I tried the Reverse Curl as a possible replacement for the regular Curl in Promethean. I have a soreness in the muscles of my inner forearm, including the inner elbow, that acts up when I do the Curl, and occasionally when I play guitar, especially when I apply pressure with the pinky or ring finger to barre across two or more strings. Last week, I tried the Chest Press as a replacement. While the Chest Press remains an option, I thought that strengthening the muscles on the other side of the forearm, by training the Reverse Curl, might be a more effective way to address the problem. This assumes that part of the problem is that there is an imbalance in the forearm musculature.
I was unable to achieve the same kind of whole-body tension in the Reverse Curl that I've been able to achieve in a good rep of the Shoulder Press or Bicep Curl, because the wrists were not feeling comfortable with the chain set to the same height I've been using for Bicep Curl. I tried widening and narrowing my grip but to no avail. Also, I felt the inner forearm muscle(s) - the ones I've been trying to rest and allow to recover from the lingering soreness - get sore. I then watched this video:
My takeaway from the video is that the wrist should be in slight extension, which activates the Brachioradialis muscle, before applying force. I then tried Reverse Curl with slightly extended wrists on the Isochain. This time, I did not feel unwanted soreness from the problem forearm muscle(s). I'm guessing increased activation of the Brachiradialis deactivates the sore muscle(s) that I want to stay deactivated. I felt the whole-body tension that I failed to find this morning.
The rougher part of today's session was the Deadlift portion. I set the Isochain at the lowest possible height for the Deadlift, at least without removing the screw-lock carabiner-revolving pin assembly. Despite attention to looking up, pressing through the heels, hip hinge, and not allowing the low back to round, I still felt a bit of a pop and some pain. I then squatted down, lengthened the chain to set the bar several inches above the knee, and finished the Deadlift set with the bar at that position. Perhaps it was ill-advised to do this, but at that moment I thought, if chain-and-bar isometrics is so great at healing joint pain, why not test it right now?
I may well have a nasty low back soreness tomorrow morning when I wake up, but I've done what I could for the rest of the day to stand up more often and do a lot of hip rotations. At least the pain isn't as bad as when I had back spasms while I was in the deep squat - that pain was so bad I was stuck lying on the floor for several minutes before I could finally get up and off the floor.
What I will do for Wednesday exercise will have to be a game-day decision. If I'm up for Isochain training, I'll try substituting the Hack Lift for the Deadlift. Compared to the Deadlift, the Hack Lift is supposed to place more load on the quads than on the back, although the back will still get some work, according to the book Ultimate Isometrics Manual.
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