Shoulder Press - Started Week 5 completing 4 reps of 6-sec. holds at a target of 65lbs, which is an improvement over the end of Week 4 when I managed only one full 6-sec. hold out of 4 reps. Finished the week with 5 reps at a target of 65 lbs with a max reading of just over 70lbs.
Reverse Curl - Finished at a working load of 30 lbs, with a max reading around the 40 lb. range. The week began with a max reading of 44.4 lbs, which is a new unofficial PR for me.
Hack Lift - Finished at a working load of 190lbs, with a max reading around 215 lbs. Week 4 ended with the 190lb session feeling hard and barely achievable. Week 5 started with 190lbs still requiring effort, but feeling easier to achieve, with a max reading back in the low 240 lb. range. Finished the week with 6 reps at 190lbs with a max reading of 266lbs.
I'm pretty decent now at breathing steadily while practicing Hack Lift. Not holding my breath while practicing Reverse Curl or Shoulder Press has been a challenge but I'm getting better. Whole-body isometric contraction raises blood pressure quite a bit, so the Ultimate Isometrics Manual advises not using the Valsalva Maneuver - which is basically exhaling while holding the breath to maintain internal pressure - on top of that. Valsalva Maneuver is ok for moving exercise because the extra tension it generates is only needed for a second or two. On the other hand, the Promethean program has you holding muscular contraction for as much as 6 seconds.
Reviewing my training logs, I realized I've been training under the Promethean program for 2 months, when I combine my time under the book version of Promethean with time under my modified version of Promethean. Earlier in the week, I thought of going for a 6th week under modified Promethean. After today's session, I decided to go ahead and switch to my modified Promethean Mark II program next week. I'll post more about my planned modified Promethean Mark II program.
The Hack Lift is very friendly to my back. With yet another unofficial PR achieved today with a max reading of 266 lbs. I could probably still make gains on this drill at the same angle. However, I'm curious about possible carryover from Deadlift to Front Lever, so I'm switching to Deadlift, at a high angle for least risk to the low back. I switched from about medium angle to high angle on Reverse Curl in the middle of modified Promethean so I'll try a full 8-week cycle with high-angle Reverse Curl. My shoulder health has improved enough that I can position my arms at medium angle for Shoulder Press - empty-handed anyway. There's still some irritation with the weight of the Isochain bar in my hands at the medium angle, so I'll go with high-angle Shoulder Press.
The soreness in the pinky side of my elbow has subsided a bit. From GMB's elbow pain article, I tried the grip hold on a towel, but quickly decided it wasn't for me, because it's the same side as my still-recovering shoulder. I bailed on the exercise as soon as I started to feel irritation in the shoulder. I then tried Band Elbow Flexion, which is basically a negative hammer curl. I did a couple of sets and that felt fine. I didn't try the exercise anymore after that day because I wasn't sure how it would impact Reverse Curl performance, and the elbow has continued to improve without further practice of the Band Elbow Flexion. I found another article that proposes a Blitzkrieg program for elbow pain. I haven't tried this yet but I'm logging it here just in case. The author mentions training grip extensors but the article doesn't mention any specific exercises. I have a set of Expand Your Hand bands from Ironmind and have been using those for occasional extensor training.
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