Tips For Performing Isometric Exercises

Isometric exercises can help you achieve any number of fitness goals. It particularly excels at increasing ones strength and improving muscle definition in the least amount of time. If this sounds interesting then isometric training might be for you. However, although isometric exercises LOOK easy to perform, they are not easy to do. What follows are some tips that will help you get the most out of this kind of training.

Actually before I begin I should mention just what exactly isometric training involves. The principle behind it is to exert your muscles WITHOUT letting them contract. So if you press your palms together your are exerting force on your muscles. However your arms never move and therefore the muscle never contracts. This is the essence of an isometric contraction. At any rate here are the tips for performing this kind of exercise.

Always follow proper breathing procedures and NEVER hold your breath – When performing an isometric exercise you will always want to slowly increase the tension in your muscles while breathing in.

Once you’ve reached the point of peak contraction Exhale your breath by clenching your teeth while making a “SSSSSS” sound. After finishing with the contraction breathe in again for 3 to 4 seconds while breathing in.

By never holding in your breath you are ensuring that you are keeping your blood pressure under control. One of the concerns often raised about isometric exercises is that it they can raise the blood pressure to dangerous levels. This is only true if you hold your breath. In addition it should be pointed out that performing any physically demanding activity, including raking leaves or mowing the lawn, will cause your blood pressure to rise.

It always will in response to physical exertion. Do not worry about this. So long as you breathe slowly and calmly you’ll be fine.

Always breathe IN through your nose and OUT through your mouth. When you breathe in through your nose your are ensuring that your body is getting the best air it can at the right temperature. Breathing in through the nose also has a calming effect on the body. Anytime you begin breathing through your mouth your body goes into panic mode. This does not result in optimal workouts.

Always focus on the muscles you are exercising. It is as important to work your mind as it is your muscles in order to achieve maximum results. As you work your body with isometric exercises imagine the blood flowing into the muscle in question. Imagine it getting bigger and stronger. I can’t stress this enough. It is always vital to focus on the muscle you are working with laser like intensity.

The famous old time strong man Maxick had some interesting observations on this point. He was watching some stone masons working one day and came to realize that their muscles were not nearly as large as one would expect considering the physical work they were involved in. Why was this? For the simple reason that they were focusing on the work at hand, not on working their muscles. Performing an exercise will only take you so far. If you want to get the maximum benefit from it, particularly with isometric exercises, you must focus your mind as well.

As any rate so long as you follow the tips above you should do fine. This tips not only work for isometric exercises, but for other forms of exercise as well. Good Luck!

This exercise targets: chest, biceps For this exercise, you will need: no equipment Stand in a relaxed position with the feet in a shoulder-width stance, and your back straight. Place your hands in front of your chest. Press both hands against each other, and hold that position for at least ten seconds. Relax and switch hands. Tips: You can either stand or sit to perform this exercise; just make sure your back is upright. Focus on completely flexing your chest muscles the entire time. Examples of isometric exercises include: push ups, chest press, plank, and calf raises. Variation: Position an exercise ball between your hands and try to squeeze it as much as you can. Breathe naturally. Isometric exercises can cause your blood pressure to rise, because people tend to hold their breath while performing them. Beginners: Perform for at least 30 seconds Intermediate level: Perform for at least 45 seconds Advanced level: Perform for at least 60 seconds
Video Rating: 4 / 5

More Isometric Exercises And Blood Pressure Articles

Performing Muscular Strength Exercises – Weight Training for Increased Muscular Strength

The world of weight lifting is more expansive than most people assume. However, most people perceive weight lifting from the perspective of bodybuilding. Now, there is nothing wrong with this if you are actually looking for a bodybuilding physique. But, what if you are looking to increase and enhance your physical strength?

If this is your goal, you will probably want to avoid a bodybuilding workout. Bodybuilding workouts center on developing a certain look as opposed to enhancing strength. In fact, bodybuilders are commonly referred to as “pretty boys on the beach” while weight lifters are referred to as “strong boys on the beach” (substitute the gender where appropriate).

This is not to say that bodybuilders and those seeking excellence in physical appearance should stay away from muscular strength exercises. You could integrate them into you bodybuilding routine as they will help enhance your workouts and intensity by allowing you to use heavier weights and overcome weight training plateaus.

Those wanting to enhance strength will need to employ muscular strength exercises.

Are these exercises complicated? Actually, they are fairly simple to perform and do not even require a significant time commitment to achieve results from.

Many of the muscular strength exercises you perform are the exact same exercises that would be found in a bodybuilding workout. However, the approach to the exercises and the performance of the exercises will be different. Again, this is because the goal here is to enhance strength and reduce the effort needed to perform physical tasks. So, let’s take a clear look at exactly how this is to be done.

At the core of all muscular strength exercises is heavy weights and low reps.

This is because you want to overload the muscle with near maximum weight and lift for a few short reps which will lead to quick failure. Failure refers to the muscle’s inability to continue with an exercise. When this occurs, the muscle will seek to grow larger during the rest stage to handle the amount of weight it failed to lift. In short, training to failure leads to the muscle seeking to grow stronger.

More often than not, you will want to work the major compound exercises such as the bench press, the military press, the dead lift, and the squat since these are the most common strength building exercises. Usually, lifting 60% to 80% of your maximum weight potential for 6 -8 reps is recommended. Keep in mind, however, that you should definitely have a workout partner with you when performing these lifts since they can lead to an injury if you lose control of the heavy weight. Dead lifts, in particular, can cause a back injury if not performed properly. So, never risk safety when performing muscular strength exercises.

Does this mean you never perform isolation exercises when looking to increase strength? Honestly, you can certainly isolate specific muscles and perform exercises that target these muscles specifically. Bicep curls, calf raises, and leg extensions would fall under the category of these types of exercises. However, the amount of weight you lift with an isolation exercise will be certainly less than what you can perform with compound exercises. You simply will have fewer muscles employed so the amount of weight you lift will have to be adjusted.

Ultimately, muscular strength exercises can deliver excellent results in terms of the ability to properly enhance human strength. They are not tough to perform and anyone can do them. So why not give them a try?

Find More Muscular Strength Vs Muscular Endurance Articles

Performing Dumbbell Exercises at Home

Article by Stewart Ames

Many people have an inaccurate opinion of the value of dumbbell exercises at home. They see dumbbells workouts as supplementary exercises used in a secondary manner to equipment in the gym. Such an opinion derives from the world of bodybuilding. Mainly, to develop a bodybuilder’s physique, barbells are better for mass building. Now, while that is true in most pro bodybuilding circles, those hoping to perform dumbbell exercises in the home can put dumbbell exercises to great use.

Whether you are looking to develop mass or definition, dumbbell exercises at home can be performed to arrive at such results. The key here is you need to understand some of the ways such pieces of equipment work. Dumbbell training is not that difficult but it does require some basic points to be followed in order to make the workout sessions more effective.

First, do not assume that the only way to get the most out of a dumbbell workout would be to lift the heaviest amount of weight possible. That would purely be a mass workout. Mass training does have its value and many would prefer to add a lot of mass to their frame. However, lifting heavy weights is not always a requirement to seeing a major impact on your physique. Moderate amounts of weight can prove to be enormously helpful.

Just be sure to employ the complete range of motion with your dumbbell exercises. This is the great benefit of dumbbells. A barbell will not be able to go lower that the chest in a benchpress or lower than the thighs in a biceps curl. Dumbbells allow for a longer range of motion and this allows for a greater and deeper impact on the muscles. As long as you follow proper form when you perform your dumbbell exercises at home, you will notice a solid impact on your physique.

The variety of exercises you can perform with dumbbell exercises can surprise a lot of people. Again, the key is not to only look at the established pro bodybuilding workouts for examples of dumbbell exercises. While such exercises are definitely helpful, they are not the totality of all dumbbell exercises.

One common exercise that will not be a high intensity exercise for bodybuilding but people in the home will find helpful would be to perform traditional body squats while holding dumbbells in each hand. Such a simple exercise will yield great results.

Similarly, you can perform basic dumbbell exercises in manners that are not traditional. For example, performing dumbbell exercises in a slow and controlled manner will turn the workout into a unique strength training exercise that will enhance your physique quite significantly. Actually, it will do more than just improve appearances. It will aid in increasing your strength levels as well.

Performing dumbbell exercises at home can deliver some amazing results. The key is picking the right exercises, the proper intensity levels, and to be consistent in your workouts. Results will not appear overnight but they will eventually appear. Such is the nature of these types of exercises.

60 Days with Nat Jones review of Men’s Fitness Dumbbell Workout. Short on time and you need to solid workout to keep it together. Men’s Fitness Dumbbell Workout does just that, it will keep your muscles balance and strengthen your core. I gave this routine a 4 star rating. I felt it could have been a little bit more intense. However for a 30 minute workout it gets the job done. Go to www.60dayswithnatjones.com/workouts for more details. The Dumbbell Workout – Perform 3 times per week, rest a day between each session. Time needed 30 minutes. Exercises Floor Press Sets: 3 Reps: 10 Get Up Situp Sets: 2 Reps: 5 (each side) Renegade Row Sets: 3 Reps: 10 (each side) Goblet Squat Sets: 3 Reps: 15 One Arm Push Press Sets: 3 Reps: 15 (each side) Single Leg Deadlift Sets: 3 Reps: 8 (each side) One Arm Swing Sets: 3-5 Reps: 15 -20 (each side) To increase the intensity for this workout shorten the rest between reps from 60 seconds, to 30 seconds or 15 seconds. www.mensfitness.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

More Dumbbell Exercises Articles

Performing Muscular Strength Exercises – Weight Training for Increased Muscular Strength

Article by David Kamau

The world of weight lifting is more expansive than most people assume. However, most people perceive weight lifting from the perspective of bodybuilding. Now, there is nothing wrong with this if you are actually looking for a bodybuilding physique. But, what if you are looking to increase and enhance your physical strength?

If this is your goal, you will probably want to avoid a bodybuilding workout. Bodybuilding workouts center on developing a certain look as opposed to enhancing strength. In fact, bodybuilders are commonly referred to as “pretty boys on the beach” while weight lifters are referred to as “strong boys on the beach” (substitute the gender where appropriate).

This is not to say that bodybuilders and those seeking excellence in physical appearance should stay away from muscular strength exercises. You could integrate them into you bodybuilding routine as they will help enhance your workouts and intensity by allowing you to use heavier weights and overcome weight training plateaus.

Those wanting to enhance strength will need to employ muscular strength exercises. Are these exercises complicated? Actually, they are fairly simple to perform and do not even require a significant time commitment to achieve results from.

Many of the muscular strength exercises you perform are the exact same exercises that would be found in a bodybuilding workout. However, the approach to the exercises and the performance of the exercises will be different. Again, this is because the goal here is to enhance strength and reduce the effort needed to perform physical tasks. So, let’s take a clear look at exactly how this is to be done.

At the core of all muscular strength exercises is heavy weights and low reps. This is because you want to overload the muscle with near maximum weight and lift for a few short reps which will lead to quick failure. Failure refers to the muscle’s inability to continue with an exercise. When this occurs, the muscle will seek to grow larger during the rest stage to handle the amount of weight it failed to lift. In short, training to failure leads to the muscle seeking to grow stronger.

More often than not, you will want to work the major compound exercises such as the bench press, the military press, the dead lift, and the squat since these are the most common strength building exercises. Usually, lifting 60% to 80% of your maximum weight potential for 6 -8 reps is recommended. Keep in mind, however, that you should definitely have a workout partner with you when performing these lifts since they can lead to an injury if you lose control of the heavy weight. Dead lifts, in particular, can cause a back injury if not performed properly. So, never risk safety when performing muscular strength exercises.

Does this mean you never perform isolation exercises when looking to increase strength? Honestly, you can certainly isolate specific muscles and perform exercises that target these muscles specifically. Bicep curls, calf raises, and leg extensions would fall under the category of these types of exercises. However, the amount of weight you lift with an isolation exercise will be certainly less than what you can perform with compound exercises. You simply will have fewer muscles employed so the amount of weight you lift will have to be adjusted.

Ultimately, muscular strength exercises can deliver excellent results in terms of the ability to properly enhance human strength. They are not tough to perform and anyone can do them. So why not give them a try?

Visit www.BodyRock.Tv for Zuzana’s daily free workout videos and diet tips. No equipment is necessary to get in great shape at home! Real exercises that deliver real results.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Find More Strength Exercises Articles

Tips for men to lose weight performing exercises at home

Article by Vanni Jain

Men are more cautious than women in terms of their physique. They are very much possessive and take a lot of care for maintaining their body. But some men are there who are obese as well as lazy, whereas some do not have the enough time to go to gym after a day’s hard work. Therefore fitness experts have suggested few exercises that you can perform in your home daily. So here are some weight loss exercises at home that you can do while watching television and listening to music.

1. Jogging in one place- You should jog daily for 15-20 minutes by standing at one place. This improves your blood circulation as well as heart diseases. This is an exercise for your whole body and therefore reduces your body fat and keeps you fit and healthy.2. Pushups- this helps to improve your arm strength as well as muscles and broadens your chest area. This exercise burns the extra fat in your arms and chest giving it a proper shape.3. Squats- you should perform this exercise by sitting or standing a regular chair. It improves the strength to your body and burns the extra fat from the buttock and the legs. You should repeat this several times to get a positive result.4. Aerobic exercises- You can go for aerobic exercises by putting on the cassette. This is the best way to lose weight and it is proved by most of the people. It has several exercises specific to your different body part and thus reduces the body weight very quickly.5. Sit ups- This is a best exercise for abdomen. It is to touch your feet without bending your knees. You can perform it standing as well as sitting. It reduces the extra fat from your belly and tightens the skin giving it a toned look.6. Dancing- This is the most enjoyable exercise among other weight loss exercises at home. Besides enjoying, you also lose your weight and become fresh. This is a whole body exercise and keeps your heart and muscles strong and kills your body pain.

So you need not to go to the gym and give huge membership fees. All you need to do is to work out at home with these weight loss exercises at home. These help you to lose your weight as well as prevent you from ailments, heart diseases etc. Lastly it helps you to look attractive and young forever.