Isochain 6x6: Week 6

Monday session began with a Zercher Lunge set that felt a little tougher than usual. I gradually realized that I had left the Isochain set to the same length as for the Seated Row, which is only 2 links away from the carabiner assembly attached to the Isochain handle. This is the shortest chain length I've worked with yet for Zercher Lunge, which in turn demanded a little more mobility in the ankle, hip, etc. The 1RM scores were surprisingly high despite the slightly more demanding positioning, with a PR of 92 lbs. for the left leg. Shoulder Press performance took the usual Monday dip. Seated Row performance was average.

Wednesday session performance was surprisingly worse than the Monday session's. Seated Row force in particular dropped from 142.2 lbs to 127. Shoulder Press force dropped under 70 lbs. for the first time since the switch from high angle to medium angle.

Friday session performance was improved. Zercher Lunge right leg force was back in the low 80s. The left leg max force was 14 lbs., which makes no sense becuase the target load was set to 63 lbs. - the beeper would only start beeping if I hit the minimum 63 lbs. of force, and only continue beeping until the long beep signaling the end of the 6-second hold if I had maintained that force. I don't know if it is because I pressed the Max button too soon. Seated Row force was again lower than expected at 129 lbs. I don't know if it's because my body was still exhausted to a degree from the Zercher Lunge set. Before this week, the exercise order was Zercher Lunge (alternating legs), Shoulder Press, then Seated Row. This week, I changed the order so that Shoulder Press would be last, because the chain setting is the same for Zercher Lunge and Seated Row. Not having to change the chain setting saves some time. The primary purpose of the Zercher Lunge is to train the squat muscle chain, but it also works the upper back, because upright posture is required to support the load in the elbows. It could be that the upper back and perhaps even the lats had not recovered sufficiently from the Zercher Lunge set, by the time I started the Seated Row set. So, changing the exercise order to save a few seconds of time to change the chain setting does not seem to be working out. The Shoulder Press force was back in the low-mid 70s.

I have a lingering issue with my right shoulder, which I suspect was caused by training Pike Pushups with Accommodating Resistance on the parallettes. I remember some sessions in which I really strained to push myself up, even with the attempt to shift body weight to my feet to reduce the resistance (accommodating resistance) so that I could push. I did not feel shoulder pain during the exercise. However, my shoulder started to feel sore sometime after the workouts. Over time, the soreness started to accumulate, to the point where reaching outward or towards my opposite armpit started to hurt. That was when I decided to stop practicing Pike Pushups with AR, but it was too late.

Shoulder Press on the Isochain under the 6x6 protocol seems to be helping. However, since I already have an RMT Club, I thought I would try this exercise to see if it helps