Burn Count: Week 6

I completed the sixth week of Burn Count. Results:

Day A drills:

Romanian Deadlift Low Angle: 45s, 110lbs
Shoulder Press Low Angle: 37s, 40lbs
Drag Curl: 35s, 25lbs

Day B drills:

Zercher Lunge: 32s, 20lbs
Chest Press: 22s, 30lbs
Seated Row: 45s, 65lbs

The lower back continues to hold up for Romanian Deadlift. I think straightening the legs to stretch the hamstrings helps.

I decided to increase the Shoulder Press load to 45lbs. despite not achieving a 45-sec. hold time for both reps at 40lbs. I figured that with the remaining time on this program, I should try working at 65% of my 1-rep max load, at least. 65% is, in theory, the minimum stimulus for hypertrophy. I don't remember why I started Burn Count with a 35lb. load, which is just over 50% of 1-rep max. Anyway, I seem to be progressing fine in my hold time at 45lbs.

My hold time in the Drag Curl progressed nicely.

My one Chest Press session was ok, but I have to remember to retract the scapula, as this seems to facilitate activation of the chest muscles.

I tried Seated Row with supinated palms for more bicep involvement. At the start of Burn Count, I felt some tightness in the left forearm - in the "golfer's elbow" area - even while applying the back-driven external rotation technique taught on the Red Delta Project channel. Fortunately this time, using the Red Delta Project techinque, pulling with supinated palms felt fine all around, and thus achieved 45-sec. holds at 65lbs. So next week I can progress to 70lbs. I'm already well into hypertrophy range here, working well above the 65% 1RM threshold.

I decided to do 2 more weeks of Burn Count, because of the ongoing progress in 5 of the 6 selected exercises. I'm not really concerned about how much more swole I could get, but Thomas Kurz stated in his errors-in-training article that it is an error to change to a new exercise routine while still gaining strength in the current routine. Burn Count is designed for both strength and hypertrophy gains. I haven't measured my 1-rep max scores since I started Burn Count, but I don't really need to do that to know that I've gained strength in 5 of the 6 exercises, and proof that is in the increase in loads that I can handle. Because of my lack of great concern about swoleness, I didn't measure my biceps or anything like that at the start of Burn Count, so I don't have measurables for hypertrophy. I do understand though that adding lean muscle mass to compensate for muscle mass lost to aging (starting at age 30) is useful, and may be beneficial to cardiovascular health.