Here are the results for the 6 selected exercises for Iron Man:
Romanian Deadlift at High Angle - 231 lbs. The very first time I tried Romanian deadlift with Isochain, I think it was at this angle, and felt uncomfortable for my lower back. This was several months ago when I was considering alternatives to the regular deadlift. I ended up choosing the Hack Deadlift. This time I was pleasantly surprised to find my lower back held up fine. Perhaps the conditioning of my lower back was improved by working on Zercher Squat, Bent-over Row, and maybe even Shoulder Press. In any case, I felt more confident about applying more force for the 1-rep max test.
Bicep Curl at High Angle - 62 lbs. I tried not to apply too much force during testing, to avoid aggravating my Golfer's Elbow. The spiraling external rotation action taught by Red Delta Project helped.
Shoulder Press at High Angle - 51.8 lbs. I decided to train at medium angle instead, even though I tested at high angle, because it seems like the best angle to work at for building up the desired slow-twich muscle fibers. At medium angle, I was started to max between 55 and 58 lbs. towards the end of my latest Promethean cycle. Iron Mman protocol calls for a minimum load of 20% of 1-rep max, so at my current level, I'd be working with about a 10lb. target load if I go with about 52lbs. as my max, or 12lb. target load if I go with 60lbs.
Zercher Squat at Medium Angle - 190 lbs.
Bent-over Row at High Angle and Supinated Grip - 141 lbs.
Calf Raise - 259 lbs. I didn't expect to score this high, but then again I haven't worked much with weighted calf raise.
Monday, June 28, 2021
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
End of Isochain Promethean cycle and Next Steps
The Isochain manual recommends changing your routine every 6-8 weeks, to prevent your gains from slowing down. This is based on the research of A.S. Matveyev who found that isometric accommodation occurs in approximately 6-8 weeks. What needs to be changed is the nature of the stimulus. The change could be as simple as changing the training angle of each Isochain drill by at least 20 degrees, if you want to continue with an Isochain routine. As of this writing I have done 22 sessions under my current Isochain Promethean cycle. Without interruptions to training, this would have been 7 weeks. However, I stopped training for 2 weeks because I had a house visitor and wasn't able to figure out a way to reduce the noise of the chain. Then I had another 1.5 week interruption due to the sewer line from my house being busted. So I figured I could do another 1-4 weeks under the current routine.
Then I saw No Limit Squad's video:
What he says about hypertrophy and muscular endurance reminded me of Thomas Kurz's recommendation to build up slow-twitch muscle fibers that stabilize joints and to improve blood supply of the muscles and their fibrous connective tissue, which speeds up muscles’ recovery and is needed for increasing structural strength of their fasciae and tendons. Thus, I started thinking about trying the Iron Man routine from the Isochain manual. This is an Isochain program that emphasizes muscular endurance, as opposed to Promethean, which emphasizes strength development with some hypertrophy. While my back has held up fine these past few months, I like the idea of improving muscular endurance for more insurance against future injury to the back, shoulders, or knees.
Iron Man requires measurement of 1-rep max values to start, because the target load is based on 20-40% of the 1-rep max. For back safety, I am not going to exert my maximum possible effort in the deadlift variation for my 1-rep max measurement session. Similarly to prevent another elbow problem, I'm not going to exert full effort on my 1-rep max test for the bicep curl.
The exercise selection for Iron Man:
Romanian Deadlift at High Angle - Recommended position for people with back issues.
Bicep Curl at High Angle - This will hopefully build up the slow-twitch fibers in my biceps, as well as the structural strength of the bicep tendons. Bicep tendon strengthening was one of the areas of emphasis in my prescribed rehab routine for my first shoulder injury.
Shoulder Press at High Angle - This will hopefully make my shoulders more resistant to injury, again per Thomas Kurz's statement. The shoulders are most vulnerable with the arms extended.
Zercher Squat at Medium Angle - This will hopefully make my knees more resistant to injury.
Bent-over Row at High Angle and Supinated Grip - The supinated grip mimics the grip that I would be using with bodyweight rowing movements on the. When I perform the row on the NOSSK suspension trainerutilizing the spiraling external rotation action taught by Red Delta Project, my hands end up in a supinated grip at the top of the movement, so the supinated grip on the Isochain at this angle mimics that. I chose the high angle because I worked the medium angle for two cycles in a row - the just-ended Promethean, and the Promethean Mk. 2 before that; and the low angle might have too much overlap with the deadlift.
Calf Raise - This is the last prescribed exercise for Iron Man in the manual. Maybe this will improve my foot arch and reduce occasional aches and pains in my feet while walking.
Then I saw No Limit Squad's video:
What he says about hypertrophy and muscular endurance reminded me of Thomas Kurz's recommendation to build up slow-twitch muscle fibers that stabilize joints and to improve blood supply of the muscles and their fibrous connective tissue, which speeds up muscles’ recovery and is needed for increasing structural strength of their fasciae and tendons. Thus, I started thinking about trying the Iron Man routine from the Isochain manual. This is an Isochain program that emphasizes muscular endurance, as opposed to Promethean, which emphasizes strength development with some hypertrophy. While my back has held up fine these past few months, I like the idea of improving muscular endurance for more insurance against future injury to the back, shoulders, or knees.
Iron Man requires measurement of 1-rep max values to start, because the target load is based on 20-40% of the 1-rep max. For back safety, I am not going to exert my maximum possible effort in the deadlift variation for my 1-rep max measurement session. Similarly to prevent another elbow problem, I'm not going to exert full effort on my 1-rep max test for the bicep curl.
The exercise selection for Iron Man:
Romanian Deadlift at High Angle - Recommended position for people with back issues.
Bicep Curl at High Angle - This will hopefully build up the slow-twitch fibers in my biceps, as well as the structural strength of the bicep tendons. Bicep tendon strengthening was one of the areas of emphasis in my prescribed rehab routine for my first shoulder injury.
Shoulder Press at High Angle - This will hopefully make my shoulders more resistant to injury, again per Thomas Kurz's statement. The shoulders are most vulnerable with the arms extended.
Zercher Squat at Medium Angle - This will hopefully make my knees more resistant to injury.
Bent-over Row at High Angle and Supinated Grip - The supinated grip mimics the grip that I would be using with bodyweight rowing movements on the. When I perform the row on the NOSSK suspension trainerutilizing the spiraling external rotation action taught by Red Delta Project, my hands end up in a supinated grip at the top of the movement, so the supinated grip on the Isochain at this angle mimics that. I chose the high angle because I worked the medium angle for two cycles in a row - the just-ended Promethean, and the Promethean Mk. 2 before that; and the low angle might have too much overlap with the deadlift.
Calf Raise - This is the last prescribed exercise for Iron Man in the manual. Maybe this will improve my foot arch and reduce occasional aches and pains in my feet while walking.
Friday, June 18, 2021
Isochain Promethean Mark I - Getting back on track
I took about two weeks off from Isochain training because I had a house guest and had not figured out a way to reduce the noise of the chain against the footplate. My guest is a very nice person who does not complain about noise, but I still felt self-conscious abou it. I then resumed training for a few days, then halted my Isochain work again when I learned that my sewer line had a break. I decided to stay at a nearby hotel while waiting for the work to be authorized by HomeServe, then scheduled, then finally begun.
The Isochain can be brought along on travel. However, the combined weight of the footplate, chain, and bar was enough to make me feel too lazy to bring it with me to my hotel room. Instead, I brought my newly acquired NOSSK Twin Pro suspension trainer, because I wanted to try some ideas gleaned from Red Delta Project videos. One of those ideas was training my back to create a spiraling, pulling force all the way to my hands, to help recover from Golfer's Elbow or other elbow issue, or prevent it from happening during pulling exercise. What the spiraling action does is spread the load throughout the back instead of allowing stress to accumulate at the elbows.
This video does a great job of introducing the spiraling, external rotation action to reduce elbow stress, as well as teaching a simple exercise for training this spiraling action.
The above video also offers advice on applying the the spiraling, back-driven external rotation action to pushups. However, with the NOSSK trainer at hand in the hotel, I was able to try this concept more readily with RTO pushups on the NOSSK than with regular pushups on the ground, due to the hands being able to rotate all the way to a supinated position at the bottom of the movement. Red Delta Project shows RTO pushups with his NOSSK here:
The spiraling action worked really well for eliminating elbow pain while doing rows as demonstrated in the above video.
Thus, I am now in Week 7 of the current Promethean cycle, even though I started the cycle in April and it's now June. Because of all the time off from training, I reset all my target loads 15lbs. lower for my first Isochain session after the layoff, then worked up from there. My progress so far on the drills:
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Working at a target load of 50lbs. Last time I reached this target load, I was unable to do 4 full reps of 6-second holds. I could get the Isochain to beep, indicating that I hit the target load, but was unable to sustain force at that load. As of this week, I can do at least 4 reps for the full 6 seconds. I may take several more sessions at the 50lb. target load, to focus on improving my technique. I'm getting better at generating force from my feet up to my hands, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished the week at a target load of 125lbs or higher. My Golfer's Elbow pain is almost entirely gone. There is no elbow pain when performing this drill. I still get a tingling sensation in my index finger and thumb, so I try to pull through the ring and pinky fingers instead, using spiraling force from the back as taught by Red Delta Project for rows and pullups.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Finished the week at a target load of 85 lbs with a max force of 122lbs. which is my 3rd highest reading for this cycle.
The shoulder feels about 95% healed. I can do almost all the movements from GMB Elements without pain. Before, I had trouble with the Monkey and Frogger movements. I still have to be careful with the 3-Point Bridge, which is part of the cooldown routine. I think if I avoid putting my support hand too far away from my butt the shoulder will be fine.
The Isochain can be brought along on travel. However, the combined weight of the footplate, chain, and bar was enough to make me feel too lazy to bring it with me to my hotel room. Instead, I brought my newly acquired NOSSK Twin Pro suspension trainer, because I wanted to try some ideas gleaned from Red Delta Project videos. One of those ideas was training my back to create a spiraling, pulling force all the way to my hands, to help recover from Golfer's Elbow or other elbow issue, or prevent it from happening during pulling exercise. What the spiraling action does is spread the load throughout the back instead of allowing stress to accumulate at the elbows.
This video does a great job of introducing the spiraling, external rotation action to reduce elbow stress, as well as teaching a simple exercise for training this spiraling action.
The above video also offers advice on applying the the spiraling, back-driven external rotation action to pushups. However, with the NOSSK trainer at hand in the hotel, I was able to try this concept more readily with RTO pushups on the NOSSK than with regular pushups on the ground, due to the hands being able to rotate all the way to a supinated position at the bottom of the movement. Red Delta Project shows RTO pushups with his NOSSK here:
The spiraling action worked really well for eliminating elbow pain while doing rows as demonstrated in the above video.
Thus, I am now in Week 7 of the current Promethean cycle, even though I started the cycle in April and it's now June. Because of all the time off from training, I reset all my target loads 15lbs. lower for my first Isochain session after the layoff, then worked up from there. My progress so far on the drills:
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Working at a target load of 50lbs. Last time I reached this target load, I was unable to do 4 full reps of 6-second holds. I could get the Isochain to beep, indicating that I hit the target load, but was unable to sustain force at that load. As of this week, I can do at least 4 reps for the full 6 seconds. I may take several more sessions at the 50lb. target load, to focus on improving my technique. I'm getting better at generating force from my feet up to my hands, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished the week at a target load of 125lbs or higher. My Golfer's Elbow pain is almost entirely gone. There is no elbow pain when performing this drill. I still get a tingling sensation in my index finger and thumb, so I try to pull through the ring and pinky fingers instead, using spiraling force from the back as taught by Red Delta Project for rows and pullups.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Finished the week at a target load of 85 lbs with a max force of 122lbs. which is my 3rd highest reading for this cycle.
The shoulder feels about 95% healed. I can do almost all the movements from GMB Elements without pain. Before, I had trouble with the Monkey and Frogger movements. I still have to be careful with the 3-Point Bridge, which is part of the cooldown routine. I think if I avoid putting my support hand too far away from my butt the shoulder will be fine.
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Red Delta Project Micro Workouts
I'd previously come across videos from the Red Delta Project channel, featuring trainer Matt Schifferle, while surfing Youtube. I started to pay more attention to Red Delta Project after I saw that Dragondoor had Schifferle instruct the Isochain video course.
Red Delta Project has some interesting training ideas that I would like to explore after I finish my current Isochain Promethean routine. I've been looking a lot of his micro workout videos in particular.
Flexion Extension Lateral Support Chain Micro Workout
Push Pull Squat Micro Workout targeting chest, lats, and hips
Chest and Core Micro Workout (pushup and side crawl)
No-equipment Core Micro Workout - suitable for warmup
Quad and Hamstring Hypertrophy Micro Workout
Comparison of Nordic Curl to Hamstring Curl on suspension trainer, and how to regress/progress the difficulty level of the movement.
Chest Micro Workout - should help improve engagement of the chest for pressing movements.
Cooldown Exercises
There are many more Micro Workout videos on the Red Delta Project channel. Some of the exercises are demonstrated on NOSSK suspension trainers. I went ahead and ordered my own pair. So far I can report they work well with a door.
Monday, May 03, 2021
Pausing Isochain training for Convict Conditioning
I have a house guest for almost 2 weeks, so I'm pausing my Isochain training. The chain is noisy as it rattles against the plate. My guest is a chill and easygoing person, but I still feel a bit awkward about the noise. I'll resume my current Promethean routine after the guest leaves.
For simplicity I chose the Good Behavior routine from the Convict Conditioning book. It's a 3-day a week routine with a different pair of exercises each day. Before starting the routine, I tried a set of pullups on my doorway pullup bar to observe how my elbow, recovering from Golfer's Elbow-like symptoms, might feel. Supinated grip of course was out of the question. Neutral grip was uncomfortable. Pronated grip with hands less than a foot apart felt the most comfortable. I also tried a set of incline pushups to make sure that my recovering shoulder can at least handle those.
For today's session, the exercise pair was pushups and leg raises. The hardest pushup variation I can handle turned out to be knee pushups. So going forward my pushup routine will be 20 wall pushups and 15 (at most) high incline pushups on my dining table for my warmup sets. My work sets will also be high incline pushups until I can do 40 reps. In the past I would have advanced to higher difficulty more quickly by setting a lower standard, but now I understand the advantage of building up endurance at the lower difficulty levels for injury prevention.
I similarly tried 3 different lower level leg raise variations to determine the levels I should be working at for my warmup and work sets. My warmup will be 20 flat knee raises and up to 15 flat bent leg raises. My work sets will be flat bent leg raises.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Barry Harris Sixth Diminished Scale Explanations
This video is a very thoroough treatment of the Barry Harris Sixth Diminished Scale, not to be confused with the more common diminished and half-diminished scales.
More resources:
Rich Cochrane's interpretation of Barry Harris's own explanation
Friday, April 16, 2021
Isochain Promethean Mark I - Week 2
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Finished with a target load of 45 lbs, with max reading of 57. a 13lb gain over last wee. In last week's post, I said "I think that not trying to stand all the way up, so that I'm sitting/squatting just a tiny bit, makes it easier to connect my feet to my hands, and thus improve stability of the chain during training. I think this will also allow me to apply whole body power to this drill. " Turns out I was on the right track, but I was still missing something. During the Wednesday session, I figured it out! This discovery made all the difference between struggling to sustain more than 45 lbs. of force for more than 3 seconds, to sustaining force output at that level for 6 seconds without much of a struggle, and scoring almost 20% above my 1-Rep Max. More details on this discovery later in this article.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 110 lbs. with max of 200.2. which is more than 50lb gain over last week, and well above my 1-Rep Max. I no longer have to grip with maximum gripping force to protect my elbow, which is great because gripping the bar with maximum force grinds into my thumb and causes some tingling sensation in the hand.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Finished with target load of 70 lbs, with max reading of 106.4, for a 20lb gain over last week. The required body positioning taxes the body more than any of the other drills. The full 4-set suggested warmup for this drill is kind of brutal, as I barely have the endurance to sustain the 20-second hold, even at the lightest load. I was so tired from the warmup sets that I could barely hit the 65 lb. target load last week. So for this week, I cut the warmup sets to the 10-second and 5-second holds. This resulted in greater force output in general for all my sets in this drill for this week.
The new procedure for the Shoulder Press, incorporated the newly discovered technical details:
I think this is a good start for this latest program. I'm already getting close to, or beating my 1-rep max scores in the Shoulder Press and Bent Row. I was a little tired from being awakened early on the day I took my 1-Rep Max measurements, which made the scores lower than they might have been if I had better rest beforehand. However, the purpose of thee scores is just to set the starting target loads for work sets and the warmup sets in Promethean, as well as establish metrics than can be used for calculating strength improvement by the end of the program. My elbow is feeling better as well. I'm still doing 15-sec. finger holds on the Isochain at a 70lb load, after the regular training session. I also still do the supline thoracic windmill as part of warmups and mobility work and wrist rotations with the hammer. I don't do the wrist curls with the bag of canned food anymore.
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Finished with a target load of 45 lbs, with max reading of 57. a 13lb gain over last wee. In last week's post, I said "I think that not trying to stand all the way up, so that I'm sitting/squatting just a tiny bit, makes it easier to connect my feet to my hands, and thus improve stability of the chain during training. I think this will also allow me to apply whole body power to this drill. " Turns out I was on the right track, but I was still missing something. During the Wednesday session, I figured it out! This discovery made all the difference between struggling to sustain more than 45 lbs. of force for more than 3 seconds, to sustaining force output at that level for 6 seconds without much of a struggle, and scoring almost 20% above my 1-Rep Max. More details on this discovery later in this article.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 110 lbs. with max of 200.2. which is more than 50lb gain over last week, and well above my 1-Rep Max. I no longer have to grip with maximum gripping force to protect my elbow, which is great because gripping the bar with maximum force grinds into my thumb and causes some tingling sensation in the hand.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Finished with target load of 70 lbs, with max reading of 106.4, for a 20lb gain over last week. The required body positioning taxes the body more than any of the other drills. The full 4-set suggested warmup for this drill is kind of brutal, as I barely have the endurance to sustain the 20-second hold, even at the lightest load. I was so tired from the warmup sets that I could barely hit the 65 lb. target load last week. So for this week, I cut the warmup sets to the 10-second and 5-second holds. This resulted in greater force output in general for all my sets in this drill for this week.
The new procedure for the Shoulder Press, incorporated the newly discovered technical details:
- Start with your hands under the bar as usual and squat down a little.
- Try to feel your feet pressing up to the bar - like there are invisible lines of force between the the feet and the bar. This is basically jin (or muscle-jin).
- Squat back up as you ramp up your force against the bar - you're like one of the Star Wars heroes trying to stop the Trash Compactor in the Death Star from crushing you. This activates the legs, glutes, and core (abs, back, etc.) for the shoulder press and thus adds their force to the overall force.
I think this is a good start for this latest program. I'm already getting close to, or beating my 1-rep max scores in the Shoulder Press and Bent Row. I was a little tired from being awakened early on the day I took my 1-Rep Max measurements, which made the scores lower than they might have been if I had better rest beforehand. However, the purpose of thee scores is just to set the starting target loads for work sets and the warmup sets in Promethean, as well as establish metrics than can be used for calculating strength improvement by the end of the program. My elbow is feeling better as well. I'm still doing 15-sec. finger holds on the Isochain at a 70lb load, after the regular training session. I also still do the supline thoracic windmill as part of warmups and mobility work and wrist rotations with the hammer. I don't do the wrist curls with the bag of canned food anymore.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Isochain Promethean Mark I - Week 1
This week marked the start of my latest Isochain program, Promethean Mark I. I'm not going to say "modified" any more just because the exercise selection is a little different than what is described in the book The Ultimate Isometrics Manual, because other than the exercise selection, I am following the protocol specific to this program. For my first session, I measured my 1-rep max for each of the three drills, using the 1-Rep Max protocol from the manual, which is basically some warmup sets, followed by 3 max attempts and taking the average of the 3 force readings.
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Started with 1-Rep Max score of 48.8 lbs. Finished with a target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 46.8. I think that not trying to stand all the way up, so that I'm sitting/squatting just a tiny bit, makes it easier to connect my feet to my hands, and thus improve stability of the chain during training. I think this will also allow me to apply whole body power to this drill. We shall see.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Realized that what I thought was medium angle for this drill in the previous program was actually the low angle already. This was because at the start of the previous program, my torso was closer to parallel to the floor. After changing my body positioning to put my torso at more of a diagonal angle, the arms were lengthened and thus I was actually working at the low angle. Now, I'm working with the bar much closer to the middle of the rowing motion. Started with 1-Rep Max score of 152.8 lbs. Finished with target load of 80 lbs. with max of 158.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Started with 1-Rep Max score of 114.4 lbs. I think part of the reason I'm weaker at this angle is just squatting in this position is taxing for my quads, without even trying to apply force. Finished with target load of 60 lbs, with max reading of 75.2.
I think this is a good start for this latest program. I'm already getting close to, or beating my 1-rep max scores in the Shoulder Press and Bent Row. I was a little tired from being awakened early on the day I took my 1-Rep Max measurements, which made the scores lower than they might have been if I had better rest beforehand. However, the purpose of thee scores is just to set the starting target loads for work sets and the warmup sets in Promethean, as well as establish metrics than can be used for calculating strength improvement by the end of the program. My elbow is feeling better as well. I'm still doing 15-sec. finger holds on the Isochain at a 70lb load, after the regular training session. I also still do the supline thoracic windmill as part of warmups and mobility work and wrist rotations with the hammer. I don't do the wrist curls with the bag of canned food anymore.
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - Started with 1-Rep Max score of 48.8 lbs. Finished with a target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 46.8. I think that not trying to stand all the way up, so that I'm sitting/squatting just a tiny bit, makes it easier to connect my feet to my hands, and thus improve stability of the chain during training. I think this will also allow me to apply whole body power to this drill. We shall see.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Realized that what I thought was medium angle for this drill in the previous program was actually the low angle already. This was because at the start of the previous program, my torso was closer to parallel to the floor. After changing my body positioning to put my torso at more of a diagonal angle, the arms were lengthened and thus I was actually working at the low angle. Now, I'm working with the bar much closer to the middle of the rowing motion. Started with 1-Rep Max score of 152.8 lbs. Finished with target load of 80 lbs. with max of 158.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - Started with 1-Rep Max score of 114.4 lbs. I think part of the reason I'm weaker at this angle is just squatting in this position is taxing for my quads, without even trying to apply force. Finished with target load of 60 lbs, with max reading of 75.2.
I think this is a good start for this latest program. I'm already getting close to, or beating my 1-rep max scores in the Shoulder Press and Bent Row. I was a little tired from being awakened early on the day I took my 1-Rep Max measurements, which made the scores lower than they might have been if I had better rest beforehand. However, the purpose of thee scores is just to set the starting target loads for work sets and the warmup sets in Promethean, as well as establish metrics than can be used for calculating strength improvement by the end of the program. My elbow is feeling better as well. I'm still doing 15-sec. finger holds on the Isochain at a 70lb load, after the regular training session. I also still do the supline thoracic windmill as part of warmups and mobility work and wrist rotations with the hammer. I don't do the wrist curls with the bag of canned food anymore.
Thursday, April 08, 2021
Tuesday, April 06, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - End of Week 8 and Concluding Thoughts
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with a target load of 40 lbs, with max reading of 45.8.
Reverse Drag Curl (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 25 lbs. with max of 27.2. I started the week attempting to hit a target load of 30lbs. but failed to reach it. Both reverse curl variations have been frustrating for me. The Isochain force sensor does not seem to respond if the angle of the bar to the chain and the line of force directed through the chain is not absolutely perfect, if the person using the Isochain is weak. Once the person has achieved a certain threshold of strength, then the exact angle does not seem to matter as much.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 165 lbs, with max reading of 223.8.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 20 lbs. with a max of 23.2 lbs. Perhaps I should have tried training with my hands further apart. They were almost at the very ends of the bar when I hit 47 lbs in this drill. I never came close to that number ever again in this program.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 105 lbs, with max reading of 213.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 210 lbs, with max reading of 263.8.
Thus ends this 8-week Promethean Mark II program. My lack of progress in upper body pressing strength and any reverse curl variation is disappointing, but I'm still recovering from shoulder and elbow issues, so maybe the best I could have expected was just to be able to train and heal without further aggravation to those issues. I had to sacrifice Deadlift performance to protect my elbow. but it seems to have paid off with modest gain in grip strength and reduced elbow pain.
My initial 1-rep max in the Zercher Squat was 184.5. With a final max reading of 263.8, that is a 43% gain.
My initial 1-rep max in the Bent Row was 127.3. With a final max reading of 213, that is a 67% gain, which is by far my best strength gain, even accounting for errors in my technique that were fixed during the course of the program.
My elbow feels so much better after practicing the rehab exercises as advised by E3 Rehab and Steven Low. I'm not sure it's quite ready to tolerate pullups and Front Lever training yet but it's not as sensitive as it was at the start of the program.
My shoulder also feels better, though still not good enough to tolerate inversion training on the Feetup Trainer that I recently purchased. Thus I'm not quite ready to take on one of the combined Isochain-bodyweight programs from the Ultimate Isometrics Manual yet.
Some fellow trainees have reported flexibility gains from Isochain training. In the Trifecta mobility routine from Convict Conditioning 2, I've progressed significantly in the Twist Hold and Bridge. I can put my on the other side of the knee and use a shirt to pull the hands towards each other without undue strain. I can hold a full Bridge Hold for 20 seconds without much effort.
For the next training program, I plan to do 6-8 weeks of Promethean Mk. I with the following exercises:
Shoulder Press (medium angle) - This is the angle I was unable to train at when I first received my Isochain, because of the pain. Moving my arms into this angle is not entirely pain-free, but I can at least get my arms in that right-angle position with the weight of the Isochain bar, and begin applying force without pain. There's no guarantee that 6-8 weeks of training at this angle will finally eliminate my shoulder issue, but being able to even start at this angle is very promising.
Zercher Squat (low angle) - All my lower body training on the Isochain so far has been at high angles to reduce the risk of re-injury to the low back. I think the low angle for this drill should be fine because the drill prevents the low back from rounding. The low angle should put more load on the thighs. The glutes might get more work too, as well as the abs.
Bent Row (low angle) - This will be to work the start of the pull .
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - Week 7 Results
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with a target load of 35 lbs, with max reading of 45.2.
Reverse Drag Curl (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 25 lbs. with max of 30.4. I hit a max of 34.8 on the Monday session. I did 4 reps that session. For the Thursday session I did 6 reps. I wouldn't be surprised if my max effort started dropping off after the 4th rep. That said, I will go ahead and raise the target load to 30lbs. with a rep goal of 4 to start next week. I have some confidence that I'll be able to hit the target.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 160 lbs, with max reading of 195.6. At this point, the Deadlift is primarily a grip-training exercise for me, so my priority is on how much load I can handle without a setback to my healing from golfer's elbow.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 25 lbs. with a max of 31lbs. For the Tuesday session, I hit a max of 38lbs against a target load of 20lbs. I will start next wee with a target load of 30lbs and just go for 4 reps.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 100 lbs, with max reading of 140.2. I felt li e I was on the edge of aggravating the elbow but since pain was avoided, I'll go ahead and raise the target to 105lbs for next week
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 205 lbs, with max reading of 243. The gains are starting to slow, as the drill is starting to feel hard but I still have yet to be forced to back cycle. I had to move back a little from the chain as it was starting to grind against something between the legs.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Handstand Pushup Tips from Eduardo Orihuela
Looks like only one video but there are actually a bunch of them packed into this one post. Lot of great training tips by GMB Trainer Eduardo Orihuela to complement GMB's HSPU Tutorial.
Also some great tips for achieving a Tuck Bent Arm Stand
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - Week 6 Results
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with a target load of 30 lbs, with max reading of 39.4. The chain does not shake as much as it did last week. I'm getting a more solid connection up to the bar, without thinking about jin. I think it has something to do with not straightening the legs - probably the height of my center of gravity, even if jin is not being consciously manipulated.
Reverse Drag Curl (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 20 lbs. with max of 27.2. My grip is getting better. It wasn't where I wanted it to be for the last rep, but before the last rep I was feeling stronger than before.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 150 lbs, with max reading of 212.4. I switched to a mixed grip, after making sure my elbow could tolerate effort with a supinated palm. Pronated grip was actually more of an issue. I had to flex my wrist a little in pronated grip to protect the elbow from aggravation. If I'm lucky this won't lead to another unintended consequence but I'll see. Barring further setback, looks like a mixed grip is the way to for further progress in this drill without aggravating the elbow.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 30 lbs. It took a lot of effort to get the bar to beep in Timer mode, even though I can feel my chest working hard. I continue to struggle to get the technique just right. The instruction is to apply pressure up and outward, but the bar also has to be in correct position - if it's rotated too much in either direction, the chain will be at the wrong angle in relation to the bar. I looked at my training log and was surprised to see that I had not yet back-cycled in this drill. So next week, I'll set the target load to 20lbs.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 95 lbs, with max reading of 133. As with the deadlift, I may have to start flexing the wrist a little more for better protection of the elbow.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 190 lbs, with max reading of 248.8. This is the one drill where I'm experiencing seemingly runaway gains in strength. The only hitch for the 2nd session was letting the bar pull my forearms down. This was easily fixed though by resetting.
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - Week 5 Results
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with 6 reps at a target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 44.4. I gave up trying to work in jin and focused on scapula protraction.
Reverse Drag Curl (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 15 lbs. with max of 30.2. I have the bar set 2 links lower than where I had it set for the regular Reverse Curl, because I felt my hands were a little too high. I stayed at the 15lb. load level because I wanted to make sure my grip stays secure during the entire set.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 145 lbs, with max reading of 194.2. It was a challenge to maintain a grip tight enough to prevent the elbow from being aggravated.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 30 lbs, with max reading of 43. I had a couple of reps where the bar timer was not triggered because it wasn't reading a 30lb force from me, which in turn was because I wasn't using my chest muscles properly. Thus I generated the target force by what feels like proper technique for 4 out of the 6 reps. I want to do it for 6 out of 6 reps before I raise the target load.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 90 lbs, with max reading of 144. As with the deadlift, the main concern is to be able to exert the target force without aggravating the elbow.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 170 lbs, with max reading of 233. Progress continues to be steady. I'm not feeling DOMS in my upper back, especially around the scapula, anymore.
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with 6 reps at a target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 44.4. I gave up trying to work in jin and focused on scapula protraction.
Reverse Drag Curl (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 15 lbs. with max of 30.2. I have the bar set 2 links lower than where I had it set for the regular Reverse Curl, because I felt my hands were a little too high. I stayed at the 15lb. load level because I wanted to make sure my grip stays secure during the entire set.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 145 lbs, with max reading of 194.2. It was a challenge to maintain a grip tight enough to prevent the elbow from being aggravated.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 30 lbs, with max reading of 43. I had a couple of reps where the bar timer was not triggered because it wasn't reading a 30lb force from me, which in turn was because I wasn't using my chest muscles properly. Thus I generated the target force by what feels like proper technique for 4 out of the 6 reps. I want to do it for 6 out of 6 reps before I raise the target load.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 90 lbs, with max reading of 144. As with the deadlift, the main concern is to be able to exert the target force without aggravating the elbow.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 170 lbs, with max reading of 233. Progress continues to be steady. I'm not feeling DOMS in my upper back, especially around the scapula, anymore.
Monday, March 08, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - Week 5 Start (needing to back-cycle)
I started today's session with the Shoulder Press, going through the drill-specific warmup. However when I got to the work set, I failed to reach the target load of 35lbs for 2 reps in a row. I dropped the load to 30 lbs and did four more reps of 6-second holds to finish the set. So for the next session, I decided to drop the target load back to 25 lbs. and work my way back up. Sometimes, there's no solid explanation as to why strength fluctuates like this. I felt my general warmup was sufficient to get my shell temperature into training range. This is only the 5th week out of 8 for this routine, so no need to stress.
With my elbow still recovering, I really do not want my grip to slip when I attempt a deadlift. I struggled to prevent the bar from starting to slip down my fingers, and thus cause elbow pain, at the target load of 160lbs. So I dropped the load to 145lbs to finish the set. For the remainder of this routine, I will have to treat the Deadlift more as a grip exercise than a leg/core/posterior chain exercise.
Sunday, March 07, 2021
Isochain Modified Promethean Mark II - Week 4
The results for this week:
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with 4 reps at a target load of 35 lbs, with max reading of 47. I was surprised to see the 47 lb. reading because on that last rep, I felt I was straining without feeling that I was pushing all that strongly. I might be using "muscle-jin", which is creating a jin path from my feet to the bar to supply most of the force, and then adding localized upper-body muscle to increase the force just a bit. In theory, a pure jin path should generate more force than muscle-jin, but I'm not that good at manifesting jin up to my hands with my arms extended overhead. I've been trying to keep my 6H training separate from my "external" strength training. On the other hand, restoring full, pain-free, range of the shoulder is more important to me than purity of jin right now.
Reverse Curl (medium angle) - Switched to Reverse Drag Curl because progress in the regular Reverse Curl had stalled with my max being around 30 lbs. I could just keep at the regular Reverse Curl and hope that gains in the Bent Row will eventually carry over, but I figured, who not try the Drag. The Drag Curl variation is supposed to reduce the load on the shoulders and cause the biceps to contract more strongly. I felt my forearms working harder. I felt the biceps working a tad more but that's about it. Finished with target load of 15 lbs. with max of 24.6.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 160 lbs, with max reading of 195.8. I'll do a couple more sessions at the 160lbs. to give my grip a chance to get stronger, because I can feel that if I increase the load to 165, my grip won't be strong enough to prevent the bar from slipping, and thus aggravating my elbow, even wih the action of my thighs pushing the bar towards my palms to reduce the grip demand.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 38.2. The max isn't much improvement over last week, but the technique improved enough to merit an increase for next week.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 85 lbs, with max reading of 166.4, which is about a 70lb. improvement over last week's max reading. The reason for the improvement was a change in form. I was practicing with my torso parallel to the ground, with my body closer to an L shape. With the torso more diagonal, I am able to row the bar towards my stomach with much more force, and less concern for the shoulders rising or being pulled forward. This video by a fellow Isochain user helped me a lot.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 150 lbs, with max reading of 221.4. With the arms a little wider apart, and thus so that the shoulder blades being pulled together as force is applied, I'm feeling more work on the upper back.
Shoulder Press (high angle) - Finished with 4 reps at a target load of 35 lbs, with max reading of 47. I was surprised to see the 47 lb. reading because on that last rep, I felt I was straining without feeling that I was pushing all that strongly. I might be using "muscle-jin", which is creating a jin path from my feet to the bar to supply most of the force, and then adding localized upper-body muscle to increase the force just a bit. In theory, a pure jin path should generate more force than muscle-jin, but I'm not that good at manifesting jin up to my hands with my arms extended overhead. I've been trying to keep my 6H training separate from my "external" strength training. On the other hand, restoring full, pain-free, range of the shoulder is more important to me than purity of jin right now.
Reverse Curl (medium angle) - Switched to Reverse Drag Curl because progress in the regular Reverse Curl had stalled with my max being around 30 lbs. I could just keep at the regular Reverse Curl and hope that gains in the Bent Row will eventually carry over, but I figured, who not try the Drag. The Drag Curl variation is supposed to reduce the load on the shoulders and cause the biceps to contract more strongly. I felt my forearms working harder. I felt the biceps working a tad more but that's about it. Finished with target load of 15 lbs. with max of 24.6.
Deadift (high angle) - Finished with target load of 160 lbs, with max reading of 195.8. I'll do a couple more sessions at the 160lbs. to give my grip a chance to get stronger, because I can feel that if I increase the load to 165, my grip won't be strong enough to prevent the bar from slipping, and thus aggravating my elbow, even wih the action of my thighs pushing the bar towards my palms to reduce the grip demand.
Chest Press - Finished with target load of 25 lbs, with max reading of 38.2. The max isn't much improvement over last week, but the technique improved enough to merit an increase for next week.
Bent Row (medium angle) - Finished with target load of 85 lbs, with max reading of 166.4, which is about a 70lb. improvement over last week's max reading. The reason for the improvement was a change in form. I was practicing with my torso parallel to the ground, with my body closer to an L shape. With the torso more diagonal, I am able to row the bar towards my stomach with much more force, and less concern for the shoulders rising or being pulled forward. This video by a fellow Isochain user helped me a lot.
Zercher Squat (high angle) - Finished with target load of 150 lbs, with max reading of 221.4. With the arms a little wider apart, and thus so that the shoulder blades being pulled together as force is applied, I'm feeling more work on the upper back.
I've been addressing my elbow issue using exercise ideas from GMB and E3 Rehab, as described here. I now do at least 10 reps per side of Side-Lying Thoracic Windmill as part of my daily warmup. I do 3 sets of 10-15 reps of Wrist Flexion and Elbow Rotation, 3 times a week. I do 3 sets of 15-sec. holds of Finger Roll with the Isochain after my regular Isochain session, with the bar behind the back because it's easier to get the chest up and take the slack out of the arms. In the early going, the results are promising
Thursday, March 04, 2021
Golfer's Elbow exercises
I may have mentioned before that since sometime in December, I get some pain in the inside of my left elbow when I apply force with my left palm towards my right, like when I wash my hands. I also feel this pain when I lift anything with my left palm supinated. This condition seems to match Mayo Clinic's description of Golfer's Elbow. Fortunately the pain is about 3 when ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being worst pain ever, when I wash my hands, and about 5-7 when lifting in supinated grip, depending on the load. I lifted some boxes that my neighbor had ordered but were mistakenly delivered to my home instead and those were heavy enough to cause more pain than usual. So because the pain has been relatively minor, I haven't consulted a doctor and thus been officially diagonosed with Golfer's Elbow.
To start trying to address this issue, I first tried some exercises from the GMB Elbow Pain article. Some comments:
Open Chain Rotation - Because of the shoulder issue, I can't really do this with the straight arm. With the bent arm, rotating from pronated hand to neutral hand was fine. However, anywhere between neutral to supinated hand was painful. Most of the time, GMB is on point, but there were some missing details that I found later.
Band Elbow Flexion - Seems fine. Is it working the same muscles as the Isochain Reverse Curl? Not sure.
Grip on Towel - Tried it once and felt pain. Haven't tried it again yet.
Ring Pullup - Feels fine with feet on floor to reduce load and strict pronation of hands - no neutral grip. Full bodyweight load was a little questionable.
Elbow Extension - I didn't try because straightening the arm has not been an issue for the elbow.
Later, I found this video by E3 Rehab for Golfer's Elbow, which they state is based on latest research. The GMB article was published in 2017. The below video was uploaded in 2020.
To start trying to address this issue, I first tried some exercises from the GMB Elbow Pain article. Some comments:
Open Chain Rotation - Because of the shoulder issue, I can't really do this with the straight arm. With the bent arm, rotating from pronated hand to neutral hand was fine. However, anywhere between neutral to supinated hand was painful. Most of the time, GMB is on point, but there were some missing details that I found later.
Band Elbow Flexion - Seems fine. Is it working the same muscles as the Isochain Reverse Curl? Not sure.
Grip on Towel - Tried it once and felt pain. Haven't tried it again yet.
Ring Pullup - Feels fine with feet on floor to reduce load and strict pronation of hands - no neutral grip. Full bodyweight load was a little questionable.
Elbow Extension - I didn't try because straightening the arm has not been an issue for the elbow.
Later, I found this video by E3 Rehab for Golfer's Elbow, which they state is based on latest research. The GMB article was published in 2017. The below video was uploaded in 2020.
Comments on the exercises, based on when I tried each exercise for the first time:
Wrist Flexion - 6-15 reps dynamic, 10-45 seconds isometric - I started with a bag with one soup can for load. I ended the week with 3 cans. What feels good for me is slowly opening my palm during the eccentric movement until the the load is resting on the phalanges of my fingers, then during the concentric, forming a fist before raising my hand.
Elbow Rotation - 2-3 seconds up and down, 6-15 reps dynamic - This basically half of the Open Chain Rotation movement shown in the GMB article. For Golfer's Elbow, the E3 Rehab doctors did not see any value in rotating the hand all the way to pronated position. At first I choked up a lot on the hammer and only allowed it to pull my hand towards pronated position, to the threshold of pain. After reading the Overcoming Tendonitis article (below), I started letting it pull my hand through the pain zone all the way past pronated position, as far as my hand could rotate.
Side-Lying Thoracic Windmill - Shoulder rotation placing high valgus stress on elbow structure is one possible cause of golfer's elbow. Recent research found that elite golfers have sport adaptations which give them greater than average range of motion in internal and external shoulder rotation. Research also found that greater degree of thoracic motion leads to greater degree of external shoulder rotation. Thus, this exercise works on thoracic motion and shoulder rotation together. This exercise feels fine if I start with a slightly smaller circle of rotation for the first couple of reps, then gradually increase the range of motion, paying attention to when I rotate the hand on the working arm. I just have to remember to include it in my warmup routine!
Prone Shoulder Extension - 6-15 reps - Researchers found that Golfer's Elbow sufferers showed significant strength deficits in different shoulder motions. This exercise addresses one of those motions. I tried this empty-hand and it was too easy.
Arm Raise Variations - Tried with a soup can in each hand. I managed one rep with no pain, but it's difficult to do this without any shoulder pain, for the same reason I can't do a standard front raise or side raise. Taking into account what the Overcoming Tendonitis article says about painful vs. aggravating exercise, I can't really tell if this movement is aggravating to my shoulder or just painful. Since Isochain Shoulder Press has been delivering results, I see no reason to gamble here.
Overcoming Tendonitis article by Steven Low is yet another useful resource that I found. One point that surprised me is that pushing through pain in a movement is acceptable as long as the movement does not aggravate the issue. The article goes on to describe the differece between painful exercise and aggravating exercise. The article agrees with the E3 Rehab video about the effectiveness of eccentric movement, and the choice of Wrist Flexion and Elbow Rotation for rehab exercises. Where it diverges is the recommended number of reps (a lot more reps!) and the recommended range of motion for Elbow Rotation. Also, it recommends a 3rd exercise for directly rehabbing the issue which is the Heavy Finger Roll. I was thus inspired to try adding a few sets of isometric "finger roll" on the Isochain after my regular Isochain workout. I changed the exercise by positioning the bar behind my back, which makes it easier to keep the chest up and the arms straight. Based on the Isochain readings at various levels of effort, I settled on a target load of 50 lbs and used the Timer mode in the default setting, thus a 6-sec. hold at 50lbs.
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