ZHealth Isometric Protocols for Strength and Hypertrophy

Strength protocol:

• Contraction at 90%, or higher, of max force at long muscle length for 3-5 seconds per rep
• Rest 5-10s between reps
• 5 reps per set
• 3 min. break between sets
• 3-4 sets

Hypertrophy protocol:

• Contraction at 70-75% max force for 30 seconds
• Rest 10-15s between reps
• Total hold time should be 80-150 seconds, eg. 3 x 30s holds = 90s.

The strength protocol has some similarities to the Promethean program in Paul Wade's book Ultimate Isometrics Manual, which was published some years before the research that the above video mentions was published. In Promethean you pick whatever starting load you like, eg. 50lbs. Then you try to apply at least 50lbs. of force for 4-6 seconds. If you can hold for 6 seconds, you rest 20s, and increase the load by 5-10 lbs for your rep. If you can't hold for 4s, you drop the load for your next rep. Total reps would be 4-6. Eventually, you'll raise the load so high that a 4s hold requires very high effort - you'll probably be working around 90% 1-rep max at that point.

I plan to train with the IsoMax after completing of The Giant 1.x series with single 20kg kettlebell. After completed The Giant 1.2 for the first time with single 16kg KB, I was able to press the 20kg KB for 1 rep. I then did a training block on the IsoMax using my favorite strength protocl at the simte, which was 6x6, also from the Paul Wade book. After that block, I retested my 20kg KB press rep max, and found it increased from 1 to 3, whihch was ok, but not the 5 reps I'd hoped for.

Thus when I complete The Giant 1.2 with the 20kg KB, I'll take a few days off, then test my 24kg clean+press rep max. If it's under 5, I'll try out this relatively updated strength protocol, as shared by Z-Health in the above video, for 6-8 weeks, and see if that raises my rep max.

My Recovery from Golfer's Elbow

My last incidence of golfer's elbow occurred in June 2024. By the time I finished that Easy Muscle block and started my chest expander block, both elbows were hurting. I'm convinced the cause this time was holding the 24kg kettlebell in bottoms up position for bottoms up goblet squat. The bottoms up grip allows the KB to be more easily used as a counterweight for sinking into a deep squat position. However, it cost me the health of my elbows, so in retrospect I should have held the KB in the normal grip.

In any case, I tried both Flexbar exercises shown in this video for a while but didn't notice much relief.

I spent the rest of 2024 following most of the advice in Geoff Neupert's elbow tendonitis article:

1. Check KB technique, especially ensuring no bent elbow on the backswing of cleans.
2. Do the exercise for relieving tension in the upper body extremity flexors immediately after KB training
3. Finger extensions after any grip work
4. P3 Protocol as implemented in Sore Joint Solution and Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells

In 2025, I started practicing this hammer exercise. It's a bit different from the hammer exercise shown in other elbow tendonitis rehab videos, in that each rep includes a 5-second hold with a stretch to either side.

I also started doing chin ups after my KB clean+press sessions, after watching this Geoff Neupert video. I was a bit skeptical of his Davis' Law argument (too much pronation, not enough supination) at first, but I decided to try anyway. I started by doing 2 sets of 2 chin ups on rings, so that my hands would be in neutral grip at the bottom, and supinated at the top. When the chin ups didn't hurt any more on the rings, I switched to chin ups on the pullup bar, again starting with 2 set of 2. Over time I worked up to 3 sets of 5. Chin ups felt less and less painful for my elbows as time passed.

I also spent much of 2025 practicing on piano instead of playing guitar. My reason to prioritize piano time over guitar was not golfers elbow, actually, but a desire to level up my skill at playing R&B/neo-soul grooves on the piano. This desire outweighed any desire to improve any aspect of my guitar playing. I've noticed that my left elbow occasionally feels sore after playing guitar, though I work on engaging my back muscles so that those muscles help my fingers apply pressure on the fretboard, instead of relying only on forearm muscles.

I started 2026 with an Easy Muscle B training block. The golfers elbow continued to recede as I built up my chin up volume doing this program. Looks like Geoff is right about Davis' Law after all.

By summer 2026 I was trying out the GMB Static But Deadly isometric program, which includes an isometric bicep exercise which could be a bicep curl or a chin up. While I dropped the program in favor of Dr. Keith Baar's protocol, I kept the idea of doing isometric chin up to help keep the golfers elbow at bay or maybe even make the elbows more resistant to golfers elbow.

Dr. Keith Baar on tendon healing

Lately Youtube has been recommending videos on tendon healing or strengthening featuring Dr. Keith Baar. The tendon training principles he recommends appear to be more up to date than the GMB Static But Deadly approach, but to be fair, Static But Deadly is not advertised as a tendon training program. After having some trouble finding any exercise for my wrist issue, I read some people had success training Keith Barr style by simply finding a position that causes the tendon flareup and working with that. For my wrist, it's the kettlebell press with a 16kg KB. So the exercise to address the wrist issue may very well be an isometric KB press with a KB weight that won't cause as much pain as a 16kg. This Tendon 3.0 training article summarizes the Keith Baar approach to tendon training.

Tendon rehab principles from the article:

• Take collagen + vitamin C 30–60 minutes before loading. The article does not state exactly how much to take but I've seen Dr. Baar quoted elsewhere as recommending 15-20g of collagen and at least 50mg of vitamin C or eating vitamin C rich fruit.
• Hold isometrics in a pain-free range: 30 seconds × 4 reps, ~2 minutes rest.
• Perform twice daily (morning and evening) for 8 weeks to regenerate tissue.
• Maintain with weekly sessions to prevent relapse.
• Progress by increasing hold duration and control, not load.
• Use isometrics after sport to re-load fatigued tissues and reduce reinjury risk.

My selected exercises.

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until right wrist starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees. Eventually progress to 90 degree hold.
• Side plank or lunge
• Side plank or lunge other side