For the Monday Leg session, the results were:
Assisted Pistol Squats: 6 6 6
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 5 5 5
The pistol reps were higher than last week because of the greater assistance from the NOSSK suspension trainer. In the afternoon, I did a few sets of 3-5 reps of weighted Jefferson Curl with a bag of canned food serving as weight. The low back felt a little sore. It might be because of the one-leg hip hinges. While I don't feel the low back working during the exercise, the spinal erectors and multifidus are thought to be working isometrically, and thus may get sore later. Because of my past history with low back injury, I will restrict the practice of weighted Jefferson Curl to the "chest up" variation to minimize forward spinal flexion for the time being, focusing more on hamstring mobility. Eduardo Orihuela showed this and other Jefferson Curl variation in his Instagram post.
For the Wednesday Upper Body session, I did the Pike Push Ups starting the eccentric with the feet on step 4 of the stairs. The greater height might create a greater load on the eccentric, but the load may have been reduced as well by the feet being also further back. Hard to tell if shifting more weight back, by the feet being further bac, canceled out the load increase by the feet also being higher than last week. Next week, I'll try moving the parallettes closer to the stairs, to try to let the hips get closer to forming that ideal vertical line from the hands, through the shoulders, to the tailbone. I did not feel stronger in the concentric, but it almost doesn't matter if I progress in the eccentric. For the Finisher, I did a drop set of incline push ups on the NOSSK suspension trainer. Next week, I will try starting the drop set at a higher incline, to allow for higher overall reps before burning out the muscles.
My pull up performance was: 7 7 8. It was a bit of a drop from last week. For the Finisher, I did a drop set of table rows, followed by incline rows. Next week, I will skip the table rows and try starting at a higher incline to increase higher overall reps.
For the Friday Leg session, the results were:
Assisted Pistol Squats: 6 6 8
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 6 6 8
Mobility Routine post that includes weighted cossack squat
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Saturday, March 19, 2022
M8 Tracker: Initial collection of notes
Red Means Recording put up a video in which he announced his new album Rituals, then did a walkthrough of the song"Deep Throat", in which he explains how he programmed the song on the M8 Tracker in fair amount detail. He also shares the thought processes that went into composing the song.
The tracks on the M8 Tracker are not polyphonic, so you can only program one note at a time on one track. However, there are workarounds for playing chords on on track. One way is to use the Sampler instrument, and have it play samples of chords. Another way is to use the Macrosynth instrument's Wave Paraphonic engine. Using that engine type you can move between a selection of 4 note chord voicings, while also scanning through a wavetable to get different timbres etc.
Another way to play a chord on a Track is to use Tables. The M8 Discord Meetup #10 video shows this approach, first with the Macrosynth Triple Saw, then the FMSynth instrument. The video has other tips related to using Tables as well as tons of other info
Selecting within a phrase or chain to loop has been a struggle for me. One tip I got from a fellow user:
Another struggle has been getting the hang of cloning a Phrase or Chain. The documentation tries to explain how to press the buttons, but I still found the procedure hard to understand. Basically, you have to hold the SHIFT button by itself, then press the OPTION button, then release the OPTION button, then press and release the EDIT button.
Another question that comes to mind is when to use Chains or Phrases. Some thoughts from fellow users:
A tip about the chance command:
The tracks on the M8 Tracker are not polyphonic, so you can only program one note at a time on one track. However, there are workarounds for playing chords on on track. One way is to use the Sampler instrument, and have it play samples of chords. Another way is to use the Macrosynth instrument's Wave Paraphonic engine. Using that engine type you can move between a selection of 4 note chord voicings, while also scanning through a wavetable to get different timbres etc.
Another way to play a chord on a Track is to use Tables. The M8 Discord Meetup #10 video shows this approach, first with the Macrosynth Triple Saw, then the FMSynth instrument. The video has other tips related to using Tables as well as tons of other info
Selecting within a phrase or chain to loop has been a struggle for me. One tip I got from a fellow user:
If I’ve understood you correctly, you can make a selection within a phrase or chain using shift + option and then hit shift + play so it’ll loop that portion in all tracks. That means you can edit one phrase within a track while being able to hear how it fits with the others without it advancing the song. Very handy!
Another struggle has been getting the hang of cloning a Phrase or Chain. The documentation tries to explain how to press the buttons, but I still found the procedure hard to understand. Basically, you have to hold the SHIFT button by itself, then press the OPTION button, then release the OPTION button, then press and release the EDIT button.
Another question that comes to mind is when to use Chains or Phrases. Some thoughts from fellow users:
IMO the best way to think of it is that phrases are the equivalent of pages in Elektron sequencers, and chains are the equivalent of patterns, but for individual tracks. My chains are usually 8 phrases long, but the optimal length really depends on how your song is structured. If you’re doing long chord progressions, it makes sense to have them all self-contained in one chain each, so you can just repeat the same chain over and over, rather than alternating between 2+ different chains, if that makes sense?
I’m trying to keep my chains to 4 phrases (64 steps). Multiple chains per track to add variation to melody / notation. 64 steps for phrases seems to calculate better in my head, considering I’ve used Digitone as a sequencer for years. If all chains use 4 phrases, across all tracks, everything will stay lined up as the song plays. However I have had a few smaller chains and everything then starts moving at a different rate, can be confusing for me.
A tip about the chance command:
One of my favorite things about the M8 is being able to use the chance command with one percentage to the left and another to the right. Similar effect to programming drums on the Octatrack, but instead of using an LFO to bring fx in and out, I use the chance commandTip for using Groove for slides at very slow tempi:
I was working on a song at very slow (~40) BPM and wanted some really subtle slides. I was getting frustrated because doing a PSL even over just a single tick still took so long at this BPM that it felt overly dramatic.
“Nothing for it,” I thought. “I’ll have to double the BPM and go back and manually expand all my phrases over twice the steps to maintain the tempo.” I was half way through this laborious process when it hit me: if I could just increase the number of ticks each step in my phrase consumed, I would get more resolution out of each tick without rearranging my phrases.
And this, of course, is exactly what Groove let us do! I just doubled the ticks-per-step in the Groove page, doubled my BPM, and ended up exactly where I would have been, timing wise, if I had spaced out all my phrases.
All of which is to say: Groove isn’t just about getting swing in your patterns. It can also act as a “zoom” (or “page scale” in elektron-speak) that lets you, for example, lay out those chunky whole-note drones without breaking them up single-note-per-phrase over, like, 20 phrases or whatever.
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 4
Monday leg session results were similar to the previous Friday's:
Assisted Pistol Squat: 3 3 3
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 4 4 4
For the Wednesday session, I did the Accommodating Resistance Pike Pushups on the stairs. The stairs under my feet are much more stable than the old dining chairs I'd previously used. Without the distraction of a moving platform under my feet, I could focus more fully on the pike push up itself. With the P-Barz at the bottom of the stairs, the first stairstep is just a couple of inches lower than the P-Barz handles. All the other stairsteps are higher than the P-Barz. I set my feet on step 3 for the eccentric phase, and kept them there at the start of the concentric, until I got stuck due to strength limitation. I then moved my feet down to step 2, which reduced the load enough to resume the concentric. My feet did not rise in the lower half of the eccentric like they did last week, because my hamstrings were not put into a tightened enough position. Next week, I will move the P-Barz closer to the stairs to make it easier to form a vertical line that goes from the hands, through the shoulders, all the way to the hips, per Mindful Mover's video. At least, if I can't form that ideal vertical line, it should be because of my own strength/mobility limitations, not because the P-Barz were just too far from the stairs. We aim for this ideal vertical line to maximize the load on the eccentric.
The Wednesday pull up results were: 8 8 8. Quality of movement was fine, but level of effort was moderately high.
The Friday Leg session was kind of like the Monday session, except after the first set, I decided to set up further from the NOSSK trainer anchor points, in order to use more assistance and thus get more reps per set. I figured that at this stage I would benefit from the greater number of reps as it would mean more practice of the movement.
A finisher for Leg sessions which I didn't get around to this week but may try next week: Bear Squat as taught by Mark Wildman, which looks like a more accessible way to improve hamstring mobility.
I asked Eduardo Oriheula about Jefferson Curl reps and sets upon seeing his great post. His reply was:
His post on the Helicoptero move from Capoeira shows some of his considerable movement skills.
Rest-Pause post by Mindful Mover. They also suggest trying it between the eccentric and concentric phases of a movement.
Warmup Ideas
GMB Shoulder Prehab Article
Bear-based Flow for strong shoulders, flexible hamstrings, and body control
Ankle mobility
Tips for Wall Handstand Pushup with Accommodating Resistance
Assisted Pistol Squat: 3 3 3
Suspension One-Leg Hip Hinge: 4 4 4
For the Wednesday session, I did the Accommodating Resistance Pike Pushups on the stairs. The stairs under my feet are much more stable than the old dining chairs I'd previously used. Without the distraction of a moving platform under my feet, I could focus more fully on the pike push up itself. With the P-Barz at the bottom of the stairs, the first stairstep is just a couple of inches lower than the P-Barz handles. All the other stairsteps are higher than the P-Barz. I set my feet on step 3 for the eccentric phase, and kept them there at the start of the concentric, until I got stuck due to strength limitation. I then moved my feet down to step 2, which reduced the load enough to resume the concentric. My feet did not rise in the lower half of the eccentric like they did last week, because my hamstrings were not put into a tightened enough position. Next week, I will move the P-Barz closer to the stairs to make it easier to form a vertical line that goes from the hands, through the shoulders, all the way to the hips, per Mindful Mover's video. At least, if I can't form that ideal vertical line, it should be because of my own strength/mobility limitations, not because the P-Barz were just too far from the stairs. We aim for this ideal vertical line to maximize the load on the eccentric.
The Wednesday pull up results were: 8 8 8. Quality of movement was fine, but level of effort was moderately high.
The Friday Leg session was kind of like the Monday session, except after the first set, I decided to set up further from the NOSSK trainer anchor points, in order to use more assistance and thus get more reps per set. I figured that at this stage I would benefit from the greater number of reps as it would mean more practice of the movement.
A finisher for Leg sessions which I didn't get around to this week but may try next week: Bear Squat as taught by Mark Wildman, which looks like a more accessible way to improve hamstring mobility.
I asked Eduardo Oriheula about Jefferson Curl reps and sets upon seeing his great post. His reply was:
I have one lower body day where I do Jefferson curls right after for 3 to 4 sets of 3 to 5 reps with about 10 second holds at the very bottom for each one. On other days I play it by feel and don’t use any weight
His post on the Helicoptero move from Capoeira shows some of his considerable movement skills.
Rest-Pause post by Mindful Mover. They also suggest trying it between the eccentric and concentric phases of a movement.
Warmup Ideas
GMB Shoulder Prehab Article
Bear-based Flow for strong shoulders, flexible hamstrings, and body control
Ankle mobility
Tips for Wall Handstand Pushup with Accommodating Resistance
Monday, March 07, 2022
Using Baking Soda and Vinegar for Laundry and the Washing Machine
For some reason I now get Reader's Digest articles emailed to me, though I did not ask for them. Reading these articles, however, may have nostalgic appeal for those who used to read the print Reader's Digest. A lot of home care/cleaning articles recommend baking soda and vinegar but this is one of the few that actually mentions when to not use them both at the same time.
How To Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for Laundry and the Washing Machine
How To Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for Laundry and the Washing Machine
Friday, March 04, 2022
Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 3
The Monday leg session went smoothly. The pistol squat performance was almost the same as Friday, except I used a little less assistance from the NOSSK suspension trainer. I sank a little too quickly into the bottom position, however, so next session I will make myself do a 4-count eccentric. I progressed on the suspension hip hinge to cross-ankle, then to fully single-leg hip hinge after finding the cross-ankle variation almost as easy as the two-leg version.
For some reason, I woke up earlier than expected on Wednesday morning, thus getting less sleep than desirable. I felt a little weaker in my Pike Pushup practice. There were a couple of times in which I stalled on the concentric, failed to shift enough weight away from my hands, and had to restart the con centric. I decided to try rest-pause, inserting at least 15-second rest between reps. I think part of the problem is that I had my feet on a chair that was sliding too much because of the sliders on its feet, despite the chair being up against the wall. I originally started using the chairs because I thought I would be practicing Pike Pushup with my knees on the chairs. But I don't really need the chairs anymore. So next week, I'll practice this move with my feet on the stairs, and the P-Barz against the wall - as they were sliding a bit too and thus distracting me from the weight-shift.
I did these reps for the pull up sets: 7 7 9. The Backfill strategy from GSC appears to be working better than my previous strategy of doing reps to failure, or close to it, on every set, which resulted in rep numbers like: 9 7 5. By doing only 7 reps per set for the first two sets, even though I could have done more, I had enough energy on reserve to do 9 reps for the last set. Thus the Backfill strategy promotes greater overall training volume.
For the finisher set, I did archer rows on the NOSSK, alternating working arms and using the assistance arm as little as possible. I tried to focus on keeping the shoulders down.
I wanted to make up for my disappointing Pike Push Up performance, so I did a finisher set by setting a timer to 90 seconds, then doing Bent-Arm Bear for as long as I could, then regular Bear. I didn't make it to the full 90 sec. so I stopped the timer, and did hands-on-floor push ups to finish burning out the pushing muscles.
For the Friday session, I did 4 antagonist pair (assisted Pistol Squat and one-leg suspension hip hinge). The results in reps:
Pistol Squat: 3 3 3 3
Hip Hinge: 4 4 4 4
These are the 3 mobility drills that Mindful Mover recommends the most for people who are training for general-purpose strength (not for specialized purposes): Split Squat (aka "ATG Split Squat"), Jefferson Curl, Brachial Hang. I finished the Friday session with some ATG split squatting with the front foot elevated on a thick book, then some Jefferson curls with a couple of soup cans in a bag for load.
For some reason, I woke up earlier than expected on Wednesday morning, thus getting less sleep than desirable. I felt a little weaker in my Pike Pushup practice. There were a couple of times in which I stalled on the concentric, failed to shift enough weight away from my hands, and had to restart the con centric. I decided to try rest-pause, inserting at least 15-second rest between reps. I think part of the problem is that I had my feet on a chair that was sliding too much because of the sliders on its feet, despite the chair being up against the wall. I originally started using the chairs because I thought I would be practicing Pike Pushup with my knees on the chairs. But I don't really need the chairs anymore. So next week, I'll practice this move with my feet on the stairs, and the P-Barz against the wall - as they were sliding a bit too and thus distracting me from the weight-shift.
I did these reps for the pull up sets: 7 7 9. The Backfill strategy from GSC appears to be working better than my previous strategy of doing reps to failure, or close to it, on every set, which resulted in rep numbers like: 9 7 5. By doing only 7 reps per set for the first two sets, even though I could have done more, I had enough energy on reserve to do 9 reps for the last set. Thus the Backfill strategy promotes greater overall training volume.
For the finisher set, I did archer rows on the NOSSK, alternating working arms and using the assistance arm as little as possible. I tried to focus on keeping the shoulders down.
I wanted to make up for my disappointing Pike Push Up performance, so I did a finisher set by setting a timer to 90 seconds, then doing Bent-Arm Bear for as long as I could, then regular Bear. I didn't make it to the full 90 sec. so I stopped the timer, and did hands-on-floor push ups to finish burning out the pushing muscles.
For the Friday session, I did 4 antagonist pair (assisted Pistol Squat and one-leg suspension hip hinge). The results in reps:
Pistol Squat: 3 3 3 3
Hip Hinge: 4 4 4 4
These are the 3 mobility drills that Mindful Mover recommends the most for people who are training for general-purpose strength (not for specialized purposes): Split Squat (aka "ATG Split Squat"), Jefferson Curl, Brachial Hang. I finished the Friday session with some ATG split squatting with the front foot elevated on a thick book, then some Jefferson curls with a couple of soup cans in a bag for load.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Roland MC-707
In the half-year that passed, I ended up getting my own MC-707, even though I already owned the MC-101 which has the same Zen-Core sound engine and quite a bit of same sequencing functionality. The money spent on the 707 could, after all, have gone instead to any of the newer, shinier synths out there. Buying the 707 has proven to be the right call for me. Comments on various aspects:
Pads - I had to adjust the sensitivity because the pads seemed to require a little more velocity than I would like to trigger sounds. Even after adjustment, the synth still seems more responsive to MIDI velocity from my Arturia Keystep 37 than to velocity on the built-in pads. I find the pads most useful for sequence editing and auditioning drum sounds.
Synth Editing - Most commonly used settings such as Oscillator Type, Filter Cutoff, Amp stages, etc. are easy to find in the Easy Edit screen. However, some settings are less obvious like pages that require pressing the Func button to access. Unfortunately, none of the tutorial videos I could find on Youtube address how to map MIDI aftertouch and MIDI velocity to synth parameters, which to me seem like basic functions that any user who wants to use a keyboard controller would really want to know. After some trial and error, I figured out that SYS-CTRL2 defaults to MIDI aftertouch as a source - then I was able to map aftertouch to filter cutoff. Someday, hopefully in the near future, I will discover exactly where the information on what SYS-CTRL2 and other SYS-CTRL sources represent... is buried in the Reference Manual. What really gave me a devil of a time is figuring out where the MIDI Velocity setting are in the synth engine, because I wanted to add velocity-sensitivity to a particular preset, which had a sound I really liked but it was programmed to be full blast. I spent hours in the Matrix pages searching for them, testing different SYS-CTRL numbers in the belief that one of them would be velocity. I finally found the Velocity assignments, but they were not in the Matrix pages! They were actually in the Amp->Other section of the Partial Edit screens. This is the section where you set Velocity Curve and Velocity Sens for each of the 4 Partials. I made my changes there but the sound was still full-blast, unresponsive to velocity. I then figured out that I had to go to the Amp->Level section, where I saw that all 4 Partials had be maxed out to 127. I lowered these 4 values and, magically, the preset was suddenly velocity-sensitive.
Clip Grid - When I only had the MC-101, I had a lot of difficulty understanding how Clips are organized into Scenes and why others kept insisting that Scene Chaining was needed for a real song mode. The MC-707's bigger display over the MC-101's stingy 2-line display proved to be the difference maker. In the MC-707, I have a much easier time seeing what Clips are under which Track, and what Clips have been selected when I save them to a Scene. As noted in the original review, in the MC-707's clip grid display, colunms represent Tracks, and rows represent the Clips for each Track and the default order in which they may be played. Also as noted in the original review, you can select any combination of Clips, as long as they're from different Tracks, and save them into a Scene - and the Clips do not have to be on the same row. I found all of this difficult to see on the MC-101's stingy little 2-line display. Thanks to the MC-707's bigger display, I was finally able to see and understand why Scene Chaining is so critical for "song mode", and Clip Chaining, while a nice update, was not adequate. I believe at the time of the original review, there were only 8 Scenes allowed, which would have limited "song mode" on this machine. Thanks to latest round of OS updates, you have multiple banks of Scenes for a total of 128 Scenes.
Preset Sounds - As previously noted, MC-707 comes with a generous selection - 3000+ Tones, 80+ Drum Kits - of sound presets, organized by category. My MC-101 purchase coincided with a Roland promo that gave me 1 year of Roland Cloud and Zenology Pro subscription for free. I never got around to messing with Zenology Pro for sound design as I'm not really a sound design freak, but I did grab about all the MC-101/707 Zen-Core Sound Packs that were available during this subscription period. After the subscription expired, Roland has continued to pump out new Sound Packs at a steady rate, so I bought some for 99 cents each, which is a steal because even if I use only 1 preset per pack in actual music, I still get a lot of educational value from studying the presets in the synth editor. Anyway, if you like Roland rompler tones, you'll probably like the PCM-based tones on this machine. If you prefer certain sample-based tones Yamaha or Korg romplers, then I'm not sure these tones will sway you. The VA tones sound excellent to me, although as noted previously, this too is subjective. Among the offical Sound Packs, my favorites are Ambient Pads, Ancient Discovery, Cinematic Beds, Modular Grooves, and The Drones. One caveat is that you can only save your user-edited sounds as part of the Project. So I will have to figure out a way to share my user sounds between Projects.
Sequencing - So far I have only created simple patterns as part of the learning process, not having gone as deep as the original reviewer. There are some interesting tricks for introducing pattern variation in real-time without using Scatter, such as manipulating First Step and Last Step parameters, and Step Jumps. Recent updates introduced Count-In, which is very welcome! When the metronome is turned on, however, it is freaking loud, and there is no obvious way to turn it down. I'm sure the setting is just one button combo away - Shift plus another button or something like that.
Effects - There is one Effect slot per Track, with a choice of about 90 different effects. The rest of the effects live at the Project level, affecting all Tracks, and referred to as "Total Effects" in the manual. These are Reverb, Chorus/Delay, MultiFX, Compressor, and EQ. You can really only select one effect at a time for MultiFX - I guess the "multi" refers to the choice of multiple effect types not covered under the other 4 Total Effects, such as Multi-Mode Filter and distortion. At the Track level, you have Delay Send and Reverb Send settings.
Various extra comments:
Project Naming - I like how this is implemented. C1 moves the cursor left-right. C2 switches capitalization. C3 moves the character wheel.
I did not find a 4-note polyphony limitation for Tone Tracks. I was able to enter 5-note chords just fine for a Tone Track. I also tried playing a 10-note chord - all 10 notes were played just fine. I have read there are voice-stealing settings, which are needed when polyphony-eating synth settings are used, as noted in the original review.
Easy vs. Partial Edit may be confusing, but having both modes made it possible for me to assign aftertouch to Level in Easy Mode, then switch to Partial Edit for Partial 2, and assign aftertouch to LFO1 Rate, so that aftertouch raises LFO1 Rate only for Partial 2 and also boosts the volume for swells. At first, I had aftertouch modulating LFO1 Rate for all 4 partials. In this preset, LFO1 modulates Amp. Amp being modulated for all 4 partials sounded a bit too intense for me. Having it modulate Amp only for one of the 4 Partials was more to my liking.
Pads - I had to adjust the sensitivity because the pads seemed to require a little more velocity than I would like to trigger sounds. Even after adjustment, the synth still seems more responsive to MIDI velocity from my Arturia Keystep 37 than to velocity on the built-in pads. I find the pads most useful for sequence editing and auditioning drum sounds.
Synth Editing - Most commonly used settings such as Oscillator Type, Filter Cutoff, Amp stages, etc. are easy to find in the Easy Edit screen. However, some settings are less obvious like pages that require pressing the Func button to access. Unfortunately, none of the tutorial videos I could find on Youtube address how to map MIDI aftertouch and MIDI velocity to synth parameters, which to me seem like basic functions that any user who wants to use a keyboard controller would really want to know. After some trial and error, I figured out that SYS-CTRL2 defaults to MIDI aftertouch as a source - then I was able to map aftertouch to filter cutoff. Someday, hopefully in the near future, I will discover exactly where the information on what SYS-CTRL2 and other SYS-CTRL sources represent... is buried in the Reference Manual. What really gave me a devil of a time is figuring out where the MIDI Velocity setting are in the synth engine, because I wanted to add velocity-sensitivity to a particular preset, which had a sound I really liked but it was programmed to be full blast. I spent hours in the Matrix pages searching for them, testing different SYS-CTRL numbers in the belief that one of them would be velocity. I finally found the Velocity assignments, but they were not in the Matrix pages! They were actually in the Amp->Other section of the Partial Edit screens. This is the section where you set Velocity Curve and Velocity Sens for each of the 4 Partials. I made my changes there but the sound was still full-blast, unresponsive to velocity. I then figured out that I had to go to the Amp->Level section, where I saw that all 4 Partials had be maxed out to 127. I lowered these 4 values and, magically, the preset was suddenly velocity-sensitive.
Clip Grid - When I only had the MC-101, I had a lot of difficulty understanding how Clips are organized into Scenes and why others kept insisting that Scene Chaining was needed for a real song mode. The MC-707's bigger display over the MC-101's stingy 2-line display proved to be the difference maker. In the MC-707, I have a much easier time seeing what Clips are under which Track, and what Clips have been selected when I save them to a Scene. As noted in the original review, in the MC-707's clip grid display, colunms represent Tracks, and rows represent the Clips for each Track and the default order in which they may be played. Also as noted in the original review, you can select any combination of Clips, as long as they're from different Tracks, and save them into a Scene - and the Clips do not have to be on the same row. I found all of this difficult to see on the MC-101's stingy little 2-line display. Thanks to the MC-707's bigger display, I was finally able to see and understand why Scene Chaining is so critical for "song mode", and Clip Chaining, while a nice update, was not adequate. I believe at the time of the original review, there were only 8 Scenes allowed, which would have limited "song mode" on this machine. Thanks to latest round of OS updates, you have multiple banks of Scenes for a total of 128 Scenes.
Preset Sounds - As previously noted, MC-707 comes with a generous selection - 3000+ Tones, 80+ Drum Kits - of sound presets, organized by category. My MC-101 purchase coincided with a Roland promo that gave me 1 year of Roland Cloud and Zenology Pro subscription for free. I never got around to messing with Zenology Pro for sound design as I'm not really a sound design freak, but I did grab about all the MC-101/707 Zen-Core Sound Packs that were available during this subscription period. After the subscription expired, Roland has continued to pump out new Sound Packs at a steady rate, so I bought some for 99 cents each, which is a steal because even if I use only 1 preset per pack in actual music, I still get a lot of educational value from studying the presets in the synth editor. Anyway, if you like Roland rompler tones, you'll probably like the PCM-based tones on this machine. If you prefer certain sample-based tones Yamaha or Korg romplers, then I'm not sure these tones will sway you. The VA tones sound excellent to me, although as noted previously, this too is subjective. Among the offical Sound Packs, my favorites are Ambient Pads, Ancient Discovery, Cinematic Beds, Modular Grooves, and The Drones. One caveat is that you can only save your user-edited sounds as part of the Project. So I will have to figure out a way to share my user sounds between Projects.
Sequencing - So far I have only created simple patterns as part of the learning process, not having gone as deep as the original reviewer. There are some interesting tricks for introducing pattern variation in real-time without using Scatter, such as manipulating First Step and Last Step parameters, and Step Jumps. Recent updates introduced Count-In, which is very welcome! When the metronome is turned on, however, it is freaking loud, and there is no obvious way to turn it down. I'm sure the setting is just one button combo away - Shift plus another button or something like that.
Effects - There is one Effect slot per Track, with a choice of about 90 different effects. The rest of the effects live at the Project level, affecting all Tracks, and referred to as "Total Effects" in the manual. These are Reverb, Chorus/Delay, MultiFX, Compressor, and EQ. You can really only select one effect at a time for MultiFX - I guess the "multi" refers to the choice of multiple effect types not covered under the other 4 Total Effects, such as Multi-Mode Filter and distortion. At the Track level, you have Delay Send and Reverb Send settings.
Various extra comments:
Project Naming - I like how this is implemented. C1 moves the cursor left-right. C2 switches capitalization. C3 moves the character wheel.
I did not find a 4-note polyphony limitation for Tone Tracks. I was able to enter 5-note chords just fine for a Tone Track. I also tried playing a 10-note chord - all 10 notes were played just fine. I have read there are voice-stealing settings, which are needed when polyphony-eating synth settings are used, as noted in the original review.
Easy vs. Partial Edit may be confusing, but having both modes made it possible for me to assign aftertouch to Level in Easy Mode, then switch to Partial Edit for Partial 2, and assign aftertouch to LFO1 Rate, so that aftertouch raises LFO1 Rate only for Partial 2 and also boosts the volume for swells. At first, I had aftertouch modulating LFO1 Rate for all 4 partials. In this preset, LFO1 modulates Amp. Amp being modulated for all 4 partials sounded a bit too intense for me. Having it modulate Amp only for one of the 4 Partials was more to my liking.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 2
Monday was a holiday. If it was a normal workday, I would have done the Leg session. However, I slept in a little late, and decided to skip training so I could shop at the grocery, eat lunch, and spend the majority of the day practicing on guitar, in preparation for a guitar-focused virtual teaching summit that I'm thinking of attending this weekend. Most of the practice time was devoted to Sean McGowan's arrangement of Have You Met Miss Jones, for solo fingerstyle guitar, which is a mix of single-note lines and chordal passages. I also practiced some riffs from Chapter 5 Grooves, from the Neo-Soul Guitar Book, because rhythm guitar is part of guitar playing and I don't want to neglect that aspect. I was able to get in a fair amount of practice until the Golfer's Elbow area started to feel sore - once that happened, I put the guitar away, because I don't want a full-blown flare up again.
For Tuesday, I warmed up with closed-chain elbow rotations, then played with Twisting Bear, Crab, and Twisting Bear to Crab transitions as shown in GMB's Shoulder Prehab article. My shoulder recovery progressed well in 2021, thanks to high-effort Shoulder Press on the Isochain, but I believe the GMB Elements practice that I did on my recovery days also helped. A lot of the Elements sessions featured Twisting Bear and Crab. I also practiced those two movements, among other Elements moves, as part of the shell warmup for Isochain training. What was new to me in the GMB article was the focus on internal-external shoulder rotation in Twisting Bear, as well as incorporating shoulder movement into closed-chain elbow rotation.
In the Wednesday session, I struggled again with the concentric phase of the Pike Pushup, in particular, shifting my weight away from my hands when I get stuck on the way back up. I set the P-Barz a little too far from the chairs for my first set. I moved the P-Barz closer for subsequent sets but I still could not figure out how to shift my weight back. On the bright side, even with the sloppy performance of the concentric, I still got a good workout on the eccentric, even having some fun letting the feet float a bit. The ideal form is for the hips to be above the shoulders and I got pretty close.
The reps I did for my pull up sets were: 8, 7, 6, 6. Thus I did 4 antagonist pair (pike pushup and pull up) sets, with 3 min. rest between each exercise.
Later in the afternoon, I got into pike pushup position and lowered myself to try to figure out how to shift my weight away from my hands when I get stuck on the concentric. I figured out that I need to pull my hips back. Hopefully on the next session, I won't forget to to shift the weight back to my hands as leverage makes the load feel light again, on the last quarter of the concentric movement.
I did a GMB Recovery session on Thursday. Apparently, GMB updated the Recovery program with more total sessions. When I logged onto the GMB site and selected the Recovery program, I was taken to the very first session in the program, which introduced the Iquana Walk and hand-assisted backward walk to Squat. I don't mind restarting Recovery. My only issue with Recovery is I keep forgetting to look for the lacross ball that I bought for the self-massage drill in the program.
For Leg session on Friday, I did 4 antagonist pair sets of assisted pistol squats and suspension hip hinges - which are also called "hip extensions" on the Red Delta Project Youtube channel. The rep numbers:
Assisted pistol squat: 3 3 3 4
Suspension hip hinge: 8 8 8 10
I applied the Backfill strategy taught by Red Delta Project, to spread out the reps more evenly from set to set. This looks like an improvement over how I did calisthenic exercise two years ago, which would be to push the reps for the first set, then do the rest of the workout with a significant reduction in reps for subsequent sets because I had expended too much for that first set.
Some Instagram finds:
J-Curl variations
Using Monkey to work on tuck planche, bent-arm stand, and other skills
Example preparatory movements for single-leg squats
For Tuesday, I warmed up with closed-chain elbow rotations, then played with Twisting Bear, Crab, and Twisting Bear to Crab transitions as shown in GMB's Shoulder Prehab article. My shoulder recovery progressed well in 2021, thanks to high-effort Shoulder Press on the Isochain, but I believe the GMB Elements practice that I did on my recovery days also helped. A lot of the Elements sessions featured Twisting Bear and Crab. I also practiced those two movements, among other Elements moves, as part of the shell warmup for Isochain training. What was new to me in the GMB article was the focus on internal-external shoulder rotation in Twisting Bear, as well as incorporating shoulder movement into closed-chain elbow rotation.
In the Wednesday session, I struggled again with the concentric phase of the Pike Pushup, in particular, shifting my weight away from my hands when I get stuck on the way back up. I set the P-Barz a little too far from the chairs for my first set. I moved the P-Barz closer for subsequent sets but I still could not figure out how to shift my weight back. On the bright side, even with the sloppy performance of the concentric, I still got a good workout on the eccentric, even having some fun letting the feet float a bit. The ideal form is for the hips to be above the shoulders and I got pretty close.
The reps I did for my pull up sets were: 8, 7, 6, 6. Thus I did 4 antagonist pair (pike pushup and pull up) sets, with 3 min. rest between each exercise.
Later in the afternoon, I got into pike pushup position and lowered myself to try to figure out how to shift my weight away from my hands when I get stuck on the concentric. I figured out that I need to pull my hips back. Hopefully on the next session, I won't forget to to shift the weight back to my hands as leverage makes the load feel light again, on the last quarter of the concentric movement.
I did a GMB Recovery session on Thursday. Apparently, GMB updated the Recovery program with more total sessions. When I logged onto the GMB site and selected the Recovery program, I was taken to the very first session in the program, which introduced the Iquana Walk and hand-assisted backward walk to Squat. I don't mind restarting Recovery. My only issue with Recovery is I keep forgetting to look for the lacross ball that I bought for the self-massage drill in the program.
For Leg session on Friday, I did 4 antagonist pair sets of assisted pistol squats and suspension hip hinges - which are also called "hip extensions" on the Red Delta Project Youtube channel. The rep numbers:
Assisted pistol squat: 3 3 3 4
Suspension hip hinge: 8 8 8 10
I applied the Backfill strategy taught by Red Delta Project, to spread out the reps more evenly from set to set. This looks like an improvement over how I did calisthenic exercise two years ago, which would be to push the reps for the first set, then do the rest of the workout with a significant reduction in reps for subsequent sets because I had expended too much for that first set.
Some Instagram finds:
J-Curl variations
Using Monkey to work on tuck planche, bent-arm stand, and other skills
Example preparatory movements for single-leg squats
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Hybrid GSCARVE: Week 1
This was the first week of my new exercise program, which I call Hybrid GSCARVE (Grind Style Calisthenics-Accommodating Resistance Vertical Emphasis). It combines ideas from the Grind Style Calisthenics method taught on the Red Delta Project Youtube channel and Mindful Mover's adaptation of Accommodating Resistance to calisthenics. I'll use GSC's Tension, Stability, Strength, and Finisher phases for my leg training. The Mindful Mover influence will be in the application of Accommodating Resistance to pike pushups and the exercise selection. Almost all execises are from the Mindful Mover Big 5, which have been found to deliver free gains in many other exercises.
The schedule will be:
I rewatched this video, in which Matt of Red Delta Project shared his updates to Grind Style Calisthenics. One thing I missed from earlier viewings of the video, is the recommendation to not use the same exercise for both the Strength and Finisher phases of GSC. For example, if you were doing pull ups for your Strength phase, doing an easier pull up variation for the Finisher phase is not recommended. What he recommends instead is to choose a different exercise, for your Finisher phase, that works the same tension chain as your Strength phase exercise. So if you did pull ups for Strength, do a row variation instead of pull ups for Finisher. The idea is change enough variables - bilateral vs. unilateral work, angle, cadence - to flood your system with new information. I'm not really keen on adding yet more muscle mass to my already large - for my size - thighs, so I will skip Finisher for my leg sessions. In my Upper Body sessions, I will do drop sets of push ups on the NOSSK, as the Finisher for the Pike Pushup; and drop sets of rows on the NOSSK as the finsher for Pull Ups. I believe I saw a post from Mindful Mover somewhere recommending being able to do a set of 10 pull ups before beginning training with Mixed Grip Chin Ups, which is the next exercise in the progression towards One-Arm Chin Up. If I do progress to Mixed-Grip Chin Up training, I probably won't do a pull-chain Finisher, because I don't want to risk a flareup of Golfer's Elbow but I'll see how it goes.
I also rewatched the RDP video on why Matt prefers close grip for pull ups. The reasons sound pretty good to me, and I am all for anything that is easier on the joints.
The Monday session went fine for a first Legs session. The first set of pistols required a lot of effort and were a bit sloppy, which was not a total surprise as I hadn't done pistols in almost 2 years. The 2nd and 3rd sets were better, because I increased the amount of assistance from the NOSSK, while trying to be mindful of not taking too much load away from the working leg. The hip extensions were about 6 reps per set. For finisher, I did a set of walking prisoner lunges, then a set of close squats, then a set of regular bodyweight squats. The legs, especially the quads were hit by DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) lasting several days.
The GMB Elements session for Tuesday focused on Baby Frogger and Bear to Crab transition. I did not try too hard to achieve Baby Frogger stalls, which are practically a Tuck Planche, as I had the heavy upper body session scheduled the very next day.
The Wednesday session was also fun and interesting. I set up the P-Barz parallettes in front of two armless chairs facing each other for the Pike Pushups, with the idea of putting my knees on the chairs, as that is the easiest variation shown in Mindful Mover's pike pushup video. My main fear that I had to overcome, was that I might drop too fast into the bottom of the pike pushup, and somehow hit my head on the floor. This fear went away with I did my first rep, and felt like I was in good control of the movement. In fact, the movement felt too easy. Also, the chairs started sliding because the legs have sliders on them to prevent scratching the hardwood floor. So I paused to move the chairs next to the wall to stop them from sliding, and finished the set trying to keep the feet instead of the knees on the chairs. The pike pushup felt too easy with my knees on the chairs, so I tried to shift my weight to my feet, when I needed to shift weight away from my hands. I was surprised to see my feet floating in the air, even for just a second or two, when I was in the bottom of the pike pushups. From the bottom position, when I started grinding the concentric, I kind of got stuck when I tried to shift my weight to my feet, to reduce the load from my hand just enough to continue the concentric. The problem was my hamstrings were not flexible enough to let my legs extend the feet to the chairs with enough leverage to take the load. Thus I ended up falling to my knees for a bit, before I got high enough in the pike pushup to shift more of the load back to the hands and get the knees off the chairs. So next time, I'll try setting up the P-Barz further away from the chairs, so that the angle of my legs to my torso will be greater, and thus tight hamstrings should be less likely to stop my legs from extending and applying pressure to the feet when I need to shift weight there.
It was a fun first pike push-up session AR, despite the hiccups. It's always more fun when you discover you're stronger than you thought you would be, after more than a year passing since the last time you did full-range pike push-ups, with the shoulders going down to the height of your hands. I finished my latest Isochain session with my 1-rep max in the Shoulder Press just under half bodyweight, so I did not think I would be this far up the pike pushup to handstand pushup progression. However, I did not account for my overhead pressing strength being greater at the lowest position of the Shoulder Press, which is also the lowest position of the pike pushup.
The pull-up session also went better than expected, despite not practicing pull-ups in a year. I got nowhere close to 8 pull-ups in one set last year, partly because the Golfer's Elbow bothered me more and my shoulder was not feeling that great. I felt the Golfer's Elbow a little this time around, but for most part, I was able to do the pull-ups without any pain as long as I focused on initiating the pull from between the shoulder blades and allowing the palms to turn with the movement.
By Thursday, I had upper body DOMS from the Wednesday session, as well as some lingering leg/glute DOMS from the Monday session. So, I decided to do a GMB Recovery session, instead of GMB Elements.
For the Friday leg session, I went lighter, by using more NOSSK assistance for the pistol squats and setting the foot slings lower for the hip extensions. I did 3 antagonist pair sets, and 4 pistol squat reps and 8 hip extension reps per set. For the Finisher phase, I tried a few reps of the plie and grand plie squats, from this ballet dancer exercises article. I tried them out of curiosity about how it feels to do those movements. My fitness goals are to achieve a handstand pushup, one-arm chin up, full planche push up, front lever row, and pistol squat with a 32kg kettlebell. I've had those goals since I saw B-Boy Junior flow into planche push ups with ease, saw Jackie Chan do handstand push ups, and learned about front lever and one-arm chin ups in the Dragondoor forum. Thus I bought into Mindful Mover's fitness methods when I realized their Big 5 matched my 5 goals. So, I don't know if those ballet dancer exercises are relevant to my goals. I might even get free gains from those exercises from Big 5 training and weighted mobility drills advocated by Mindful Mover, Tom Merrick and others. win a movie despite not being convinced I need to do them to reach my fitness goals.
In the afternoon, I tested myself a little to see if I would be comfortable with practicing pike pushups with the parallettes about 2 feet or more further away from the chair. I found I could indeed put enough of my weight onto my hands to move the feet back and forth on the chair. 2 years ago, I would have been shaking because working with this much weight on my hands was more difficult. I still have some DOMS from the Wednesday session but that's fine.
The schedule will be:
- Monday - Leg (Pistol Squat and Hip Extension)
- Tuesday - GMB Elements
- Wednesday - Vertical Upper Body (Pike Pushup and Pull Ups)
- Thursday - GMB Elements
- Friday - Leg
I rewatched this video, in which Matt of Red Delta Project shared his updates to Grind Style Calisthenics. One thing I missed from earlier viewings of the video, is the recommendation to not use the same exercise for both the Strength and Finisher phases of GSC. For example, if you were doing pull ups for your Strength phase, doing an easier pull up variation for the Finisher phase is not recommended. What he recommends instead is to choose a different exercise, for your Finisher phase, that works the same tension chain as your Strength phase exercise. So if you did pull ups for Strength, do a row variation instead of pull ups for Finisher. The idea is change enough variables - bilateral vs. unilateral work, angle, cadence - to flood your system with new information. I'm not really keen on adding yet more muscle mass to my already large - for my size - thighs, so I will skip Finisher for my leg sessions. In my Upper Body sessions, I will do drop sets of push ups on the NOSSK, as the Finisher for the Pike Pushup; and drop sets of rows on the NOSSK as the finsher for Pull Ups. I believe I saw a post from Mindful Mover somewhere recommending being able to do a set of 10 pull ups before beginning training with Mixed Grip Chin Ups, which is the next exercise in the progression towards One-Arm Chin Up. If I do progress to Mixed-Grip Chin Up training, I probably won't do a pull-chain Finisher, because I don't want to risk a flareup of Golfer's Elbow but I'll see how it goes.
I also rewatched the RDP video on why Matt prefers close grip for pull ups. The reasons sound pretty good to me, and I am all for anything that is easier on the joints.
The Monday session went fine for a first Legs session. The first set of pistols required a lot of effort and were a bit sloppy, which was not a total surprise as I hadn't done pistols in almost 2 years. The 2nd and 3rd sets were better, because I increased the amount of assistance from the NOSSK, while trying to be mindful of not taking too much load away from the working leg. The hip extensions were about 6 reps per set. For finisher, I did a set of walking prisoner lunges, then a set of close squats, then a set of regular bodyweight squats. The legs, especially the quads were hit by DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) lasting several days.
The GMB Elements session for Tuesday focused on Baby Frogger and Bear to Crab transition. I did not try too hard to achieve Baby Frogger stalls, which are practically a Tuck Planche, as I had the heavy upper body session scheduled the very next day.
The Wednesday session was also fun and interesting. I set up the P-Barz parallettes in front of two armless chairs facing each other for the Pike Pushups, with the idea of putting my knees on the chairs, as that is the easiest variation shown in Mindful Mover's pike pushup video. My main fear that I had to overcome, was that I might drop too fast into the bottom of the pike pushup, and somehow hit my head on the floor. This fear went away with I did my first rep, and felt like I was in good control of the movement. In fact, the movement felt too easy. Also, the chairs started sliding because the legs have sliders on them to prevent scratching the hardwood floor. So I paused to move the chairs next to the wall to stop them from sliding, and finished the set trying to keep the feet instead of the knees on the chairs. The pike pushup felt too easy with my knees on the chairs, so I tried to shift my weight to my feet, when I needed to shift weight away from my hands. I was surprised to see my feet floating in the air, even for just a second or two, when I was in the bottom of the pike pushups. From the bottom position, when I started grinding the concentric, I kind of got stuck when I tried to shift my weight to my feet, to reduce the load from my hand just enough to continue the concentric. The problem was my hamstrings were not flexible enough to let my legs extend the feet to the chairs with enough leverage to take the load. Thus I ended up falling to my knees for a bit, before I got high enough in the pike pushup to shift more of the load back to the hands and get the knees off the chairs. So next time, I'll try setting up the P-Barz further away from the chairs, so that the angle of my legs to my torso will be greater, and thus tight hamstrings should be less likely to stop my legs from extending and applying pressure to the feet when I need to shift weight there.
It was a fun first pike push-up session AR, despite the hiccups. It's always more fun when you discover you're stronger than you thought you would be, after more than a year passing since the last time you did full-range pike push-ups, with the shoulders going down to the height of your hands. I finished my latest Isochain session with my 1-rep max in the Shoulder Press just under half bodyweight, so I did not think I would be this far up the pike pushup to handstand pushup progression. However, I did not account for my overhead pressing strength being greater at the lowest position of the Shoulder Press, which is also the lowest position of the pike pushup.
The pull-up session also went better than expected, despite not practicing pull-ups in a year. I got nowhere close to 8 pull-ups in one set last year, partly because the Golfer's Elbow bothered me more and my shoulder was not feeling that great. I felt the Golfer's Elbow a little this time around, but for most part, I was able to do the pull-ups without any pain as long as I focused on initiating the pull from between the shoulder blades and allowing the palms to turn with the movement.
By Thursday, I had upper body DOMS from the Wednesday session, as well as some lingering leg/glute DOMS from the Monday session. So, I decided to do a GMB Recovery session, instead of GMB Elements.
For the Friday leg session, I went lighter, by using more NOSSK assistance for the pistol squats and setting the foot slings lower for the hip extensions. I did 3 antagonist pair sets, and 4 pistol squat reps and 8 hip extension reps per set. For the Finisher phase, I tried a few reps of the plie and grand plie squats, from this ballet dancer exercises article. I tried them out of curiosity about how it feels to do those movements. My fitness goals are to achieve a handstand pushup, one-arm chin up, full planche push up, front lever row, and pistol squat with a 32kg kettlebell. I've had those goals since I saw B-Boy Junior flow into planche push ups with ease, saw Jackie Chan do handstand push ups, and learned about front lever and one-arm chin ups in the Dragondoor forum. Thus I bought into Mindful Mover's fitness methods when I realized their Big 5 matched my 5 goals. So, I don't know if those ballet dancer exercises are relevant to my goals. I might even get free gains from those exercises from Big 5 training and weighted mobility drills advocated by Mindful Mover, Tom Merrick and others. win a movie despite not being convinced I need to do them to reach my fitness goals.
In the afternoon, I tested myself a little to see if I would be comfortable with practicing pike pushups with the parallettes about 2 feet or more further away from the chair. I found I could indeed put enough of my weight onto my hands to move the feet back and forth on the chair. 2 years ago, I would have been shaking because working with this much weight on my hands was more difficult. I still have some DOMS from the Wednesday session but that's fine.
Monday, February 14, 2022
Isochain 6x6: Week 6
I got off to a late start for my Monday session so my warmup was just 14 bodyweight basic squats and about 30 or so wall pushups. The Ultimate Isometrics Manual recommends a 5-minute warmup to raise the body's shell temperature - the "shell" includes the skin and limbs - then drill-specific warmups. So far I've found that drill-specific warmups only seem to be necessary for 1-rep max test sessions and the Promethean program, so I have not been doing those for 6x6. I have however found that skimping on the shell warmup seems to compromise performance on the Isochain, and Monday was no exception. While the Jefferson Lift numbers were same as always, there was a drop in last-rep max numbers for Shoulder Press and Drag Curl.
In the afternoon, I tried some pull-ups to test my shoulder and elbow. The shoulder felt fine as long as I kept the scapulae depressed. The elbow did not feel good with supinated palms, as expected for Golfer's Elbow. Pull ups with pronated palms all the way felt somewhat ok with extra focus and effort on the back-driven torque technique taught on the Red Delta Project channel. Pull ups with pronated palms in the bottom position, and rotating the palms to face each other at the top, felt the best - I still need to use the torgue technique to keep pressure off of the elbow, but I don't have to pour as much effort into that technique - which seems counterintuitive because on the surface, the palms appear to rotate inward instead of outward. Yet, pronated palms with arms extended to neutral or supinated palms at the top of the pull up feels best to me, so I have go with what feels best, and least painful. The reason I tried the pull-ups was to test my readiness for switching next week to a calisthenics program that includes pull ups. I feel more confident about practicing pull-ups again.
I finished the week with stronger performances in all 3 drills. I decided to end the 6x6 program instead of going for 8 weeks, as the rate of progress seemed to be settling rather than accelerating.
My biggest gain was in the Drag Curl, which was replacement for the Bent-Over Row after I felt the pop in my spine in Week 1. My last-rep max force reading for my first Drag Curl set that week was 37.2 lbs. Based on my last-rep max reading for the last Drag Curl session of 48.8 lbs, my strength gain was about 31%. Part of this gain was achieved by experimenting with lowering the Isochain bar. It turns out that the force output in the Drag Curl is actually greater with the elbows at closer to 45 degrees than at smaller degrees, where I thought the bicep contraction would be at their greatest.
My Shoulder Press gain was a more modest 15%. Most of the gain was from realizing that I can generate more force by locking out my knees and hips. When my shoulder was feeling less healthy, I was not even able to train with the elbows at 90 degrees and the arms greater than about 30 degrees from the sagittal plane. What I did to train pain-free was to set the bar slightly higher so that the elbows were closer to 120 degrees, and closer together, and slightly squatting so that the legs could assist a little. But now with the ability to train with the elbows at 90 degrees and a little wider apart, I can generate more force from the shoulders and make my torso and legs straight to give them a solid platform to work from. The most important shoulder press gain for me was the dramatic reduction in pain when reaching overhead, which is key to being able to do pull ups again.
The Jefferson Lift was just a drill I wanted to try out of curiosity. I have not heard of any carryover from Jefferson Lift to any of the Big 5 family skills as identified by Mindful Mover - Handstand Pushup, One-Arm Chin Up, Planche Push Up, Front Lever Row, Single-Leg Squat. Still, my curiosity was satisfied. I felt one leg working a little harder than the other, and I felt my core working as well, because of the anti-rotation aspect. However, I didn't feel the core working as hard as when I tried Pseudo Planche Push Up or Front Lever Row with Accommodating Resistance. My low back and hips felt better - not dramatically so, but noticeably better.
The plan next week is to start a calisthenics cycle emphasizing vertical push-pull and leg strength. The push-pull pair will be Pike Pushups with Accommodating Resistance, and Pull Ups, with potential transition to Mixed-Grip Chin Ups, depending on the Pull Up progress. The leg exercise pair will utilize the suspension trainer - assisted Pistol Squats and Hip Extensions. This cycle will last 8 weeks.
In the afternoon, I tried some pull-ups to test my shoulder and elbow. The shoulder felt fine as long as I kept the scapulae depressed. The elbow did not feel good with supinated palms, as expected for Golfer's Elbow. Pull ups with pronated palms all the way felt somewhat ok with extra focus and effort on the back-driven torque technique taught on the Red Delta Project channel. Pull ups with pronated palms in the bottom position, and rotating the palms to face each other at the top, felt the best - I still need to use the torgue technique to keep pressure off of the elbow, but I don't have to pour as much effort into that technique - which seems counterintuitive because on the surface, the palms appear to rotate inward instead of outward. Yet, pronated palms with arms extended to neutral or supinated palms at the top of the pull up feels best to me, so I have go with what feels best, and least painful. The reason I tried the pull-ups was to test my readiness for switching next week to a calisthenics program that includes pull ups. I feel more confident about practicing pull-ups again.
I finished the week with stronger performances in all 3 drills. I decided to end the 6x6 program instead of going for 8 weeks, as the rate of progress seemed to be settling rather than accelerating.
My biggest gain was in the Drag Curl, which was replacement for the Bent-Over Row after I felt the pop in my spine in Week 1. My last-rep max force reading for my first Drag Curl set that week was 37.2 lbs. Based on my last-rep max reading for the last Drag Curl session of 48.8 lbs, my strength gain was about 31%. Part of this gain was achieved by experimenting with lowering the Isochain bar. It turns out that the force output in the Drag Curl is actually greater with the elbows at closer to 45 degrees than at smaller degrees, where I thought the bicep contraction would be at their greatest.
My Shoulder Press gain was a more modest 15%. Most of the gain was from realizing that I can generate more force by locking out my knees and hips. When my shoulder was feeling less healthy, I was not even able to train with the elbows at 90 degrees and the arms greater than about 30 degrees from the sagittal plane. What I did to train pain-free was to set the bar slightly higher so that the elbows were closer to 120 degrees, and closer together, and slightly squatting so that the legs could assist a little. But now with the ability to train with the elbows at 90 degrees and a little wider apart, I can generate more force from the shoulders and make my torso and legs straight to give them a solid platform to work from. The most important shoulder press gain for me was the dramatic reduction in pain when reaching overhead, which is key to being able to do pull ups again.
The Jefferson Lift was just a drill I wanted to try out of curiosity. I have not heard of any carryover from Jefferson Lift to any of the Big 5 family skills as identified by Mindful Mover - Handstand Pushup, One-Arm Chin Up, Planche Push Up, Front Lever Row, Single-Leg Squat. Still, my curiosity was satisfied. I felt one leg working a little harder than the other, and I felt my core working as well, because of the anti-rotation aspect. However, I didn't feel the core working as hard as when I tried Pseudo Planche Push Up or Front Lever Row with Accommodating Resistance. My low back and hips felt better - not dramatically so, but noticeably better.
The plan next week is to start a calisthenics cycle emphasizing vertical push-pull and leg strength. The push-pull pair will be Pike Pushups with Accommodating Resistance, and Pull Ups, with potential transition to Mixed-Grip Chin Ups, depending on the Pull Up progress. The leg exercise pair will utilize the suspension trainer - assisted Pistol Squats and Hip Extensions. This cycle will last 8 weeks.
Sunday, February 06, 2022
Isochain 6x6: Week 5
Monday was 1-Rep Max testing day. Results in lbs:
Jefferson Lift: 237.3
Shoulder Press: 63.4
Drag Curl: 42.7
This was the first Isochain session with the new spring. Without the spring added to the chain, the nervous system limits the force of muscular contractions, because the chain will feel like an immovable load. This limit is referred to as "cortical inhibition". With the spring added, the nervous system will sense the chain being stretched when enough force is applied, and thus allow the muscles to exert more force. One fellow Isochain user reported that it takes about 110 lbs of force to stretch the spring, which led to discussion among other fellow users. If you cannot stretch the spring while exerting as much force as you can for a particular drill, it is as if the spring is not there at all. You can still train productively on the Isochain, but because of cortical inhibition, your progress won't be as fast as it will be on drills where you are strong enough to exert the minimum 110 lbs. of force. So naturally, this led to discussion about trying replacement springs that will stretch at lower force levels. The spring that comes with Isochain is said to have a 1000 lb. force capacity. Thus, I ordered a spring with 700 lb. force capacity. It cost $17, which I felt was a reasonable price for experimentation. The experiment of course is to see if progress in drills, where my 1-rep Max is less than 110 lbs., will be sped up by training with the lighter-capacity spring.
The 1-Rep Max results the two upper body drills reflect progress that is satisfactory to me. I used the lighter spring for testing these drills but did not feel the spring stretch. So the minimum force to stretch the spring, and thus reduce cortical inhibition more dramatically, must be greater than 64.4 lbs., which is the highest measurement I got for a single attempt - out of the 3 attempts recommended for testing.
I felt my Golfer's Elbow flare up when I first started testing my Drag Curl. I then realized I had set the bar a little too high. The lighter spring is longer than the heavier one that came with the Isochain. Lowering the bar made it easier to engage the shoulder rotators, upper back, etc. muscles to take the load off the elbows.
I'm still figuring out how to position my body in the Jefferson Lift so that I can productively stimulate gains, while minimizing risk of injury. It will be a while before I feel comfortable enough to put out more force. I don't feel any pain while practicing the drill but I'm still a little afraid that I might injure something if I pull too hard, even though I've read the Jefferson Lift articles assuring how good this lift is for people with back pain. I guess one could say a different type of neurological inhibition is in play here.
Wednesday session went well, with the new target loads for the 3 drills as set by Monday's testing - 70% of 1-rep max for each drill.
Friday session went even better. My last rep max in the Shoulder Press was 62.8 lbs. I did not expect to progress this close to my 1-rep max so soon. I had a feeling that I could shift the load a little more from the forearms to the biceps in the Drag Curl if I lowered the bar a bit. So I lowered the bar by 2 chain links. My last rep max was 47.6 lbs - so I already beat my 1-rep max! Just getting the biceps to work a little more, by changing the bar height, resulted in a 7 lb. increase!
My Jefferson Lift max numbers continue to be in the 250lb. range. Still figuring out the body positioning that will maximize safety, especially for my suspect low back and hips. This lift seems much safer than most other deadlift variations, but I'm being cautious nonetheless.
Some finds:
The Bioneer's new leg exercise video. Some exercises are familiar to me like Pistol Squat and Glute Bridge. Weighted Jump Squat is less familiar - interesting that the recommended weight is 30% of bodyweight.
The Cultured Food Life website encouraged me to start making my own kombucha and kefir. Their article on hesperidin is encouraging me to get an orange squeezer and start making fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Jefferson Lift: 237.3
Shoulder Press: 63.4
Drag Curl: 42.7
This was the first Isochain session with the new spring. Without the spring added to the chain, the nervous system limits the force of muscular contractions, because the chain will feel like an immovable load. This limit is referred to as "cortical inhibition". With the spring added, the nervous system will sense the chain being stretched when enough force is applied, and thus allow the muscles to exert more force. One fellow Isochain user reported that it takes about 110 lbs of force to stretch the spring, which led to discussion among other fellow users. If you cannot stretch the spring while exerting as much force as you can for a particular drill, it is as if the spring is not there at all. You can still train productively on the Isochain, but because of cortical inhibition, your progress won't be as fast as it will be on drills where you are strong enough to exert the minimum 110 lbs. of force. So naturally, this led to discussion about trying replacement springs that will stretch at lower force levels. The spring that comes with Isochain is said to have a 1000 lb. force capacity. Thus, I ordered a spring with 700 lb. force capacity. It cost $17, which I felt was a reasonable price for experimentation. The experiment of course is to see if progress in drills, where my 1-rep Max is less than 110 lbs., will be sped up by training with the lighter-capacity spring.
The 1-Rep Max results the two upper body drills reflect progress that is satisfactory to me. I used the lighter spring for testing these drills but did not feel the spring stretch. So the minimum force to stretch the spring, and thus reduce cortical inhibition more dramatically, must be greater than 64.4 lbs., which is the highest measurement I got for a single attempt - out of the 3 attempts recommended for testing.
I felt my Golfer's Elbow flare up when I first started testing my Drag Curl. I then realized I had set the bar a little too high. The lighter spring is longer than the heavier one that came with the Isochain. Lowering the bar made it easier to engage the shoulder rotators, upper back, etc. muscles to take the load off the elbows.
I'm still figuring out how to position my body in the Jefferson Lift so that I can productively stimulate gains, while minimizing risk of injury. It will be a while before I feel comfortable enough to put out more force. I don't feel any pain while practicing the drill but I'm still a little afraid that I might injure something if I pull too hard, even though I've read the Jefferson Lift articles assuring how good this lift is for people with back pain. I guess one could say a different type of neurological inhibition is in play here.
Wednesday session went well, with the new target loads for the 3 drills as set by Monday's testing - 70% of 1-rep max for each drill.
Friday session went even better. My last rep max in the Shoulder Press was 62.8 lbs. I did not expect to progress this close to my 1-rep max so soon. I had a feeling that I could shift the load a little more from the forearms to the biceps in the Drag Curl if I lowered the bar a bit. So I lowered the bar by 2 chain links. My last rep max was 47.6 lbs - so I already beat my 1-rep max! Just getting the biceps to work a little more, by changing the bar height, resulted in a 7 lb. increase!
My Jefferson Lift max numbers continue to be in the 250lb. range. Still figuring out the body positioning that will maximize safety, especially for my suspect low back and hips. This lift seems much safer than most other deadlift variations, but I'm being cautious nonetheless.
Some finds:
The Bioneer's new leg exercise video. Some exercises are familiar to me like Pistol Squat and Glute Bridge. Weighted Jump Squat is less familiar - interesting that the recommended weight is 30% of bodyweight.
The Cultured Food Life website encouraged me to start making my own kombucha and kefir. Their article on hesperidin is encouraging me to get an orange squeezer and start making fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Wednesday, February 02, 2022
Isochain 6x6: Week 4
The week got off to a strong start, with a 291.2 lb max reading for the right side of Jefferson Lift, a 41 lb. change from Friday, and 59.8 lb max reading in the Shoulder Press, about a 10 lb. change from Friday despite raising the target load to 40lbs. Drag Curl max was 37 lbs., which is 2 lbs. down from Friday - which was more like what I expected with the target load raise to 28 lbs. The Jefferson Lift is an exercise I'm still exploring, searching for the foot and grip positioning that will make the most sense.
One thing I changed for the Shoulder Press was to straighten my legs, locking out my knees and hips. I thought that I could get higher force output by pushing with my legs, glutes, etc. and adding the power of my lower body to the force generated by my upper body muscles such as my shoulders and arms. I had been using this approach since I got the Isochain. Instead, straightening my legs, tucking in my tailbone, and squeezing my butt to make my legs and torso straight and tight as possible resulted in about a 10 lb. increase in force.
Since I'm new to the Jefferson Lift, I searched the Web to see how people are coaching this exercise. I eventually found this article on the USAWA site. USAWA organizes competitions in which you can compete in the Jefferson Lift and other "odd lifts" found in the USAWA rule book. The article mentions two ways the shoulders can be aligned with respect to the bar - perpendicular to the bar and parallel to the bar. Until Wednesday of this week, I had the Isochain bar neither parallel nor perpedicular - more like 45 degrees to the shoulders. I was also setting my feet about 90 degrees from one another with the working foot perpendicular to the bar. I then changed to the parallel foot alignmnent after rereading the Dave Dellanave article and reviewing the video in the article. Thus for the Wednesday session, I trained with the shoulders parallel to bar, parallel feet with the bar about 45 degrees to the feet, narrower grip, and the toes up to the edge of the plate. This combination did not result in a dramatic change of force output, but the likelihood of the knees, shoulders, or anything in the core (back, hips, etc.) being pulled out of aligment into pain felt greatly reduced. Under previous approaches, I always felt like my knees could collapse inwards if I didn't focus intensely on pulling them outwards. I did feel some soreness around the MCL part of the knees after some 6x6 sessions, which led me to pay more attention to keeping those knees flexing outwards.
For the Friday session, I tried raising the Shoulder Press target load to 44lbs. I did the first 6-sec. hold rep or two fine. By the 3rd rep, I lowered the load back to 42lbs. because I was unable to complete the 6-sec. hold. I also raised the target load for the Drag Curl and was able to do the full 6x6 set at a target load of 30lbs.
One thing I changed for the Shoulder Press was to straighten my legs, locking out my knees and hips. I thought that I could get higher force output by pushing with my legs, glutes, etc. and adding the power of my lower body to the force generated by my upper body muscles such as my shoulders and arms. I had been using this approach since I got the Isochain. Instead, straightening my legs, tucking in my tailbone, and squeezing my butt to make my legs and torso straight and tight as possible resulted in about a 10 lb. increase in force.
Since I'm new to the Jefferson Lift, I searched the Web to see how people are coaching this exercise. I eventually found this article on the USAWA site. USAWA organizes competitions in which you can compete in the Jefferson Lift and other "odd lifts" found in the USAWA rule book. The article mentions two ways the shoulders can be aligned with respect to the bar - perpendicular to the bar and parallel to the bar. Until Wednesday of this week, I had the Isochain bar neither parallel nor perpedicular - more like 45 degrees to the shoulders. I was also setting my feet about 90 degrees from one another with the working foot perpendicular to the bar. I then changed to the parallel foot alignmnent after rereading the Dave Dellanave article and reviewing the video in the article. Thus for the Wednesday session, I trained with the shoulders parallel to bar, parallel feet with the bar about 45 degrees to the feet, narrower grip, and the toes up to the edge of the plate. This combination did not result in a dramatic change of force output, but the likelihood of the knees, shoulders, or anything in the core (back, hips, etc.) being pulled out of aligment into pain felt greatly reduced. Under previous approaches, I always felt like my knees could collapse inwards if I didn't focus intensely on pulling them outwards. I did feel some soreness around the MCL part of the knees after some 6x6 sessions, which led me to pay more attention to keeping those knees flexing outwards.
For the Friday session, I tried raising the Shoulder Press target load to 44lbs. I did the first 6-sec. hold rep or two fine. By the 3rd rep, I lowered the load back to 42lbs. because I was unable to complete the 6-sec. hold. I also raised the target load for the Drag Curl and was able to do the full 6x6 set at a target load of 30lbs.
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Some current Music Self-Improvement activities
I did not make any New Year's resolutions, but I do occasionally settle on particular topics to focus my music studies.
One of these is increasing my jazz vocabulary on electric violin. I've spent a tiny amount of time messing with some jazz licks on violin. The process of acquiring and absorbing jazz vocabulary is not a fast process for me by any means on the guitar or the piano. This process has been much, much slower on the violin and viola for me, due to the challenges imposed by learning how to use the bow - which has never been intuitive for me - and the fretless fingerboard. I finally bought a fretted electric violin late last year, which dramatically reduced the effort of locating notes in the fingerboard. This is really key because jazz vocabulary includes a lot of enclosures. I find chromatic phrasing like this to be particularly difficult to practice on fretless instruments.
One new activity I look forward to is learning Stuff Smith's After You've Gone solo, as transcribed and taught by Gabriel Bismut here:
I'm not sure if I'm going to bother working all the way up to the insane BPM that Stuff played the solo, but even practicing a few bars from the solo at a time to some kind of metronome should be very beneficial. I also started learning - on both violin and piano - the Clifford Brown solo on Sandu, which is mentioned here:
The solos mentioned in the video, including the Sandu one, appear in Soundslice form on this page on the Open Studio, which is really nice because fast passages are harder to learn than slower one. Soundslice's tools are easy to use to select a section of the solo to loop and reduce the playback speed of that loop so that it is easier to pick out the notes in faster passages.
Freddie The Freeloader is another of the 3 songs mentioned in the Easy Way To Get Good At Music video. Chris Haigh has a pretty good lesson video on how to play it - between his video and the Wynton Kelly Soundslice - we have more than enough information to play this tune and improvise on it.
I still like playing guitar and I'll continue to pick up one of my guitars from time to time. Lately, however, I've been spending more time with synthesizers and keyboards, so it just makes sense to improve my skills on the keys. During Black Friday sales, I purchased several piano courses from Open Studio Jazz, mostly the ones taught by Adam Maness, because I like his teaching style. A generous selection of lesson materials from Open Studio is available for free on their Youtube channel. However, I don't mind supporting them financially by purchasing their courses. Also their paid courses come with Soundslice-enabled features and I think extra PDF files. For now I'm working with the Jazz Chords for Beginners and Bebop Enclosuers for Beginners courses. My primary interest in playing piano/keyboards is improving my chord vocabulary, so the choice of the former was a no-brainer. As for the latter, I think it'll be good for improving my ability to play melodies on the keys, and should also help my violin playing as long as I also practice this stuff on the violin. Stuff Smith "After You've Gone" solo transcription and lesson I'm currently 10:42 into Bebop Enclosures, 9:43 into JCB Rooted 5-note Voicings Lesson 1
One of these is increasing my jazz vocabulary on electric violin. I've spent a tiny amount of time messing with some jazz licks on violin. The process of acquiring and absorbing jazz vocabulary is not a fast process for me by any means on the guitar or the piano. This process has been much, much slower on the violin and viola for me, due to the challenges imposed by learning how to use the bow - which has never been intuitive for me - and the fretless fingerboard. I finally bought a fretted electric violin late last year, which dramatically reduced the effort of locating notes in the fingerboard. This is really key because jazz vocabulary includes a lot of enclosures. I find chromatic phrasing like this to be particularly difficult to practice on fretless instruments.
One new activity I look forward to is learning Stuff Smith's After You've Gone solo, as transcribed and taught by Gabriel Bismut here:
I'm not sure if I'm going to bother working all the way up to the insane BPM that Stuff played the solo, but even practicing a few bars from the solo at a time to some kind of metronome should be very beneficial. I also started learning - on both violin and piano - the Clifford Brown solo on Sandu, which is mentioned here:
The solos mentioned in the video, including the Sandu one, appear in Soundslice form on this page on the Open Studio, which is really nice because fast passages are harder to learn than slower one. Soundslice's tools are easy to use to select a section of the solo to loop and reduce the playback speed of that loop so that it is easier to pick out the notes in faster passages.
Freddie The Freeloader is another of the 3 songs mentioned in the Easy Way To Get Good At Music video. Chris Haigh has a pretty good lesson video on how to play it - between his video and the Wynton Kelly Soundslice - we have more than enough information to play this tune and improvise on it.
I still like playing guitar and I'll continue to pick up one of my guitars from time to time. Lately, however, I've been spending more time with synthesizers and keyboards, so it just makes sense to improve my skills on the keys. During Black Friday sales, I purchased several piano courses from Open Studio Jazz, mostly the ones taught by Adam Maness, because I like his teaching style. A generous selection of lesson materials from Open Studio is available for free on their Youtube channel. However, I don't mind supporting them financially by purchasing their courses. Also their paid courses come with Soundslice-enabled features and I think extra PDF files. For now I'm working with the Jazz Chords for Beginners and Bebop Enclosuers for Beginners courses. My primary interest in playing piano/keyboards is improving my chord vocabulary, so the choice of the former was a no-brainer. As for the latter, I think it'll be good for improving my ability to play melodies on the keys, and should also help my violin playing as long as I also practice this stuff on the violin. Stuff Smith "After You've Gone" solo transcription and lesson I'm currently 10:42 into Bebop Enclosures, 9:43 into JCB Rooted 5-note Voicings Lesson 1
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Isochain 6x6: Week 3
The book The Ultimate Isometrics Manual by Paul Wade states that for each rep of high-tension isometric exercise, a 6-second hold produces maximum strength gains according to scientific research. The book also states that 6 reps of 6-second holds is optimal for strength gains, mosty based on a chart by researcher Verkoshansky which appears in Supertraining, the well-respected book he co-authored with Mel Siff. Thus the 6x6 Program in the Ultimate Isometrics Manual is based on this ideal rep-hold scheme. The 6x6 guidelines say to measure your 1-rep Max values using the 1-Rep Max protocol in the book, then train with target loads set to 70% of your 1RM values. They also say to retest your 1-Rep Max every 2-4 weeks. So I began the week with the Monday session spent on 1-Rep Max testing.
The results in pounds:
Jefferson Lift - 240.33
Shoulder Press - 50.6
Drag Curl - 36.93
Based on the results, these will be the new target loads in pounds, which are roughly 70% of the above values:
Jefferton Lift - 170. Rounded up from 168.231
Shoulder Press - 36. 70% is 35.42, but I decided to round up instead of down
Drag Curl - 26. Rounded up from 25.851
The apparently loss of shoulder press strength was disappointing, but not entirely surprising. My low back did not feel fully recovered from the injury last week. Effort in the shoulder press did not add pain to the lower back. I paid attention to not tucking in my tailbone. Some people can cheat on the shoulder press by tucking in the tailbone and thus leaning back and adding their back strength to the press, so I tried to avoid that. Still, the thought of avoiding aggravating the back may have caused me to hold back from a true maximal effort shoulder press. All I can do is work at the lower target load, compared to last week, and continue practicing scapular protraction, squeezing the bar harder, and firing up the triceps more.
The Wednesday session began with my lower back feeling much better. This seemed to have been reflected in my performance in the 3 drills. The max force readings upon the last rep of each of the 3 drills were higher than my official 1-rep max values, despite the Jefferson Lift set making me sweat and feel a little fatigued before I did my Shoulder Press and Drag Curl sets.
For the Friday session, I decided to skip the 5-min. "shell warmup" period recommended by Ultimate Isometrics Manual because I figured doing the Jefferson Lift set first would warm up my body by itself. I also decided to raise my Shoulder Press target load to 38 lbs., in recognition of my offical 1RM values being temporarily lowered by the back injury. I still got a max force reading of 49.4, which is very close to the official 1RM of 50.6. I then decided to raise the target load to 40 lbs. for the next Monday session. My Drag Curl last-rep max reading of 39.1 was a little lower than what I scored Wednesday, but it was still higher than the official 1RM of 36.93. So I decided to raise the target load to 28 lbs. for the Monday session. I'm being a little more cautious about how quickly I raise the target load for this drill because my Golfer's Elbow isn't entirely gone and could flare up if I gamble too much with any bicep curl. The 6x6 guidelines seem to say that I should stay at the same target load until the next 1RM test but, again, my latest 1RM values were lowered by the back injury so I'm allowing modest raises whenever a 6x6 set feels a little too easy.
Instagram finds:
Mindful Mover on training at Rate Of Progress
Eduardo Orihuela on Locomotion Exercises for Handstand Training
Eduardo Orihuela on Improving Handstand Balance for HSPU
Some information on Nordic Curl, the exercise I plan to pair with Pistol Squat for my next calisthenics cycle:
Reddit post on Nordic Curl: What it is, why do do it, etc.
Nordic Curl using Yoga Strap and Door
The results in pounds:
Jefferson Lift - 240.33
Shoulder Press - 50.6
Drag Curl - 36.93
Based on the results, these will be the new target loads in pounds, which are roughly 70% of the above values:
Jefferton Lift - 170. Rounded up from 168.231
Shoulder Press - 36. 70% is 35.42, but I decided to round up instead of down
Drag Curl - 26. Rounded up from 25.851
The apparently loss of shoulder press strength was disappointing, but not entirely surprising. My low back did not feel fully recovered from the injury last week. Effort in the shoulder press did not add pain to the lower back. I paid attention to not tucking in my tailbone. Some people can cheat on the shoulder press by tucking in the tailbone and thus leaning back and adding their back strength to the press, so I tried to avoid that. Still, the thought of avoiding aggravating the back may have caused me to hold back from a true maximal effort shoulder press. All I can do is work at the lower target load, compared to last week, and continue practicing scapular protraction, squeezing the bar harder, and firing up the triceps more.
The Wednesday session began with my lower back feeling much better. This seemed to have been reflected in my performance in the 3 drills. The max force readings upon the last rep of each of the 3 drills were higher than my official 1-rep max values, despite the Jefferson Lift set making me sweat and feel a little fatigued before I did my Shoulder Press and Drag Curl sets.
For the Friday session, I decided to skip the 5-min. "shell warmup" period recommended by Ultimate Isometrics Manual because I figured doing the Jefferson Lift set first would warm up my body by itself. I also decided to raise my Shoulder Press target load to 38 lbs., in recognition of my offical 1RM values being temporarily lowered by the back injury. I still got a max force reading of 49.4, which is very close to the official 1RM of 50.6. I then decided to raise the target load to 40 lbs. for the next Monday session. My Drag Curl last-rep max reading of 39.1 was a little lower than what I scored Wednesday, but it was still higher than the official 1RM of 36.93. So I decided to raise the target load to 28 lbs. for the Monday session. I'm being a little more cautious about how quickly I raise the target load for this drill because my Golfer's Elbow isn't entirely gone and could flare up if I gamble too much with any bicep curl. The 6x6 guidelines seem to say that I should stay at the same target load until the next 1RM test but, again, my latest 1RM values were lowered by the back injury so I'm allowing modest raises whenever a 6x6 set feels a little too easy.
Instagram finds:
Mindful Mover on training at Rate Of Progress
Eduardo Orihuela on Locomotion Exercises for Handstand Training
Eduardo Orihuela on Improving Handstand Balance for HSPU
Some information on Nordic Curl, the exercise I plan to pair with Pistol Squat for my next calisthenics cycle:
Reddit post on Nordic Curl: What it is, why do do it, etc.
Nordic Curl using Yoga Strap and Door
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Octatrack Gain Staging Chart
The Octactrack is a wonderful machine, but gain staging is one knowledge area in which users have been known to struggle, including myself.
On the Elektronauts forum, sezare is one of the legit gurus of this machine. Here is an excellent post that includes a chart of the gain stages for an Octatrack.
The same thread is said to be worth reviewing from this post onward.
Interesting article on using chord samples with sample chaining.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Isochain 6x6 Week 2
The week began with the low back still feeling sore from the injury last week. My performance in the shoulder press was a little compromised because I could feel my low back working to keep my body upright and maintain the floor-to-hands pressure while I did the shoulder press. I did not want to risk aggravating the back by pushing too hard.
By Wednesday morning, the back felt better, so I felt more confident about pushing harder on the shoulder press. The max force reading on my 6th, and final rep was 52.2 lbs, which was a new high at the 40 lb. target load. I decided to raise the target load by 2 lbs. for the Friday session. I also saw a performance jump in the drag curl, with a max reading of 41 lbs, up from a 33 lb. reading on Monday.
I changed my mind a couple of times about exercise selection for the 3rd and 4th exercises of this 6x6 routine. I finally decided to replace the Zercher Lunge with the Jefferson Deadlift, which is also called Straddle Lift in the Ultimate Isometric Manual, and have only 3 exercises instead of 4 because the Jefferson DL as an asymmetrical exercise takes more time than symmetrical ones like the shoulder press and regular deadlift. The Zercher Lunge looks like it would have more direct carryover to the Shrimp Squat and Pistol Squat because of the angle of the working ankle, knee, and hip. However working on it under 6x6 protocol seems to fatigue my legs enough that they feel prematurely sore when I try practicing the ATG Split Squat for mobility. I figure the Jefferson DL won't have the same effect. Also I have been curious about the reported benefits. As an anti-rotational exercise it's supposed to activate the obliques and multifidus to a high degree. It also introduces less shear force on the spine than the regular deadlift and has been known to help people with back pain work towards a regular deadlift.
Wednesday morning was my first trial of the Jefferson DL, with the target load set to a very conservative 100lbs. I was of course tentative for the first 3 reps because I didn't want to mess up my back. As my confidence grew, I was able to exert more and more force without feeling any increase in back pain. I was able to connect my fingers to my upper back while maintaining mixed grip, so that I did not feel any elbow pain. I played with hand positioning on the bar, and decided to grip near the bar ends, so that I would be less likely to rest my front hand on my thigh. I chose parallel feet alignment because of Mark Wildman's influence, who favors parallel feet for just about all kettlebell and heavy club training, because he feels trainees are too susceptible to allowing the knees to collapse inward otherwise. Before applying force, I make sure my shoulders were mostly in line with my hips. They're not perfectly in line because one hand is in front and the other hand is behind for holding the bar, but close enough that I did not feel any twist in the spine. The exercise felt good enough to keep it in my 6x6 routine. On one side I got a max force reading of 193.8 lbs on the final rep, and 248 lbs. on the other side.
The Friday session went smoothly. Shoulder press and drag curl max force readings on the final rep were down from Wednesday, as expected by the 2 lb. raise in target loads. This time I set a target load of 160 lbs. for the Jefferson Lift. This was sort of an arbitrary choice, as there was such a disparity between the max readings of each side on the Wednesday session. 70% of 194lbs seemed low for a target load. 70% of 200lbs would be 140lbs. which still looked low. Another change from Wednesday was turning the feet out, so that they were closer to 90 degrees from each other. This was because all the instructional articles and videos on the Jefferson Lift I could find advised the 90 degree angle. I did feel a stronger activation of muscle groups, particularly the glutes and hip adductors, compared to the parallel feet alignment. Last rep max force readings were 207.6 left-side and 215.8 right-side. In my training log, I will try to stick to a convention of left-side meaning the left foot is in front of the bar.
Later I tried a couple of pullups to see how my elbow and shoulder felt. I felt the Golfer's Elbow flare up a little on the first rep. By the last couple of test reps, I was able to eliminate the elbow pain by really focusing on pulling through my little fingers from the back. The shoulder however was not quite ready for brachial hang. I will wait until my very last training session under the current 6x6 program to test how my shoulder elbow and feel during pullups and hanging.
Some Instagram posts from Mindful Mover and Eduardo Orihuela that I'm saving here for future reference.
3 Stretches that will benefit anyone
Front Split
Weighted ATG Split Squat
Weighted Seated Good Morning
Eagle Hang Nordic Leg Curl
How To Get Into Ring Handstand
Nordic Leg Curl Mistakes
More Weighted Mobility Exercise variations
I changed my mind a couple of times about exercise selection for the 3rd and 4th exercises of this 6x6 routine. I finally decided to replace the Zercher Lunge with the Jefferson Deadlift, which is also called Straddle Lift in the Ultimate Isometric Manual, and have only 3 exercises instead of 4 because the Jefferson DL as an asymmetrical exercise takes more time than symmetrical ones like the shoulder press and regular deadlift. The Zercher Lunge looks like it would have more direct carryover to the Shrimp Squat and Pistol Squat because of the angle of the working ankle, knee, and hip. However working on it under 6x6 protocol seems to fatigue my legs enough that they feel prematurely sore when I try practicing the ATG Split Squat for mobility. I figure the Jefferson DL won't have the same effect. Also I have been curious about the reported benefits. As an anti-rotational exercise it's supposed to activate the obliques and multifidus to a high degree. It also introduces less shear force on the spine than the regular deadlift and has been known to help people with back pain work towards a regular deadlift.
Wednesday morning was my first trial of the Jefferson DL, with the target load set to a very conservative 100lbs. I was of course tentative for the first 3 reps because I didn't want to mess up my back. As my confidence grew, I was able to exert more and more force without feeling any increase in back pain. I was able to connect my fingers to my upper back while maintaining mixed grip, so that I did not feel any elbow pain. I played with hand positioning on the bar, and decided to grip near the bar ends, so that I would be less likely to rest my front hand on my thigh. I chose parallel feet alignment because of Mark Wildman's influence, who favors parallel feet for just about all kettlebell and heavy club training, because he feels trainees are too susceptible to allowing the knees to collapse inward otherwise. Before applying force, I make sure my shoulders were mostly in line with my hips. They're not perfectly in line because one hand is in front and the other hand is behind for holding the bar, but close enough that I did not feel any twist in the spine. The exercise felt good enough to keep it in my 6x6 routine. On one side I got a max force reading of 193.8 lbs on the final rep, and 248 lbs. on the other side.
The Friday session went smoothly. Shoulder press and drag curl max force readings on the final rep were down from Wednesday, as expected by the 2 lb. raise in target loads. This time I set a target load of 160 lbs. for the Jefferson Lift. This was sort of an arbitrary choice, as there was such a disparity between the max readings of each side on the Wednesday session. 70% of 194lbs seemed low for a target load. 70% of 200lbs would be 140lbs. which still looked low. Another change from Wednesday was turning the feet out, so that they were closer to 90 degrees from each other. This was because all the instructional articles and videos on the Jefferson Lift I could find advised the 90 degree angle. I did feel a stronger activation of muscle groups, particularly the glutes and hip adductors, compared to the parallel feet alignment. Last rep max force readings were 207.6 left-side and 215.8 right-side. In my training log, I will try to stick to a convention of left-side meaning the left foot is in front of the bar.
Later I tried a couple of pullups to see how my elbow and shoulder felt. I felt the Golfer's Elbow flare up a little on the first rep. By the last couple of test reps, I was able to eliminate the elbow pain by really focusing on pulling through my little fingers from the back. The shoulder however was not quite ready for brachial hang. I will wait until my very last training session under the current 6x6 program to test how my shoulder elbow and feel during pullups and hanging.
Some Instagram posts from Mindful Mover and Eduardo Orihuela that I'm saving here for future reference.
3 Stretches that will benefit anyone
Front Split
Weighted ATG Split Squat
Weighted Seated Good Morning
Eagle Hang Nordic Leg Curl
How To Get Into Ring Handstand
Nordic Leg Curl Mistakes
More Weighted Mobility Exercise variations
Sunday, January 09, 2022
Isochain 6x6 Week 1
This first week of Isochain-only training started smoothly enough. The Monday session felt good for a first Isochain session in months. Zercher Lunge was the most challenging for me as I'd set the bar low to force my thighs to be parallel to the ground, or at least close to parallel. I was able do all 6 reps of 6-second holds on my left leg. I failed to trigger the 55lb. target for a couple of reps on my right leg.
The Wednesday session though was rough. Before Isochain training, I went outside with a shovel to clear the sidewalk. My body felt fine after the shoveling. Because of the time used up shoveling and my legs still feeling kind of fried from the Monday Zercher Lunge session, I skipped Zercher Lunge and started with Shoulder Press instead, which felt fine. Bent-over Row was where I ran into trouble. I felt something snap in my back, with immediate pain. I think it was because my core muscles - abs, low back, etc. - had not recovered from the snow shoveling and thus could not handle the load of the Bent-over Row. I think I may have been folded my torso a little too far forward. Because of my low back injury history and this latest addition to that history, I decided to drop Bent-Arm Row from my 6x6 routine.
By Saturday morning, my back felt a little better, though still stiff and sore from lying in bed to sleep. A short walk in the neighborhood was enough to warm up the body for Isochain work and loosen up the back just enough. I felt my low back working when I did the Shoulder Press - with pain being maybe a 2-3 out of 10. After the set though, it felt fine.
I then moved on to the Drag Curl, the drill I chose to replace Bent-over Row. Drag Curl stresses the low back much less than the Bent-over Row. I'm sure gains from Drag Curl will carry over to bodyweight pull ups and rows. It will be interesting to see how much. I set the target load to 15lbs because I was going to try reverse grip and I know my reverse-grip curl is weak. But I had forgotten how uncomfortable this exercise is with reverse grip. I flipped my palms and finished the set doing the regular palms-up curl. I had not done the 1-Rep Max protocol for measuring 1-rep max for Drag Curl, so I had to pick an arbitrary target load for this drill, for this session. For my last rep, the Isochain reported a max force of 37.2 lbs. 6x6 says to train at 70% of 1-rep max, which would be around 26lbs, so my next target load will be 26lbs.
I tried Zercher Lunge at a higher position because I figured it would be easer on the legs, which had feel sore all week. I felt the low back working when I attempted the higher position Zercher Lunge. So I decided not to gamble with the low back and temporarily replace Zercher Lunge with high-position Deadlift under the Iron Man protocol. This protocol has the target load as low as 20% of 1-rep max, with an objective to hold for 90s or 120s. Low load with emphasis on endurance is the combo that has historically worked for rehab. So I'll do 1 rep of 90s of high-position deadlift to finish my Isochain workout, and drop the Zercher Lunge set, until the back feels good.
The Wednesday session though was rough. Before Isochain training, I went outside with a shovel to clear the sidewalk. My body felt fine after the shoveling. Because of the time used up shoveling and my legs still feeling kind of fried from the Monday Zercher Lunge session, I skipped Zercher Lunge and started with Shoulder Press instead, which felt fine. Bent-over Row was where I ran into trouble. I felt something snap in my back, with immediate pain. I think it was because my core muscles - abs, low back, etc. - had not recovered from the snow shoveling and thus could not handle the load of the Bent-over Row. I think I may have been folded my torso a little too far forward. Because of my low back injury history and this latest addition to that history, I decided to drop Bent-Arm Row from my 6x6 routine.
By Saturday morning, my back felt a little better, though still stiff and sore from lying in bed to sleep. A short walk in the neighborhood was enough to warm up the body for Isochain work and loosen up the back just enough. I felt my low back working when I did the Shoulder Press - with pain being maybe a 2-3 out of 10. After the set though, it felt fine.
I then moved on to the Drag Curl, the drill I chose to replace Bent-over Row. Drag Curl stresses the low back much less than the Bent-over Row. I'm sure gains from Drag Curl will carry over to bodyweight pull ups and rows. It will be interesting to see how much. I set the target load to 15lbs because I was going to try reverse grip and I know my reverse-grip curl is weak. But I had forgotten how uncomfortable this exercise is with reverse grip. I flipped my palms and finished the set doing the regular palms-up curl. I had not done the 1-Rep Max protocol for measuring 1-rep max for Drag Curl, so I had to pick an arbitrary target load for this drill, for this session. For my last rep, the Isochain reported a max force of 37.2 lbs. 6x6 says to train at 70% of 1-rep max, which would be around 26lbs, so my next target load will be 26lbs.
I tried Zercher Lunge at a higher position because I figured it would be easer on the legs, which had feel sore all week. I felt the low back working when I attempted the higher position Zercher Lunge. So I decided not to gamble with the low back and temporarily replace Zercher Lunge with high-position Deadlift under the Iron Man protocol. This protocol has the target load as low as 20% of 1-rep max, with an objective to hold for 90s or 120s. Low load with emphasis on endurance is the combo that has historically worked for rehab. So I'll do 1 rep of 90s of high-position deadlift to finish my Isochain workout, and drop the Zercher Lunge set, until the back feels good.
Tuesday, January 04, 2022
GSC-Advent Micro Workouts: Week 3
Third consecutive week of selecting Micro Workouts to match the GSC template. Some advice for scapular usage in pullups from Steven Low, the author of Overcoming Gravity - he basically says to depress, but do not retract the scapula before the start of the pullup. I think this will be a little tricky for me as I am so used to retracting and depressing the scapula at the same time, even though I now understand the scapula can be moved in 4 basic directions - elevate, depress, protract, retract.
Workout #1
Pseudo Planche Lean - 4 sets of 3-5 second hold, 20s break between holds at the furthest forward lean possible, acting as isometric warmup as well as continuing progress towards planche.
Ultimate Chest Pump Suspension Workout - Selected this one as I noticed last week that my chest is quite a bit weaker than my triceps
Intense Abdominal Suspension Training Micro Workout - This was a better choice for me than last week's choice for flexion chain training, as the shoulders felt fine, while getting a nice stability workout. The pelvic tilt exercise was harder than it looks in the video - I was only able to manage 3 reps at most before my abs felt too much on fire to do more.
Workout #2
Front Lever Hold - 4 sets of 3-5 second hold, 20s break between holds. Continued working on extending the legs a little more, away from Frog position towards full Straddle position.
Ultra-Pump Back & Biceps Suspension Micro Workout - The lateral bicep curl was a bit of a test for my shoulder, which felt a little uncomfortable for the first superset, but felt just fine for the rest of the micro workout. The shoulder felt fine for the pull ups from seated position. I opted to not push my luck by doing the pull ups with elevated feet as shown in the video. My shoulders felt fine for the most part and the biceps got a nice pump as expected. I believe Steven Low's advice helped a lot.
Suspension Hip Hinge Micro Workout - I did 2 sets of about 15 instead of 3 sets of 20. I just wanted to try the movement.
6x6 is a program, for use with Isochain, intended to stimulate strength and hypertrophy gains using 6 repetitions of 6-second holds, which, according to the science cited in the book Ultimate Isometrics Manual, is the most effective combination of repetitions and hold times to stimulate strength gains via isometric exercise. The cited research also found hypertrophy gains, but strength gain seems to be the primary purpose of the 6x6 program. I am looking forward to comparing whatever strength gains result from 6x6 to the results I got from training under the Isochain Promethean programs. The comparison won't be completely clean as I was coming off of the shoulder injury while training under Promethean Mk. I and Mk. II. I will be starting 6x6 with my shoulder in much better shape. I will be training almost all the same drills as described in the book, with the exception of Front Squat, which will be replaced by Zercher Lunge as it looks like practicing it will have better carryover to dynamic single-leg work than Front Squat or any other double-leg drills. I first heard of Zercher Lunge in a Red Delta Project video on favorite Isochain exercises, which were selected for low skill requirement, high muscle activation, and mechanical disadvantage for low load yet heavy stress on muscle vs. stress on the body.
Thus, I decided to switch to the 6x6 program next week. I want to see what strength boost I get this time, and how much of the gains will carry over to calisthenics performance. Although this is technically the 3rd week of GSC meets Countdown to Advent Micro Workouts, I have actually been training under the GSC template, with some influence from the Mindful Mover approach to Accommodating Resistance, for about 3 months now. It just feels right to ring in the New Year with an isometric-focused training program on the Isochain. Thus, I skipped the GSC Workout #3 (Squat Chain-Lateral Chain) and replacedit with an Isochain 1-Rep Max Test session to measure my 1-rep max scores for the 6x6 program.
Here are the results in pounds of my 1-Rep Max test session, using the 1-Rep max protocol from the book:
The list time I tested my 1RM for Zercher Lunge was when I did the 1RM test session for Burn Count. At first glance, it looks like I didn't progress all that much in single-leg strengh during all the months of Grind Style Calisthenics - not sure why, as I felt I put in an honest effort to progress in suspension-assisted Shrimp and Jumbo Shrip Squat. OTOH, this time around I tested my Zercher Lunge at a lower chain setting, which is more difficult. I was hitting the low 50s in my shoulder press max readings the last time I worked Promethean. Scoring 57lbs. shows a modest gain despite focusing more on chest and triceps than overheard pressing. Bent row cannot be compared because last time I did standing bent row I had my torso at around 120 degrees compared to the legs, which allowed me to leverage more of my posterior chain. I had not done shrugs for years, so this is effectively a new exericise for me on Isochain. I'm curious to see if it further bulletproofs my shoulders. There is no explanation in the manual as to why it was included in 6x6.
Ideas for hanging on rings or suspension trainer for improving mobility, other than the basic brachial hang. For review, Mindful Mover's IG post on how to progress from ring pike pushup to ring handstand pushup. They also have a post on how to get into ring handstand. For weighted single-leg squat with Accommodating Resistance without a partner they have this post. For Nordic Curl, which along with AR single-leg squatting they claim will give you gains on the Deadlift, they have this post. For mobility, Mindul Mover also has a post on Jefferson Curl and Split Squat
Workout #1
Pseudo Planche Lean - 4 sets of 3-5 second hold, 20s break between holds at the furthest forward lean possible, acting as isometric warmup as well as continuing progress towards planche.
Ultimate Chest Pump Suspension Workout - Selected this one as I noticed last week that my chest is quite a bit weaker than my triceps
Intense Abdominal Suspension Training Micro Workout - This was a better choice for me than last week's choice for flexion chain training, as the shoulders felt fine, while getting a nice stability workout. The pelvic tilt exercise was harder than it looks in the video - I was only able to manage 3 reps at most before my abs felt too much on fire to do more.
Workout #2
Front Lever Hold - 4 sets of 3-5 second hold, 20s break between holds. Continued working on extending the legs a little more, away from Frog position towards full Straddle position.
Ultra-Pump Back & Biceps Suspension Micro Workout - The lateral bicep curl was a bit of a test for my shoulder, which felt a little uncomfortable for the first superset, but felt just fine for the rest of the micro workout. The shoulder felt fine for the pull ups from seated position. I opted to not push my luck by doing the pull ups with elevated feet as shown in the video. My shoulders felt fine for the most part and the biceps got a nice pump as expected. I believe Steven Low's advice helped a lot.
Suspension Hip Hinge Micro Workout - I did 2 sets of about 15 instead of 3 sets of 20. I just wanted to try the movement.
6x6 is a program, for use with Isochain, intended to stimulate strength and hypertrophy gains using 6 repetitions of 6-second holds, which, according to the science cited in the book Ultimate Isometrics Manual, is the most effective combination of repetitions and hold times to stimulate strength gains via isometric exercise. The cited research also found hypertrophy gains, but strength gain seems to be the primary purpose of the 6x6 program. I am looking forward to comparing whatever strength gains result from 6x6 to the results I got from training under the Isochain Promethean programs. The comparison won't be completely clean as I was coming off of the shoulder injury while training under Promethean Mk. I and Mk. II. I will be starting 6x6 with my shoulder in much better shape. I will be training almost all the same drills as described in the book, with the exception of Front Squat, which will be replaced by Zercher Lunge as it looks like practicing it will have better carryover to dynamic single-leg work than Front Squat or any other double-leg drills. I first heard of Zercher Lunge in a Red Delta Project video on favorite Isochain exercises, which were selected for low skill requirement, high muscle activation, and mechanical disadvantage for low load yet heavy stress on muscle vs. stress on the body.
Thus, I decided to switch to the 6x6 program next week. I want to see what strength boost I get this time, and how much of the gains will carry over to calisthenics performance. Although this is technically the 3rd week of GSC meets Countdown to Advent Micro Workouts, I have actually been training under the GSC template, with some influence from the Mindful Mover approach to Accommodating Resistance, for about 3 months now. It just feels right to ring in the New Year with an isometric-focused training program on the Isochain. Thus, I skipped the GSC Workout #3 (Squat Chain-Lateral Chain) and replacedit with an Isochain 1-Rep Max Test session to measure my 1-rep max scores for the 6x6 program.
Here are the results in pounds of my 1-Rep Max test session, using the 1-Rep max protocol from the book:
- Zercher Lunge: 81.9
- Shoulder Press (Medium Angle): 57
- Bent Row(Medium Angle): 137.53
- Shrug: 130
The list time I tested my 1RM for Zercher Lunge was when I did the 1RM test session for Burn Count. At first glance, it looks like I didn't progress all that much in single-leg strengh during all the months of Grind Style Calisthenics - not sure why, as I felt I put in an honest effort to progress in suspension-assisted Shrimp and Jumbo Shrip Squat. OTOH, this time around I tested my Zercher Lunge at a lower chain setting, which is more difficult. I was hitting the low 50s in my shoulder press max readings the last time I worked Promethean. Scoring 57lbs. shows a modest gain despite focusing more on chest and triceps than overheard pressing. Bent row cannot be compared because last time I did standing bent row I had my torso at around 120 degrees compared to the legs, which allowed me to leverage more of my posterior chain. I had not done shrugs for years, so this is effectively a new exericise for me on Isochain. I'm curious to see if it further bulletproofs my shoulders. There is no explanation in the manual as to why it was included in 6x6.
Ideas for hanging on rings or suspension trainer for improving mobility, other than the basic brachial hang. For review, Mindful Mover's IG post on how to progress from ring pike pushup to ring handstand pushup. They also have a post on how to get into ring handstand. For weighted single-leg squat with Accommodating Resistance without a partner they have this post. For Nordic Curl, which along with AR single-leg squatting they claim will give you gains on the Deadlift, they have this post. For mobility, Mindul Mover also has a post on Jefferson Curl and Split Squat
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