Posts by Dan

  • DIY Center console speargun rack

    Very nice, very clean work. For a moment I was concerned that an up and down bump may dislodge the handles, but then I remembered they all probably have butt extensions.


    That V-lock is neat, I'll keep it in mind.

  • Bulliera/ Cuba...

    Traveling to Cuba is no problem either way. Many Americans go there. Cuban immigration do not stamp American passports, they stamp and give you another piece of paper instead.


    Attitudes towards Americans in Cuba are fine, there is no hostility. Cubans see it as a government vs. government problem. The vast majority are not even aware of the normal stigmas about Jews, Arabs and other cultures. They're simply a country that welcomes foreigners from anywhere, their livelihood depends on it.


    If someone was born in Cuba, and it shows on their passport Cuba as place of birth, they'll probably be required to apply for a Cuban passport. A Cuban is a national for life as far as they're concerned and requires a Cuban passport. This is not difficult to get from the Cuban embassy right here in the US.


    If not born in Cuba then you'd travel like any other American through another country. Or if you can think up some family you may be able to go direct. To do this you apply for a permit here in the US. Then in Cuba they give you a different paper and stamp.


    You can also go by boat. There were many boats with American flags in Marina Hemingway, where they normally dock. It's a good marina with affordable rates.

  • Bulliera/ Cuba...

    You can go direct from Miami or Fort Lauderdale if you have family in Cuba. If not people go through Mexico, Bahamas, Canada and other, wherever the best deal is on air fare. I believe Virgili is from Canada. Almost permanent good vis and warm water, plus all the other good things Cuba has to offer.

  • Japanese Filet Knife

    I bought this knife from Joe, looks like almost 2 years ago, time flies.. It is a nice knife. I tried to use it a couple of times and never went back to it. Trying to figure out why, it obviously works very well, I came up with the following reasons. I don't process a lot of fish and I usually don't process big fish. When I do I always reach for the flexible fillet knife. The fillet knife I can bend so it runs along the bones and leaves very little meat on the bones. The Japanese knife is very stiff and doesn't bend. It's made for long straight cuts and fast work, and you can see there's a lot of meat wasted. I guess it's in my nature to try to get the most out of my small fish possible, and the Japanese knife doesn't work well to that end. Still it's a good knife and I'd like to try and learn to work with two knives, using the Japanese knife for straight cuts through tough skin and scales, and the fillet knife for the rest.

  • 'Born to Run' , natural steps to training

    There's no workout like grappling. When I was training regularly I used to roll for 15 - 20 minutes straight, with lulls in the action of course. Also depends who you're working with, a bigger guy lying on top of you will make you lose wind fast. I want to be able to do that again. At this point after 5 minutes I feel like passing out. Too late to seriously get into the striking game for me. But I can live without the welts and broken teeth. Grappling is just a really comfortable place to be, I'm in control of my pace and whether I get injured. The only problem is that I have to do it according to someone else's schedule.

  • 'Born to Run' , natural steps to training

    Good to have you back Aaron.


    Here's my take on this, I figured it out myself so please no one take it as science.


    I consider some kinds of running to be good exercise, a workout that can tire out the body quickly, build strength and endurance, and can be done almost no matter where you are for free.


    That said I can't run the way our culture is accustomed to see people running. I immediately get knee pain, even when I wasn't overweight, and it doesn't go away as I get more into the training, it gets worse. When I was younger I was no great runner, but at least I could keep it up for a while, no more. Many times I pondered how other people can run for so long, so I observed them. I realized that the majority of people don't run well. You can see it in their movement, the same like observing a good moving dog run vs. a dog that's not built for the task. Runners range in what it is about them physically that makes them move poorly, there are too many details to get into. One common thing to many runners that I noticed is they achieve too much height with every step. I look at the bad postures and can imagine the damage they're doing to their bodies in the long run.. The very few and far between runners who have good form really stand out. Their movement is fluid, there's a nice balance between upward and forward distance traveled with every step. This led me to the conclusion that runners who can maintain such a pace, are genetically predisposed to run comfortably at a specific speed which coincides with what is considered the norm for running/exercising. This speed is slower than sprinting and faster than jogging. Myself and most other people who want to exercise are not capable of maintaining this pace without causing damage to the body. Running the way we are culturally programmed to perceive is right is unnatural for the majority of people.


    I believe many people force themselves through the inconvenience of unnatural running, many give up too. This unnatural running is not really running, it's jogging. What happens is that the runner tries to maintain a pace where they can be as relaxed as possible within the strides. Imagine what happens inside the joints as you're in the air relaxed and suddenly all your weight is slammed on the loose joints. This happens every time you hit the ground with every step. Combine that with jogging on paved streets and it's simply stupid.


    Still one can't deny that running is in the nature of man. After all sometimes we need to get away from something, or catch something. But in those circumstances the motivation and pace are completely different. When you're running and focused on catching something your posture and movement is different than when jogging and thinking about what happened at work the other day. When really running all your muscles are contracted lessening the effect of impact on the ground, you're also landing on the front of the foot as opposed to the back which further cushions the impact. Probably running within a game like soccer doesn't cause nearly the same problems as just running. Kind of like freediving vs freediving and spearfishing ;) When we're young and agile, and the body fixes itself better, the problems of running may not be so apparent, but it is a cumulative affect which will express itself later in life. My philosophy is that I'd like to reach my later years fit, without having damaged myself in the process. It is somewhat too late, I wish I knew then what I know now, I would have omitted weight lifting and done more grappling and diving instead.


    Anyways my solution to running is the following.
    1. I do it in the park on grass if possible.
    2. Initially I don't run, I speed walk.
    3. Then I sprint a short distance. I choose a marker such as a tree, at a distance I think I can maintain a sprint, and run fast until I reach it.
    4. At that point I change to speed walking again until I catch my breath.
    I will alternate like this until the workout is done. Because of the sprinting it doesn't take so long to finish as if it were a long jog. My knees don't hurt and I can feel my leg muscles tired.


    This is what I want to do now to get myself in shape before getting back into grappling. Unfortunately the first day I did it this week I rubbed the skin off my heel. Now I have to wait for it to heal to put on running shoes. I don't want to wait and considered running barefoot, but I'm afraid to step on something really nasty in that park.