Isochain Burn Count: Week 1

I completed the first full week of Burn Count. This is how I did:

Day A drills:

Romanian Deadlift Medium Angle: 25s, 130lbs
Shoulder Press Low Angle: 35s, 35lbs
Drag Curl: 25s, 20lbs

Day B drills:

Zercher Lunge: 21s, 40lbs
Chest Press Low Angle: 35s, 35lbs
Seated Row: 25-27s, 50lbs

Shoulder Press is going well. 30s in for the first Burn Count session last week. 35s this week. Also, I have recovered enough pain-free range of motion to do the "swimming backstroke" joint mobility exercise with minimal discomfort.

After my Day A session, I did 5 sets of 5 of each of the following single-arm drills with my 15lb heavy club on each arm: Shield Cast, Inside Circle, Outside Circle. This was, again, for joint traction for the shoulder - since brachial hang from the pullup bar is stil uncomfortable, and some forearm work to try to balance out the Drag Curl.

After lowering the load to 40lbs, I still struggled to hold for the minimum 20s in the Zercher Lunge. But since I did reach 21s per leg for both reps, I will keep working this drill at 40lbs. After the first session with Zercher Lunge, there was discomfort in my left knee around the MCL whenever I walked, due to the external hip rotator seemingly "turning off" for the day. I had to consciously keep my left foot pointing straight ahead while walking. After my 2nd Day B session, I did a couple of sets of Shrimp Squat with arms forward, to retrain my hips, knees, and ankles to move together without losing alignment. Adding frog stretch to my cooldown also seems to help.

After my 2nd Day B session, I did a couple of sets of pushups on the floor. This was a pleasant surprise as I had not done pushups on the floor in almost 2 years. Last year, I didn't have the strength to do pushups on the floor at all. For my 2nd rep of Chest Press, I tried with the hand closer together and my performance dropped. I took a minute break, then did a 3rd rep wiht my hands back where I had them beofre. I misunderstood Red Delta Project's coaching for this drill in the below video. I thought for some reason that he said the elbows should be close to the rips. No. He said the arms should be close to the chest. Big difference!

So, there are the key points for Chest Press on Isochain or other bar-and-chain isometric device:

• Bar should be at a good height for pectoral activation, but not too high as the shoulders make take over
• Bar should be at about chest height but does not need to be close to the chest
  
• Forearms should be parallel to torso
• Upper arms should be touching the chest
• Elbows do not have to touch torso but should be in line with upper arms and hands
• Think of pulling elbows towards each other, without breaking alignment, then think of elbows being pulled away from the torso and up, in an arc.