Tendon Burn Count: Week 4

I'd injured the shoulder years ago when I decided to attempt a Kettlebell Arm Bar with a 24kg kettlebell. A Kettlebell Arm Bar with a 16kg kettlebell was barely safe for me. I forgot why I decided to try a 24kg Arm Bar. What I do remember is losing control of the 24kg KB, so that it fell, missed my head, and injured my shoulder. The shoulder eventually healed, but has been unstable at times. For example last year, the shoulder lost some stability after some KB Clean+Press training, and thus started to hurt. But then afterwards I did The Giant 1.1 and 1.2 and the shoulder held up fine.

Another tendon concern I had was with the elbows. In the case of my golfer's elbow, I found an IsoMax strap setting for Bicep Curl which makes me feel like the golfer's elbow tendons are being worked. They hurt a bit, although I can reduce the pain or even make it go away altogether by engaging the upper back muscles, as described in this Red Delta Project video.

I've been hoping IsoMax training under Tendon Burn Count would improve shoulder stability, more than 6x6. From what I understand, the shoulder tendons include the 4 rotator cuff tendons and the bicep tendon, which connects the bicep to the shoulder. Until this week, I was using an IsoMax strap setting that put the bar at about the 1/4 position of the Overhead Press. I figured this position would hit the shoulders more than the lowest possible position. Training at this position seemed fine, but I didn't feel any of these 5 tendons being challeneged.

So, I decided to change the IsoMax strap setting for Overhead Press. The new setting put the bar at just under the 1/2 position, which thus has the elbows at close to 90 degrees. To ensure that I would be training at 70% of my 1-rep max, I had to test my 1-rep max at this new position. This 1-rep max turned out to be about 67 lbs. I feel at least one of the 5 shoulder tendons working more than at the 1/4 position. The new position feels fine, though I have to work my lats a little harder to keep the shoulders in their sockets. My grip is wider at this position compared to 1/4, which roughtl mimics the double kettlebell press. At the bottom of the double KB press, the hands are less than shoulder width apart. As I press the KBs up, the hands are pulled apart by a combination of the KBs' centers of gravity and how the body seems to be designed to move.