Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II: Week 1

I don't know for sure if I have golfer's elbow in my left arm, but the Mayo Clinic's description seems to match.  It's not a constant pain.  I feel it when my left palm is facing the right as I apply pressure, like when I wash my hands.  Fortunately, I don't feel it when I play my guitars with the lowest action, like the Breedlove Discovery Concert nylon-string or my Fender electrics.  

I found that the way to eliminate risk of aggravating the golfer's elbow during the Deadlift on Isochain is to squeeze harder with my thumb.  I don't know exactly how this works, but the action of squeezing harder with the thumb seems to prevent the golfer's elbow pain as I exert maximal effort on the Deadlift.

For first half of Week 1, I ran the 1-Rep Max protocol to set the 1-Rep Max values for the Day 1 and Day 2 drills. For the second half, I practiced my first regular training sessions for these drills, with target loads set to about 50% of the recorded 1-Rep Max loads. Not really much data to see for just one session for each set of drills, but for what it's worth, here are the results:

Shoulder Press (high angle) - Trained with target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 38.6.

Reverse Curl (medium angle) - Trained with target load of 20 lbs, with max reading of 30.4

Deadift (high angle) - Trained with target load of 130 lbs, with max reading of 239.2

Chest Press - Trained with target load of 20 lbs, with max reading of 47.6.

Bent Row (medium angle) - Trained with target load of 65 lbs, with max reading of 103.

Zercher Squat (high angle) - Trained with target load of 90 lbs, with max reading of 150.

I think it's a solid start for the new routine.  The Chest Press is the Isochain drill that is the most dependent on technique to properly execute.   The first trick is to find a good height for the bar, which should be around sternum height.  If it is too high, it will feel too much like the Shoulder Press.  If it is too low, it's more difficult to get the proper feeling.  The Ultimate Isometrics Manual says it should feel like being iat the bottom position of a bench press.  The funny thing is, I've never done a real barbell bench press, because it typically requires a spotter.  I've only used the plate-loading machines that were supposed to simulate a bench press.  Anyway, the next trick after that is to hold the bar as close as possible to the sternum.  Next after that is to grip the bar with a wide enough grip, then flex the pectoral muscles before ramping up the pressure on the bar, which cues you to use your chest to power the press - hence the name of the drill.  A final trick is to pull the scapula down, then protract them (spread them apart).  This scapula action further reduces the involvement of the shoulders and fires up the chest even more, as it is the serratus anterior muscle in the chest that protracts the scapula.

I'm starting to observe results from practicing the technique for the Chest Press instead of just blindly straining at the bar.  The max force reading of 47.6 lbs is quite a bit higher than my 1-Rep Max score for this drill, which was 36.1 lbs.