usually like to do, I'll quickly go over the topics of the course, and then get into the useful part. That is, how it made me feel, what I learned (about myself), and what I need to work on.

So my best bro JohnnyK flew in from KY thursday, and he and I car pooled the 3 hours down to Americus, GA. We met the crew at dinner at the worst restaurant in Americus. The forsyth bar and grill. Forsyth Bar and Grill: http://www.forsythbarandgrill.com/.  Seriously, if Shane tells you it's a good idea, know that he's lying. After taking 3 hours to get food for 8 people, we went to pass out at our lodgings.

The venue was an abandoned clothing factory, complete with broken glass, spider webs, mold covering everything, rain puddles, and plenty of clutter to step on and make noise while trying to sneak around. I would have loved to see some stairs. But I'll be taking it again, so maybe we'll find some stairs to play around on next time.

Class Topics went like this:
A powerpoint discussion of the principles of movement in structures. Craig showed us a video of a 9 second shootout in a parking lot, and we discussed all of the issues and mistakes made. The takeaway for me was that there is very little margin for error and things can change in an instant.

We started working some chalk board runs and talked through clearing a fictitious structure and what the best approach was. I made the wrong decisions almost every time, which made me feel silly, but at least I knew I was in the right place to correct myself and learn a better way to approach the problem. 

We then did some dry runs, followed by slowly layering the complexity through the drills until by the end of day one we were hunting 2 movers and trying to avoid a "no shoot" person. My observations for this portion of the day are that it's very scary when someone who knows what they're doing is looking for you, and that violence of action absolutely dominates hesitancy. I slowly learned this lesson as the drills went on, and I found the most success as a bad guy when I absolutely brought the fight to the hunter. This was empowering and a bit scary. The only comfort is in trying to be more aggressive than the bad guy and get him to bitch up long enough to run him over. 

The main principle is to always seek depth when clearing into an unknown corner. That is, always try to be as far away from the vertical/horizontal/diagonal plane as you can, without walking into uncleared exposure points.  The other driving principle was to keep the exposures to less than 45 degrees when possible, and to move when they grew to about 90. Basically, control what you can, as much as you can. When you can't, push through.

There is no such thing as a traditional shooting posture when you're conforming to the plane that you're pieing. I found myself in some hilarious positions and strange one handed bulls eye style shooting positions. It's back to sights and trigger, perfect grip is secondary. 

The staccato speed changes and timing of movement also took some getting used to. I had to see some previous students and Craig move a few times before I started understanding how it should look. The stuff works.  

As with all things Craig, the precision in his instructions is what sets him apart. His emphasis on inches and subtle body positions, where the eyes, muzzle, and hips are pointing, and thoughtful observation and encouragements are what make him so world class.

The lowlight portion of the class was very enlightening (puns, lol). The usual short "lowlight segment" that you'll get in a class usually feels like an afterthought. This was different. The techniques for flashlight use to gain vision, disorient the opponent, and mask movements were all taught and then experienced against opposing wills in force on force. I used to feel that the FBI style techniques made the shooting more difficult, and so I defaulted to the cheek index. This was all done in my head without having done any work.  Well, I quickly learned (experientially) that lights do indeed draw fire, and that the farther the light is from your face, the better. I also learned that the two distinct phases of flashlight use ( hunting and shooting) demand different techniques. Being hunted by someone with good flashlight skills is unnerving. It feels like aliens are coming to give you the butt probe. The opposite is also true, people with poor technique are easy to predict and shoot. 

We learned how to deal with "don't shoot yets". We learned some pins, finger locks, and disarming techniques. Bypassing a don't shoot yet was the last technique covered.

gear: I have one of the kwa air soft glocks made before glock started suing the importers for making unlicensed clones of their design. It performed flawlessly. I carried appendix without a holster. The coolest piece of gear I brought was the klarus xt2c. This light is fantastic. The no click strobe button was invaluable in the low light portions of the class. The guys with inferior lights suffered. I also brought my SIRT trainer pistol. It gave the dry runs more value I think.  I digress, this isn't a gear class. 

Things that standout:

I only remember seeing my front sight in sharp focus maybe one or two times. The task loading involved in managing the flashlight, noise signature, and being aware of exposure points left only a small amount of my attention for the shooting problems. I made good hits for the most part, and credit that to my dry fire practice and having a reasonably good draw index. I need work on it and it will probably take a decade of practice to feel better about it. 

Control of my breathing was lacking. I have a habit of breathing into my chest, instead of diaphragmatic breathing. I remember hearing other hunters breathing heavily as they searched and it helped me pinpoint them. The more you try to breath quietly, the more shallow you breathe and less oxygen you're getting. Deliberate large breaths seem to be the way to go. Keeping calm helps this. More practice and stress innoculation are key. 

The nomenclature Craig uses to describe the good guy is subtle but important. He uses the term "hunter" for the good guy. He mentioned that this nomenclature is deliberate to convey the attitude that one needs when doing this sort of thing. The fight must be brought to them. In fact, the turning point for me was when, after making contact, how much more success I had once I just pressed the fight instead of hopping back behind cover and playing whack a mole with the hunted. It was night and day and a very powerful lesson for me. 

People: 

As usual with shivworks classes, all of my classmates had great attitudes, were supportive, motivated, and made the learning environment conducive to getting the most out of the time spent. It was a douche free zone. 

Thanks for reading,

Mark

UnPossible Goals!

I don't have to be better than my heroes at shooting, I don't have to be stronger than them, I don't have to be the best father or husband, and I don't have to be the best fighter.

I only have to be better than I was last week.

I'll be 30 in 5 days, and I still haven't learned that I don't have to be the best... but I'm trying to learn that. It's a hard lesson for me. It's one of the challenges that one faces when you keep the caliber of friends and mentors that I do. It's constantly facing the fact that "I'll never ever be that good". I think that's OK. Like we were talking about on Fb the other day, if you're the strongest/smartest/or cleverist person in your peer group, you're only cheating yourself out of further improvement. You can't rest on your laurels, and you can't be satisfied with what you've accomplished. Being the biggest fish in the pond doesn't mean a damn thing when there's an ocean somewhere out there.

Reaching that small group alpha status feels good, but as soon as it happens, you better be looking for the next group so that you can be the small-fry again. Try to always be the hardest working, but the shittiest person in the peer group. I think that should make for some really great personal growth. It's what I'm trying to do.

In 20 years, I might be like the monsters I look up to, and I might inspire someone to improve themselves and hold themselves to a higher standard.

But only if I do the work, and there's a lot of work to do.

Next: Mass Made Simple

So, I'm clearly on a Dan John kick. The guy's programs work and I'm a huge fan. Next on the chopping block is his 'Mass Made Simple'. It's a 6 week, intensive 'BULKAN!!!!' program. My start weight at the end of the 10,000 KB challenge was 199 lbs give or take. My goal is about 215 or 220, and as lean as I can do it. I like the fact that it's a short burst of mass gain, so you're not tempted to go on a 10 year bulk and just essentially get fat and not give a shit. The clear finish line agrees with how I like to do goals.

Here's the T-Nation article that gives a taste of the book (which is more detailed)
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/mass_made_simple

The workouts have a nice progression and are based on four 'lifts':

1: Bench Press (and bat wings): for upper body mass and the bat wings for balancing all the pushing.

2: One handed over head press (and bird dogs): for forcing strength symmetry, and to teach the athlete to lock down the body and create stability in the whole trunk. I really am starting to like one hand pressing movements.

3: Barbell complexes: for a metabolic hit, as well as getting some work on the muscles not directly worked in the other parts of the program. It goes Barbell row/clean/front squat/ overhead press/ back squat/ good morning. The bar doesn't leave your hands until the complex is done, and you don't go to the next movement until you complete the prescribed reps.

4: High rep squats: are straight forward. Time under the bar (DJ says) builds mass, so there's lots of squats!


The diet portion is pretty simple too. It goes like this:

1: Eat like an adult. Keep processed crap to a minimum, and lots of meat and veggies. Very paleo in appearance actually.

2: Eat more protein

3: Take more fish oil

4: Eat 2-3 peanut butter sandwiches a day to jam some extra calories in there.

5: Eat more fiber.

DJ recommends adding protein to different spots, adding a new spot each week. Like morning, before and post workout, and before bed. But only says you should add a new protein addition each week so you can track how it impacts you. I like the self learning aspect of that, rather than just throwing it all in at one time.
Training Log:

Workout 1 of MMS: this is the feeler workout to see the starting point for the program. I'm hoping to get to 215 or 220 during the course of the training. Start weight is 199.2
Bench starting point: 165
bat wings - 25#
one handed OHP -46lbs My left shoulder is bitch mode. I did it with 50lb dumbells, but it was too difficult w/ the left so I dropped it back to 45#.
Schkwaughts - 95x30 ouch,,,

Workout 2: Bench 170# 2-3-5 x2
batwings 20# 5secsx10
one hand OHP 45# 2-3-5 x 2
barbell complex 75# first 3 then 95# for last 3.
squat 95# 30rx2sets

Workout 3: bench 170 2-3-5 x3
Batwings 20# 5sec x 10
One hand ohp 50# 2-3-5 then had to drop back to 45 for last two sets.
Complex 95 5reps each exercise x 2 complexes
115# squats 2x30

Notes: Feeling crazy bloated from the breads and peanut butters and volume of good. Been taking 6 fish oil caps and a serving of Metamucil a day per his instruction.

Workout 4:

Bench 185# 2-3-5 x3 and 170x9

batwings 21lbs 10secx5 holds

one hand OHP 45 2-3-5 x 3

Complex 95 (had to skip military press due to cooked shoulders), then 85,85

Squat 115 3x30reps

die.

The one armed press is really showing me how pussy my left shoulder and side of my body is in general. I need to start whacking-off with my left hand.

Wrkout 5 185 2-3-5 x 3

batwings 27s 5sec x 5

OHP 45# 2-3-5 x 3

complex 85# 3x

Schkwaughts - 95, 115, 135 - 30x

Weighed myself this morning.... 201. da fuq. I need to eat more peanut butter or something!!! Maybe another few quadruple quarter pounders?

Workout 6 185 2-3-5-10 failed a rep 7 of the 10 portion. 2 more 235's

Batwings 30# 5x5secs

OHOHP 50# 2-3-5 (7 reps only) 45# 2x 2-3-5

Complex 85# x5 

Squats 95x10 115x10 135x 50. Did the set of 50 in 35,15 rep sets

Workout 7:

heaviest double completed cleanly:EDIT: it was actually 225

batwings 30# 5x10 secs

OHOHP 50# 2-3-5, 2x (failed on rep 7 of second set, so that's a  strength gain)

complex: 3 with 85,95,105 skipped OHP on the last one due to faggyshoulderpower

Squats 95x10, 115x10, 135x10, 185x10, 205x5x3sets

The lower rep sets are way easier for me.

Workout 8:

BP 225 x 2 -5 sets

BatWings 30# 5 10 sec holds

OHOHP 45#kb (my sister worked out with me and we needed the extra DB)

Complex: 65,85,95,95,100

Squat: 95x10, 115x5, 135x3, 185x2, 205x50

The squat set broke down lby reps like 15,8,5,10,12

I have forgotten to check my weight.  I'm eating until uncomfortably full most of the time. So I figure I'm eating enough. Doing 75g shakes in the AM/PM and 25g before training. at least 1 PBJ a day.

210# approximately. 

Workout 9 

Bp 205 x 3 x 5 sets

Bat wings 30# 10sec x 5

Oh ohp 50# 2-3-5 x 3

Complex 105,115,125 2 reps per movement 

Squat 95x10, 115x10, 135x10, 185x10 205x5, 205x20

Eat all the turkey.

Dan John's 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Workout

From September 30 to November 1, I decided I wanted to shake things up in my training program. I had recovered from my hernia a bit (no pain, but still swollen... :-p ) and up until September 30 I was working on handstands and some basic gymnastic stuff like front levers, skin the cats and back levers. That was getting me some balance, and I was able to progress, but I wanted to get back to some weight training. This article was released at the perfect time for me:

http://www.t-nation.com/workouts/10000-swing-kettlebell-workout

A needed jumpstart to my weight training, some conditioning, and a chance to strengthen my grip and posterior chain. Why not?

I started the program with my homemade 25 lb kettlebell to get the movement down, and grease the groove. I progressed through my 45 KB and eventually moved to my T-bar which I went from 52 to 65 lbs over the final 3 weeks of the program.

I did 4 days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. 500 swings each day. It took 5 weeks.

Here's my particular plan (parts copied from the above article):

Set 1:  10 reps
Set 2:  15 reps
Set 3:  25 reps
Set 4:  50 reps

You've now completed 100 reps or one cluster. Repeat the cluster 4 more times for a total of 500 swings. Between sets, experienced lifters will add a low-volume strength movement.

The Strength Movements

1.  Handstands and Handstand pushups when I was fresh enough (1-2-3 rep scheme)
2.  Ring Dips (2-3-5 rep scheme)
3.  Front Squat 135# (1-2-3)
4.  Chin-ups with some tucked front lever stuff thrown in. (1-2-3)

So it looked like this.
10 Swings
Front Squat 1 rep
15 Swings
Front Squat 2 reps
25 Swings
Front Squat 3 reps
50 Swings
Rest 30 - 60 seconds

My times varied from about 38' to about 44' depending on how tired I was, and what movement I was doing. A few times I would stagger my reps so that I did the high rep sets up front, and the lower reps and movements near the end. This seemed to allow me to get the high reps out of the way early and finish more quickly. I expect it was all mental.

Starting weight was 203. Ending weight was 199.

My times improved as the weeks went on, and my weights went up. I noticed an increase in grip strength and a leaner waistline. My pants fit looser. I was also super ready to start the next phase in my training plan. It became somewhat of a grind near the end, but it was OK if I could zone out and listen to a podcast or something to pass the time. Another thing that motivated me was having a group of peers that I was accountable to. Mike D started 'the swingers club' on facebook, and we posted our times and shared our difficulties and results as we went. It's so helpful for me to have public accountability.

I suggest this program to anyone who is bored with their current program, wants to try something new and challenging, or wants to ramp up for something else to follow after. The program is simple, but it's not easy. I'm glad I saw it through.

Thanks for reading.

Notes from range day with CW

Today I got to have a nice casual range day with my friend and mentor, Claude Werner. If you're reading this, you know who he is. http://www.dryfire-practice.com/

I'll just write my notes down from the day, and get as much out as I can before I forget.

Drill 1:
MQP defensive pistol - Pro Marksman qual
7 yds, 12" circle. Par time 5 seconds. Draw and shoot 1 shot. repeat 20x. Must make all hits.

I passed this drill (thankfully :p ). We did this cold. Claude is doing a lot of good work implementing this in his classes. It's a really well designed COF and test. The high repetition is a great way to get folks who probably won't be doing a lot of self guided practice outside of the classroom to grease the groove of the most important and most missed shot. The first.

Going forward for me, Claude recommended I work towards cutting everything in half.
2 second, 6" circle, repeat 20x. That'll take some work, but it's a nice thing to dry fire towards.

Drill 2:
Dot drill 101

This was a skillset I told Claude I wanted to work, and get some critique on. He obliged with the dot drill 101. This is a non timed drill that makes you work out the pure mechanics of shooting.

Here's my target:

We shot this at 5 yards. I think this is the best I've done on this drill. I usually use pistol-training.com's version on a piece of notebook paper. 16/60 points down. I'll take it, and I'll fix what I messed up.

I asked about the impact of my rounds on the left side of the circles on the top row. Claude pointed out that my trigger finger would tend to be against the frame of the gun, and during the trigger press, my 'finger bicep' would flex and just slightly push the gun to the left.

For one handed shooting, Claude convinced me to get the gun pure vertical in the strong hand, and only have a slight cant in the off hand. As he was talking about it, I was reminded of KStar talking about external rotation, and creating stability in the joint (hips or arms) while doing a lift. Why wouldn't it apply to shooting as well? So I'm going to be practicing fully externally rotating my arm, with the elbow locked and elbow-pit pointed up. It really does lock down. It also removes a freedom of motion, whereas a bent elbow allows the gun to recoil both up and in, making it harder to track during recoil.

For reloads, I was crowding my workspace while doing a reload. Claude recommended just dropping the strong side elbow to index on the ribs, then just roll the gun out until you can see a little bit of magwell. I had a tendency to both index on the ribs AND bend at the elbow bringing the gun really close. I'll be working the new way.

Drill 3:

FAST drill. Another pistol-training.com drill. We worked this about 5 reps each. My draw stroke from concealment was ok, but my split times on the head box were super slow (~.5-.6). My reloads were inconsistent in time, but improved during the course of my runs. My splits after the reload, which was also slow, were in the mid .2's. I wanted to run it one time strong hand only. Before I did, I wanted to learn the way Claude does a one handed reload.

one handed reload:

upon slide-lock, jettison mag as you bring your knees together. Once together, place the slide of the gun into your thighs. A hotdog in a bun. Find and seat fresh mag in the magwell, get FFG, and TILT the muzzle down and rack it through your clenched knees towards the dirt.

Drill 4:

17 yd hostage shot. Just a nice little 3 shot drill, no time, to test accuracy while there's a no-shoot downrange. Based on an actual event. The takeaway for me was 'Focus on the target, not the obstacle'. 

Random tips:

make your weight feel heavy: my default shooting posture is a crappy hips forward, poor posture one. I need to get a good base in an athletic stance. Claude used the cue "get heavy on your feet". Nose over toes. I'll do this during dryfire. It made an immediate difference.

Shotgun work:

Do as much work as you can from the shoulder. For port load, roll the gun port up, flare elbow up, and drop a shell in. Go back around the gun, rack slide forward, and shoot.

Mag load: Keep shotgun on shoulder, and load by feel.

Drills for shotgun:

Started empty chamber, hammer down, safety off, empty magazine. Start by racking the slide, and do a port load, shoot one.

load 1/shoot 1: ec, hd, so,em , rack slide open, port load 1, shoot 1, port load, shoot ....

load 2/shoot 2: ec/hd/so/em rack slide open, port load 1, tube load 1, shoot, shoot, port load 1, tube load 1.

Shoot both

un-chambering a shell. Put pinkie behind slide, rack slide to rear, pinkie acts as spacer. Get shell out w/ firing hand. Put slide forward. This allows you to get back to cruiser ready.

Cruiser ready: empty chamber, full tube, safety off, hammer down (slide is free to move)

Most likely to find a dead chamber in a protracted shotgun fight, so makes sense to work off of a dead chamber.