Today's Music Discoveries

Chest Expander Workout 8/21

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - 7 reps, with at least 3 going all the way to a nice T-pose stretch.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs - 16 reps first set, 10+ second set. Will try 4 springs next time.

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 1 spring

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - 7 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 7 reps

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - 8 reps

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 trial set - 1 spring

Bicep Curl - 1 trial set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 finisher set - 1 spring

Starting to feel stronger in the Overhand Vertical Pullapart. Seems like focusing my power on the pinky side of my hands leads to the best performances.

Tried bicep curl with just one spring, just to see if I can do curls again, albeit with drag curl technique, which is how I've was doing bicep curls on the Baraban expander before my elbows started to hurt. As previously noted, the elbow pain did not appear after the last time I d did bicep curls on the expander, but after my latest Easy Muscle training block, in which I frequently held a 24kg kettlebell bottoms-up for goblet squats. Also as previously noted, elbow pain flared up a bit when I attempted bicep curls, even with one spring, at the start of this current chest expander training block. This time the elbows felt mostly fine during the 1-spring trial set. During the 2-spring trial set I had be stricter about my drag curl form

Chest Expander Workout 8/14

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - I might have managed 3 full reps. Only way to confirm is to try it again next time.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - 7 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 5 reps

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - 8 reps

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 2 finisher sets - 1 spring

I decided to treat this day as my "heavy" day, really pushing to failure on the 5-spring Back Press and the 4-spring Sideway Extension.

I posted a while back that I'd given up on doing the regular Bicep Curl on the chest expander, due to elbow pain. Then found this video on straight-arm exercises for bicep strength and muscle gains:

Out of the exercises presented, I decided to try Supinated Grip Front Raise, which is the 2nd exercise presented in the video, with the elastic band that was shipped with the IsoMax. This band offers light resistance for most exercises, but for the front raise the resistance is too heavy.

I did 3 sets of isometric Supinated Grip Front Raise with my IsoMax. My lower body was working just as hard as my shoulders and biceps, if not harder, just to maintain my balance. Next time I'll try isometric Bicep Curl and see if my elbows hold up.

Chest Expander Workout 8/12

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - Managed 2 nearly full range reps.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - 3 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 3 or 4 reps

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - 6 reps

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 2 finisher sets - 1 spring

After a weekend of rest, I was still feeling DOMS in the upper back and shoulders from last week's chest expander workouts. I realized I had not been varying my effort very much. Except for the very first workout in this training block, I've been training with high effort every workout - going to failure on every set and not taking much rest between sets. So for today's workout I did not push myself to failure on all sets. I stopped short of failure on the higher effort sets such as the 5-spring Back Press.

I posted a while back that I'd given up on doing the regular Bicep Curl on the chest expander, due to elbow pain. Then found this video on straight-arm exercises for bicep strength and muscle gains:

Out of the exercises presented, I decided to try Supinated Grip Front Raise, which is the 2nd exercise presented in the video, with the elastic band that was shipped with the IsoMax. This band offers light resistance for most exercises, but for the front raise the resistance is too heavy.

I then decided to try using my IsoMax to do an overcoming isometric version of the Supinated Grip Front Raise. Any isometric version of the front raise should be less risky to suspect elbows than any dynamic version, due to the elimination of joint abrasion.

I set up the IsoMax with the strap attached to the bottom newel of the stairs, and the bar held behind my body to put the shoulders, biceps, and forearms all at a stretched position. For this first session, I set the IsoMax in Load mode with load set to 10 lbs. for the first rep and tried to exert force to failure within 30 seconds. I then looked at the average force, with was close to 17 lbs. then reset the load to 17 lbs. and tried to sustain a minimum 17lbs. of force for up to 45 seconds, for each of the remaining reps. It was only on the last rep that I remembered to focus on activating the biceps so that my shoulders are not doing too much of the work. I am not expecting dramatic gains in bicep size doing this isometric front raise, but it's better than relying only on the Reverse Curl to try to stimulate bicep gains.

Chest Expander Workout 8/9

I did not skip the 8/7 workout. There just wasn't anything in particular to report. Today's workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - About 4 attempts. Failed on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th attempt. Succeeded on the 2nd.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 3 springs - Extra practice of this movement should help.

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set, followed by mechanical drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 backoff set w/ 1 spring

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - Managed 6 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 sets - 4 springs - Yes! Moved up to 4 springs and managed 5 reps.

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - Managed 8 reps per arm

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 2 finisher sets - 1 spring

I managed to do one full rep of Overhand Vertical Pullapart with 4 springs. After that one full rep, I guess I no longer had the energy to do another full rep. My technique in this movement still needs work, so I decided to do an extra set as a mechanical drop set after a set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart.

Next session, if I'm still struggling with the transition to a 4-spring Overhand Vertical Pullapart, I will try doing the mechanical drop set of Overhand Vertical Pullapart after my first set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart. To try to avoid overtraining, I will cut the back off set of Horizontal Pullapart. These changes will only be in place until I can do more than one clean rep of Overhand Vertical Pullapart with 4 springs.

I'm getting a better feel for the groove of the Sideway Extension. It's harder with 5 springs of course but the movement doesn't feel as awkward as the first time I tried it. That very first attempt was a failure because I didn't have the mobility to stretch the springs behind my head like that. That was with 2 springs. Now I'm up 5 which is decent progress.

The shoulders are fatiguing faster than the triceps in the 5-spring Back Press. Perhaps the tricep strength gains will carry over to Back Press performance, thus allow the shoulders to work hard for more reps, leading to shoulder gains

Chest Expander Workout 8/5

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set, followed by mechanical drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 backoff set w/ 1 spring

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - Was worried I might fail do do a rep, but I ended up doing 5

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs - .

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 2 sets - 3 springs - Did 14 reps first set.

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - Managed 7 reps per arm

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 back off set - 1 springs

I went back to doing the overhand version of the Vertical Pullapart first. I tried doing the underhand version first with 4 springs and failed. I had been doing the underhand version first because it felt easier to do than the overhand version. The overhand version felt more awkward. I've realized the overhand version felt more awkward because I was trying to make the expander move in the same way it moves when I do the underhand version. In the underhand version, all the springs end up against my chest. I was trying to force all the springs to touch my chest in the overhand version, just like in the underhand version. However, there's no real reason to try to force this to happen. When I try to force it to happen, the shoulders internally rotate too much, which in turn leads to the uncomfortable feeling in the shoulders. I notice when Alex Leonidas does the overhand version, his palms end up facing the floor. This is probably the best ending position for the overhand version. Turning the palms away from me would just put some springs up in my face. Turning the palms towards me would be too much internal rotation.

If I focus on executing the Overhand Vertical Pullapart with a feeling of pressing out to the sides, and not just pulling the handles apart, anf finishing my palms down, I should be able to avoid shoulder discomfort and more effectively leverage my triceps. The triceps are the difference makers in the amount of force that can be applied to the vertical pullapart with the overhand grip, compared to the underhand grip, which does not allow the the triceps to be used as effectively. Thus, I should have a better chance of doing the Vertical Pullapart with 4 springs with the overhand grip rather than the underhand grip. For the next session I will not attempt the overhand vertical pullapart with 4 springs. By not expending effort on such an attempt, I should have more gas in the tank to do more reps of the overhand version, and thus get more practice. Hopefully that will stimulate enough strength and muscle gain to a successful 4-spring attempt on the following session.

Being able to do 15 reps in one set proved to be a more reliable indicator of readiness to move up a spring, than being able to do 2 sets of 12 reps. I did 15 reps for my first set of Back Press, with 4 springs, last Friday, and today I was able to do 5 reps with 5 springs. Today I did 14 reps of Sideway Extension with 3 springs. I will see if I can do at least 1 rep with 4 springs next session.

Each spring supposedly has 10kg of tension. So I am apparently able to Back Press 5 springs for 50kg of tension, which is 25kg per arm. So I was curious about whether that meant I can now press my 24kg kettlebell overhead. I quickly found the answer was no. I was not surprised as I have an understanding that stretching springs that have 50kg of resistance is not the same as lifting a 50kg weight. Springs deliver more resistance as you stretch them, with the most resistance being at the end range of the movement. A weight delivers the least resistance towards the end range because at that point it is moving at a high enough velocity that the muscles do not need to exert much force to keep it moving. The muscles have to more force at the beginning of the movement to change the weight's velocity from zero to some positive value. So if/when I move up to a 6-spring back press, I will once again attempt to press the 24kg KB. Anyway, I'm still pretty happy to move up from 4 springs to 5 springs

Chest Expander Workout 8/2

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs - Attempted a rep with 4 springs, but could not complete it. Did 12+ reps per set with 3 springs.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set, followed by mechanical drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 backoff set w/ 1 spring

Back Press - 2 sets - 4 springs - Did 15 reps first set, 9 2nd set.

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 2 sets - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs - Managed 3 reps with left arm

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - Managed 7 reps per arm

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 back off set - 1 springs

This workout is based on Alex Leonidas' old school workout. In this or his intro to chest expander video, Alex says you add a spring to a particular exercise for your next workout if you have achieved one of 2 milestones: 2 sets of at least 12 reps, or one set of 15 reps. The first requirement does not seem to work for me. I have never been able to complete one rep with an added spring, in the very next session, after achieving 2 sets of 12+ reps. I went up in springs for some exercises early in this chest expander training bloack, due to gains from previous training blocks - the most recent 8-week Easy Muscle block, the 6x6 IsoMax block before that, and so on. I think the other milestone - one set of 15 reps - might turn out to be the more accurate one. I am wondering if I do 2 sets of an exercise, and can do 15 reps in the first set, if it matters where or not I can do 12 reps in the 2nd set.