I completed Week 1 (3 sessions) of the Isochain Promethean program as described in the book The Ultimate Isometrics Manual by Paul Wade. The Promethean focuses on what the book states are the three key positions of functional strength - pulling something off the ground (deadlift), holding something (biceps curl), and pushing something (shoulder press).
One area of improvement is the drill-specific warmup. I have a tendency to apply too much force too soon. At least for the first warmup set, I'm now comfortable with exerting just enough force to take all the slack out of the chain. I feel like I'm going harder than necessary sometimes for the 2nd warmup set, and that I'm always going too hard for the last two. Also, I missed the bit about resting 10-15 seconds between warmup sets. I was only resting 1-5 seconds.
I entered modest load values for the drills because I haven't practiced the deadlift since my back injury from a deadlifting accident years ago. I also haven't practiced bicep curls very much. I'd thought of curls as an isolation exercise. This isn't the case with the Isochain. The body has to tighten up to provide a solid platform for the curl to happen. Another reason to start with a modest load value was my suspect shoulder. It was responding fine to ring incline pushups and variations of pike pushups, but in the last month, the shoulder developed a soreness that would be aggravated whenever I raised my left hand to tune my guitar.
I still have to consciously engage my external rotators and scapular muscles to stabilize the shoulder, and thus manage or eliminate pain, when I tune my guitar. But after these 3 sessions, there is a noticeable improvement in how my shoulder feels. The book mentions research indicating that isometrics has been found to reduce or eliminate joint pain. The improvement of how my shoulder feels seems to bear this out.I did have to pay extra attention to keeping my scapulae protracted, to protect the shoulder, engage the lats and enhance performance in the shoulder press. The next test will come when I progress closer to my bodyweight load in the Shoulder Press. The book says that because there is no movement in isometrics, the shoulder will be fine. I'll find out!
One early struggle was figuring out the appropriate chain lengths for each exercise. What took a particularly long amount of time was finding a pain-free position for the shoulder press. I ended up ordering a bag of nylon cable tags, found by searching "cable label". They're basically plastic tags with zip ties. Anyway, I'm using those to speed up the process of adjusting the chain for various drills.
I generally aimed for the middle position in all 3 drills. Initially the recommended middle position for the shoulder press, which has the handle at the top of the head, was uncomfortable for the shoulder, so for the first 2 sessions I had the handle set about 6 inches higher than the head.
I really like the Isochain's electronics which signal to me when my force production has reached the target load, and then counts off to me the seconds that I sustain the force. I even like being informed that my force production has slipped below the target load.
I also like being able to practice the deadlift again. I missed that whole-body tension that I got only from standing up with a heavily loaded barbell. I don't however miss the risk of injury that comes with working with a heavy barbell. I also look forward to trying the front squat, Zercher lift, and other barbell-inspired drills.
My tentative plan is to do the Promethean for the prescribed 6-8 weeks, then switch to Promethean Mark II for the following 6-8 weeks. Then after that I will do an assessment of where I'm at in the handstand pushup progression. I practice GMB Elements on the days I have off from Isochain training, so I get a little bit of preparatory work for hand balancing from that. I'm also practicing easier variations of the shrimp squat to maintain the balance and coordination for that movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment