What Are Isometrics?

Article by Jackie Burgmann

What Are Isometrics? – Health – Fitness

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Isometrics are another way to get your resistance training. It would appear that it is not a widely known form of exercise. But for the many people that have limited mobility due to injury or illness, isometric exercises can be the answer. Isometrics are used quite often in rehabilitation or for pain management for people with these types of ailments. Isometrics are also great exercises for the elderly to help them with basic strength and mobility. As a matter of fact, many accomplished younger strength athletes use Isometrics to supplement their other weight lifting routines. It really is an unsung hero for many.

Isometrics entail contracting the muscle but not changing the length it. The simplest way to do an Isometric exercise is to push against an immoveable object, like a wall or post or pull on an immovable object without letting your body move toward the object.

Examples of isometric contractions are as follows:

Stand between a doorframe. To work your deltoids, push both hands out against the door frame and hold. The muscle is contracting at this stage but is not changing in length (ie. not shortening nor lengthening). Or push up against the top of the door frame with your hands to work your shoulders.

Work your quadriceps by sitting in chair facing the wall and pushing against the wall with the ball of your foot and hold that push for several seconds. You can choose to do one long hold or several shorter ones to make a set.

To work your chest muscles, stand with your arms straight out in front of you (do not lock your elbows), press your palms into each other and again, hold for several seconds, or hold for a shorter period of time and do this several times.

Find a ledge or countertop at about hip level that you can hook your fingers under that is anchored down. Hook your fingers under the ledge, pull up and hold the contraction. Face towards the ledge to work your biceps, face away from the ledge to work your triceps.

Use a free weight and hold it in a semi-contracted but motionless state for several seconds. You may choose to repeat the contraction several times for a set, or just once for a more extended period of time. You can do this with almost any regular weights exercise by holding the contraction rather than doing the several moving reps you’d normally do.

Basically any exercise you do that involves tensing or contracting the muscle without moving it can be considered an Isometric exercise.

One of the convenient things about Isometric exercises is that they can be done almost anywhere. You don’t even really need an immoveable object to push against or pull as long you can make your muscles tense and hold the contraction for several seconds.

People with high blood pressure are cautioned about using Isometric exercises because the act of holding the contractions for extended periods of time can actually cause an increase in your blood pressure during the exercise. Be careful not to hold your breath during these exercises. Normal breathing should always be maintained throughout the muscle contraction.

Check out my true story about how the ultimate fitness manual “The Truth About Abs” by Mike Geary helped me get my “Six Pack Abs”.

About the Author

Jackie Burgmann is a Registered Weight Trainer and Registered Personal Trainer who also runs a popular fitness-oriented video blog using the pseudonym Girlwithnoname at Girlwithnoname.com

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The following video is an example of a static or isometric Bicep Curl at the point of maximal contraction. The weight of 242lbs provides an approximate gauge as to the resistance the muscle is under. For more a longer explanation of what Isometrics are and how they work, visit Isometric-Training.com
Video Rating: 1 / 5

Isometrics Exposed

Well, there are both pros and cons to isometrics.  I’ll go into both.

The cons:

1.  Many people just like the atmosphere of a gym.

If you enjoy the social atmosphere of the gym, talking shop with others during your workout, or need that interaction to actually get you to DO your workout, then Isometrics is probably not for you. And, let’s face it, many people do like the competition and other social aspects of a gym.

2.  Many people have plenty of time.

My mother, for instance, goes to the gym and loves it.  She has plenty of time and isn’t concerned about gaining muscle mass.  Her general fitness routine is fun for her and, being retired, she has as much time as she wants to spend there.

3.  Many people have the money to spend on exercise equipment and/or the gym membership.  And gas to and from the gym.  You get the idea.

4.  Some people just want to stick with what they know…  And since isometric training is basically unknown to the majority of people today, they just pass on it.

The Pros:

1.

Isometrics is very time efficient. To get the same or better workout, it takes A LOT less time than other methods.  The basic idea is this:  The key to building muscle is to stimulate all of the muscle fibers to the point of exhaustion (bringing you to the point where you can’t push or pull with the muscle any more).  This exhaustion tells your body to build new, bigger muscle tissue.  This takes some time using the weight training and body-weight methods, because you are lifting the weight through the full range of motion.  Take for example a bench press.  You push up the weight from the chest till your arms are fully extended.  But your muscles aren’t exhausted yet.  That’s why you have to do more repetitions to exhaust the muscles.  Same with push-ups or dips.  And then once you reach that “muscle failure” (muscle exhaustion), that is the part of the exercise that causes the muscle to grow.  Isometric exercises, however, starts by creating the tension at that critical, peak point.  Now hold that tension with all your strength and focus for several seconds, then relax.  That’s it. 

Isometrics stimulates each muscle fiber at that critical point from beginning to end of the exercise.

So there is no wasted time.  It’s totally efficient. And many people report a complete workout is done in about 10 minutes!

2.  Do them almost anywhere.  Actually, I can’t think of any place you can’t do them.  I know of someone who worked on his abs while waiting in line somewhere!  I like privacy, but it can be done at work while sitting or standing.  Anywhere will suffice.

3.  No equipment is needed.  There is no chin-up bar, no weights, nor any apparatus of any sort.  Because you don’t need those things for a full power workout that builds incredible strength. 

So, judge for yourself.  If you like the gym and the results you get there, then keep doing it!  If you don’t mind the time and money spent with traditional exercise routines, then more power to you!  BUT, if you want even bigger muscle size and/or strength gains, with less time and money spent to get them, then check into isometrics.  I believe you’ll be glad you did.

Find More Do Isometric Exercises Work Articles

Isometrics For Powerlifters & Strongmen

In your sport, the name of the game is strength, right? Let those bodybuilders have all the posing trunks, pro-Tan, dieting, and high-repetition sets that they want. You know that your goal isn’t related to how you looking in glittery posing trunks, and you darn sure aren’t concerned about what five judges in suits care about your physique. No, your goals involve lifting very heavy objects. Maybe it is the weights you like to lift. Maybe you want to find the highest total for bench press, deadlift, and squat that your body is capable of making. Or, maybe powerlifting isn’t your thing, and strongman competition is. If the idea of moving a 300 pound Atlas stone over your head, or pulling a bus further than anyone else in a competition is your goal, then you certainly want more strength.

If your goal is strength, then you’ve probably tried every routine under the sun in your last five years of training, right? You know the basic training staples of each sport, and you’ve probably done them, and then some! There’s a good chance you have exhausted every possible idea you have for making strength gains.

At this point, your options probably include gaining a great deal more weight (placing you in a higher and therefore more competitive weight class) or resorting to anabolic steroids, which can have health risks and may violate the rules of the confederation in which you compete. Is there another way to boost your strength levels without taking these routes? Yes there is!

Isometric training is a protocol which can help you to improve your strength levels in all of the essential lifts. Defined simply, isometric lifting involves locating then executing a static hold in three different positions against an immovable object.

For example, you might begin with the standard standing pectoral butterfly stretch against the cable machine. You are at full extension, and incapable of moving the rack, obviously. After holding that flex and pressing as hard as possible for 30 seconds, move to the middle range of the stretch. Add another 30 seconds of complete tension – pressing with everything you have against a weight you obviously know will not move. Finally, finish that “set” with another 30 seconds of the final locked out position.

The idea behind isometric training is that you will give the muscle an infinite workload of resistance in the three main positions of a lift in which you want to improve. It’s very effective when used in conjunction with post-training stretching. You can emulate just about any lift you can imagine, simply by contorting your body against some equipment in the gym, or in your home or office, when time is short. Muscle coordination benefits tremendously, which allows for greater contraction, strength, and concentration when you’re actually conducting the movements the isometric stretching was designed to mirror.

Mix isometric into your training following the three major lifts of deadlift, bench press and squats. You might just discover it allows you to break a plateau and increase your strength levels without resorting to steroid use or weight gains. Get pressing!

www.varietytrainer.com This is my wife Trina doing an isometric hold in a seated row position with an emphasis on trying to keep in a scapular retraction position. She did two sets of these to failure as the finishers of her workout.

Vertical Jump Training – Isometrics Defined

Isometrics are mentioned in several vertical jump programs as a way to develop your muscular power. In this article you will learn what exactly they are and how they are recommended by some trainers to develop your jumping capability. Ultimately, however, I cannot recommend isometrics over resistance training, because of the inability in isometrics training to really overload your muscles.

Isometrics Defined

Isometrics are static contractions: muscular contractions where the muscle is contracting without in reality moving. An isometric contraction occurs any time you hold a weight in a set position, known as a yielding isometric contraction, or pushing/pulling against an immovable entity, called an overcoming isometric contraction.

An isometric contraction will happen with every vertical jump.

For the most part, this only occurs for a split second from when you change from descending to exploding up. That fleeting moment in which you are not moving either up or down is an isometric contraction.

Isometrics in Vertical Jump Training

At first glance, completing a static contraction seems counter productive to the progress of jumping capability, when it is considered a vertical jump is a movement, after all-not a hold. But since many vertical jump programs recommend isometrics, let’s take a closer look.

Vertical leap is an expression of muscular power. Our vertical jumping formula is force (strength) times velocity (speed) equals explosion. Strength is determined by both size and amount of muscle fibers recruited.

Isometric training, it is posited, is a compulsory way to get your muscles to recruit more fibers. In order to statically hold or maximally contract against a heavy or immovable weight, your body begins to activate and recruit more fibers to sustain that hold or intensity. This means that your contractions would start to become more neurologically efficient–unfortunately, this doesn’t roll over to your vertical jump training, because you won’t be able to overload your muscles.

Now that you’ve got some ideas about ways to improve your vertical jump, would you like more tips for how to jump higher? Are you a dedicated athlete with a desire to excel at your sport? Do you want to use the best and most effective vertical jump training system to greatly increase your jump height? If yes, then you need to join Jacob Hiller’s Jump Manual Program.

Click here ==> The Jump Manual, to read more about this Vertical Jump Training Program, and how it ranks with other Popular Vertical Jump Training Systems out there.

Related Isometric Speed Training Exercises Articles

Isometric Workouts – Three Secrets Of Isometrics Training

Article by Stallone Chidester

Whether you’re looking to discover just how isometric’s routine could help you become stronger, more muscular and cut you”ll want to read this piece.

In the following couple of paragraphs, we’re going to go over three crucial elements that you should consider before you begin your isometric training program. Firstly, we have to ensure that you understand how safe isometric routines are when comparing them to free weight’s. After, we are going to show you precisely how you can see strength gains of just over 300% with this kind of routine. Lastly, we’re going to demonstrated to youprecisely how you could save yourself a great deal of time and recieve results than taking hrs. in the gym working out.

First off, let’s begin with why there’s lower chances of hurting yourself using iso-training.

Unlike free weight training, isometrictension applies no poundage or strain on the delicate joints. Instead, every fiber in your muscle is worked and the only thing that is being worked is the muscle itself. Your joints are there merely a support and they’re not involved in the exercise itself. Accordingly, if you have had problems prior to this with weight training and are still experiencing hurt from them you can relax in the fact of knowing that using isometrics, as part of your regular workouts will permit you to make dramatic strength gains with avoiding the additional risk.

Now, let’s explain in more detail on just how you could increase your strength over 300%.

As isometric training is one of the few proven and real training protocols, it has been found in studies that people who have used isometric training tension in their workout routine have increased their strength as much as 300% in just four weeks. These results were documented by Drs. Hettinger and Mueller in the 50s at the Max Planck Institute. Even if you only get half of this, a 150% increase in the levels of strength is quite significant wouldn’t you agree? Of course.

In ending, let’s go over the fact that isometric training needn’t involve a big of time and most sessions can be performed in less than 10 min.

Isometrics do only needs a 7 to 10 second static hold in order for you to receive the most from the exercise movement. Basically, this means is that if you were to perform 10 or 15 movements the total training time might be done in about three – 4 minutes. That’s a lot better than spending one hour to an hour and a half in the gym to accomplish the same strength-building session. Additionally, you needn’t spend 100’s or 1000’s of dollars for fancy gym machines or home exercise gadgets. You may perform iso-workouts with merely your weight or you might want to get a cheap isometricexerciser such as the ISO7X or Bully Xtreme 4.

Isometric exercise equipment such as ISO7X or the Bully Xtreme 4 can offer you extra advantages because they provide for a better range of training angles. At the end of the day, the extra resistance from an isometric exerciser may provide you with strength building and muscle growth.

Understanding these 3 crucial parts involved in isometrics. Iso-exercise includes a lower risk factor than free weights exercises, you could include a whole workout in no more than 8 minutes., and the strength building advantages of this type of training protocol can easily double or triple existing muscular strength. Bear those things in mind if you decide to build your workout routine.

The isometric engine is now able to support the character changing direction without moving. Not sure if changing direction should be action points or movement points? blog.neilreed.co.uk

How to Do Isometrics For Strength Training

When you are doing isometric exercises for strength building how many reps and sets should we be doing. Do we treat this the same as when working out with weights. There is the difference that isometrics are done by time and weights are reps and sets.

With isometrics the number and duration of the static holds are what are important. Some people have done many repetitions for short period of time and some will do fewer reps for longer period of time. Studies have shown that both methods have given increases of strength.

For those looking to increase strength it is often recommended to do 15 to 20 maximum static holds for about 5 to 10 seconds against an immovable object for at least 3 times per week. This amount of work will help you gain some extra strength. If you are already a really fit person who works out with weights the gains may not come on like someone just starting but isometrics are great supplemental exercises to using weights.

You can not just do each static hold at one position, you need to vary the angles.

An example would be while doing an isometric exercise for your biceps, you need to target the bicep through at least 3 or 4 points along its range of motion. The strength is gained at each point that you hold.

Full body exercises are something you should also try. Where you are pushing and pulling against immovable objects with regular isometrics, body weight exercises would be like doing a push up but doing a static hold at different points in its range of motion.

Bruce Lee was famous for his love of Isometric strength training. The Bruce Lee workout routine utilizes isometric strength exercises to provide power and strength. Visit hasfit.com for theworkout’s instructions, more videos, free meal plans, and other health tips. HASfit provides the best free home workout exercise routines for men and women. We have home fitness programs for varying fitness levels because every heart and soul deserves to be fit. You love us, now like us at facebook.com We offer elite personal training San Antonio, hasfit.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Isometrics Exposed

Well, there are both pros and cons to isometrics.  I’ll go into both.

The cons:

1.  Many people just like the atmosphere of a gym.

If you enjoy the social atmosphere of the gym, talking shop with others during your workout, or need that interaction to actually get you to DO your workout, then Isometrics is probably not for you. And, let’s face it, many people do like the competition and other social aspects of a gym.

2.  Many people have plenty of time.

My mother, for instance, goes to the gym and loves it.  She has plenty of time and isn’t concerned about gaining muscle mass.  Her general fitness routine is fun for her and, being retired, she has as much time as she wants to spend there.

3.  Many people have the money to spend on exercise equipment and/or the gym membership.  And gas to and from the gym.  You get the idea.

4.  Some people just want to stick with what they know…  And since isometric training is basically unknown to the majority of people today, they just pass on it.

The Pros:

1.

Isometrics is very time efficient. To get the same or better workout, it takes A LOT less time than other methods.  The basic idea is this:  The key to building muscle is to stimulate all of the muscle fibers to the point of exhaustion (bringing you to the point where you can’t push or pull with the muscle any more).  This exhaustion tells your body to build new, bigger muscle tissue.  This takes some time using the weight training and body-weight methods, because you are lifting the weight through the full range of motion.  Take for example a bench press.  You push up the weight from the chest till your arms are fully extended.  But your muscles aren’t exhausted yet.  That’s why you have to do more repetitions to exhaust the muscles.  Same with push-ups or dips.  And then once you reach that “muscle failure” (muscle exhaustion), that is the part of the exercise that causes the muscle to grow.  Isometric exercises, however, starts by creating the tension at that critical, peak point.  Now hold that tension with all your strength and focus for several seconds, then relax.  That’s it. 

Isometrics stimulates each muscle fiber at that critical point from beginning to end of the exercise.

So there is no wasted time.  It’s totally efficient. And many people report a complete workout is done in about 10 minutes!

2.  Do them almost anywhere.  Actually, I can’t think of any place you can’t do them.  I know of someone who worked on his abs while waiting in line somewhere!  I like privacy, but it can be done at work while sitting or standing.  Anywhere will suffice.

3.  No equipment is needed.  There is no chin-up bar, no weights, nor any apparatus of any sort.  Because you don’t need those things for a full power workout that builds incredible strength. 

So, judge for yourself.  If you like the gym and the results you get there, then keep doing it!  If you don’t mind the time and money spent with traditional exercise routines, then more power to you!  BUT, if you want even bigger muscle size and/or strength gains, with less time and money spent to get them, then check into isometrics.  I believe you’ll be glad you did.

Isometrics For Powerlifters & Strongmen

In your sport, the name of the game is strength, right? Let those bodybuilders have all the posing trunks, pro-Tan, dieting, and high-repetition sets that they want. You know that your goal isn’t related to how you looking in glittery posing trunks, and you darn sure aren’t concerned about what five judges in suits care about your physique. No, your goals involve lifting very heavy objects. Maybe it is the weights you like to lift. Maybe you want to find the highest total for bench press, deadlift, and squat that your body is capable of making. Or, maybe powerlifting isn’t your thing, and strongman competition is. If the idea of moving a 300 pound Atlas stone over your head, or pulling a bus further than anyone else in a competition is your goal, then you certainly want more strength.

If your goal is strength, then you’ve probably tried every routine under the sun in your last five years of training, right? You know the basic training staples of each sport, and you’ve probably done them, and then some! There’s a good chance you have exhausted every possible idea you have for making strength gains.

At this point, your options probably include gaining a great deal more weight (placing you in a higher and therefore more competitive weight class) or resorting to anabolic steroids, which can have health risks and may violate the rules of the confederation in which you compete. Is there another way to boost your strength levels without taking these routes? Yes there is!

Isometric training is a protocol which can help you to improve your strength levels in all of the essential lifts. Defined simply, isometric lifting involves locating then executing a static hold in three different positions against an immovable object. For example, you might begin with the standard standing pectoral butterfly stretch against the cable machine. You are at full extension, and incapable of moving the rack, obviously. After holding that flex and pressing as hard as possible for 30 seconds, move to the middle range of the stretch. Add another 30 seconds of complete tension – pressing with everything you have against a weight you obviously know will not move. Finally, finish that “set” with another 30 seconds of the final locked out position.

The idea behind isometric training is that you will give the muscle an infinite workload of resistance in the three main positions of a lift in which you want to improve. It’s very effective when used in conjunction with post-training stretching. You can emulate just about any lift you can imagine, simply by contorting your body against some equipment in the gym, or in your home or office, when time is short. Muscle coordination benefits tremendously, which allows for greater contraction, strength, and concentration when you’re actually conducting the movements the isometric stretching was designed to mirror.

Mix isometric into your training following the three major lifts of deadlift, bench press and squats. You might just discover it allows you to break a plateau and increase your strength levels without resorting to steroid use or weight gains. Get pressing!