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Honest Effort

@Mirek
Tried pressing without the board, just standing on the straps which gives me a good bit more play.

Got the bar about 4inches off my collarbone and it felt real good. As in I felt like an infant trying to push out of my car seat...but it hit everything the split "anterior delt/upper pec" hold did and felt less bad on the shoulder capsule. Plus it grooves a universal lift right at the sticking point. Nice!
 
Now that I have solid proof of concept, took myself to the home improvement store to make a cleaner version of this widget. Picked up a longer tie-down strap and some webbing wraps for handles.

Am sort of amazed at the range of exercises I can do with this. Have to keep to the basics, but am not stuck with cable equivalents for anything. Bench press (using a sandbag for the bench), bent row, squat, DL, OHP, crunches, whatever.

I'll be tinkering for a few and then probably post the design and what I feel are best practices on the "other" subforum, this could be real helpful to anyone rehabbing, stuck with light weights, training in tight quarters.

The fancy version cost about $65 and 30-40 minutes with a saw and a wood rasp.
 
2 minute jump rope warmup (the bare minimum IMHO)

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.

The working hypothesis is tension and increased firing rate supplied by Isometrics, glucose depletion supplied by HIIT = strength and hypertrophy equivalent to any other mode of resistance training while being easier on the joints and improving endurance to boot. Am starting to add calories back in the middle of my day - have largely been skipping lunch for about 2 months now.

Have only been doing this a week and my knees are starting to feel better already, or at least that's what I'm telling myself :D. The only hitch, I'm experiencing what feels like nerve pain across my left delt, right down the middle. Increases as I go, gently fades over the following 30 minutes or so after finishing a session. Hopefully it improves or stays the same, if it gets worse I'll have to cut this short or scramble to find holds that don't activate it. Pretty sure its a non-issue.

- Zercher DL
- High Pull
- Quad Lunge
- "Bench Press" using sandbag for a bench
- Hammer Curls

"Quad Lunge" come up off the toes and lean into it as much as possible without falling over:
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Civilized "Millermetrics" fitness rig, just add jumprope:
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5 bead counter, who'd have thought you could lose track counting to 5?
CHRB10Pm.jpg
 
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3minutes jumprope warmup

- Squat
- OHP
- Hamstring extension
- Row
- Triceps extension

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off. Using the offset cutouts to position the straps so that I can lean into each hold a little - this pre-loads the muscles involved. Some of the anecdotal research out there claims better results using a spring to initially challenge the muscle going into a lift, this lean accomplishes the same thing but doesn't slow down the initial acceleration.

40 minutes door to door, holy smokes was I sweating hard this morning. Looking forward to tomorrow's non-lifting day. Was planning to do a proper 12 minute HIIT but might take the day off...

Am still getting used to the almost complete absence of a pump when finishing, also there is almost zero local fatigue when done although certainly a sensation of system wide fatigue. Pain in shoulder disappeared within a few minutes this morning - a good sign.

Reading more into the research have discovered isometrics really do have a proven analgesic effect on connective tissue.
 
Jumprope HIIT

Getting back into these formally for the first time in a few years. Attempted a genuine Tabata but by the 4th interval I couldn't complete the full 20 seconds...

So, 15 intervals, 15 seconds on 45 seconds off. Felt pretty good, Did not quite get that "Vita-Ray" pump like I used to following a good isometric session, but did expand a bit, esp in my leg muscles.

Included for isometric abdominal work - leg raises and crunches. I have to remind myself constantly that I will not get a pump or other sensations associated with isotonic work. Almost pulled a muscle in my abs driving as hard as possible. Is like doing good deeds, you'll get your reward later- trust the process.
 
3 minutes jumprope
- Zercher DL
- High Pull
- Quad Lunge
- Bench
- Hammer curl
- Crunch

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.
 
3 minutes jumprope
- Squat
- OHP
- Hamstring curl
- Row
- Leg Raises
- Triceps
All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.
 
Posting up because good info re isometrics is surprisingly tough to come by and a lot of old or just plain incorrect info is continuously being repeated.

For all the research, there's a lot of variation in protocols and approaches. These are two of the studies that refute (sort of...) joint angle specificity of isometric strength gains. The more shortened the muscle length when being trained the more specific the strength gained will be. Training at longer lengths essentially encompases the rest of the ROM more or less equal to the amount of force folks could generate who only trained at the shorter lengths. Train at longer lengths.

Biceps:
The least specificity was observed for the group that trained in the lengthened position; an MVC improvement as significant as for the training angle (25°) was found at three adjacent angles (50, 80, and 100°).

Quads:
Further analyses indicated that exercising in the lengthened position for the quadriceps femoris muscles (90° of knee flexion) produced increased torque across all angles measured (30, 60, 90°)
 
Jumprope HIIT, hope to get back to 20:40, but starting out with 15:45 for a dozen intervals.

Felt good. And experienced that old "vita-ray" pump to the "super soldier serum" from the isometrics. Had trouble getting my shirt off.
 
Added a 1" x 4ft galvanized pipe to the kit for doing bent rows, benchpress, high pull and OHP. Couldn't get a good enough purchase on 2" diameter dowel, can apply a lot more force with the 1" pipe. Still using the dowel for Zercher, crunches, squat, sissy squat - lunge, and hamstring curl where I'm not using my hands.

Didn't think I would feel a "pump" with this workout, but appears I've reached a point of recovery overlap where that is exactly what's happening - still feels a lot less taxing than a higher intensity isotonic workout. Back, neck, knees all feel good, nerve pain in left shoulder maybe diminishing with repeated exposure or some other reason, or maybe just got lucky today...

3 minutes jumprope
- Zercher DL
- High Pull
- Quad Lunge
- Bench
- Hammer curl
- Crunch

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.
 
3minutes jumprope warmup

- Squat
- OHP
- Hamstring extension
- Row
- Triceps extension

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 5 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.

Strongly considering splitting this in half and eliminating the HIIT only day. Am starting to feel as though I might be overtraining (from Isometrics!) and the session is running a solid 45 minutes anyway - too long for my taste.

Day 1
- Zercher DL
- High Pull
- Crunch
- Tricep extension

Day2
- Quad Lung
- Bench
- Leg raise
- Curl

Day3
- Squat
- OHP
- Crunch
- Tricep extension

Day 4
- Hamstring Curl
- Row
- Leg raise
- Curl
 
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12 second holds? How would you rate the intensity of those longer contractions, 60% to 70% perhaps?
 
12 second holds? How would you rate the intensity of those longer contractions, 60% to 70% perhaps?
In terms of effort its 100% or darn close. It usually winds up being 4 exhales/3 inhales (big inhale taken right before the bell chimes) and every breath is another shot at increasing tension/intensity. It can be considered a 4 rep set.

I try to hold onto whatever tension was generated in previous exhales while inhaling - its rough. On upper body holds, the last exhale I try to force the joint open using partial squat or deadlift movement, when "benching" I try to drive with my abs to increase tension on the pecs and triceps.

The whole thing is deceptive - if you try to replicate the feeling of regular lifting you'll hurt yourself, but the next day the DOMS is real, and a couple minutes of jumprope warmup really pumps up the muscles that were trained the day before. I'm still acclimating to it, is very strange.
 
Going forward, reducing number of repeats to 3 per exercise from 5, and 3 sessions per week from 4.

Have realized very quickly that I am overtraining the crap out of myself - did not think that was something I had to be as careful about with this approach. The new apparatus is working so much better than my previous improvised means that my MVC must be much higher than I am used to achieving.
 
Dropped one of the intervals and running 3x/week - this felt a lot more doable and finished in about 35 minutes. New and improved station made for faster change-over between exercises.

Did DL with alternate grip instead of Zercher - felt like I was able to generate a lot more force. My first real DL in about 30 years. Turned 54 yesterday, looking forward to testing my sandbag lifts after another month of this.

3 minutes jumprope
- DL
- Crossover High Pull
- Quad Lunge
- "Incline" Bench
- Hammer curl
- Crunch

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 4 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.

The fully matured station of despair:
- Larger deck 2ft x 4 ft with holes instead of edge cutouts, makes the straps easier to manage and increased space to jumprope.
- bead counter
- 14 ft strap, handles to secure pipe/dowel or to simulate cable exercises
- 2" wooden dowel for lifts where hard contact is not your hands
- 1" galvanized pipe for barbell lifts

vZsVmPOl.jpg
 
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Less nerve pain in left shoulder, jump rope intervals becoming less stressful.
3minutes jumprope warmup
- Squat
- OHP
- Hamstring extension
- Row
- Triceps extension

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 4 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off
 
3 minutes jumprope
- DL
- Crossover High Pull
- Quad Lunge
- "Incline" Bench
- Hammer curl
- Crunch

All holds done 12 seconds on, 36 seconds off, 4 intervals followed by two "max effort" jumprope HIIT also 12 on 36 off.
 
General impressions update:
- still have not gotten used to the near complete lack of a "pump"
- waking up exuding heat the day after a session and sleeping very deeply, like some adaptive remodeling is happening
- mini HIIT intervals are becoming easy, might increase the work to rest ratio a little, 12:36 to 15:30.
- won't be testing vs last known sandbag lifts for another three weeks or so, but am noticing an increase in strength generally during the initial 'amortization' phase of day to day moving stuff around and in general better bracing. Left shoulder pain is diminishing, I believe it just hasn't been loaded with so much tension in years and is slowly acclimating. Also my form is self-tweaking to avoid undue stress.

Physique overall hasn't really changed aside (curiously) from my biceps developing a sharper peak then the norm. Bodyweight might be up a lb or two.
 
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