I have found Isometric Training to be the best weight
training technique for most people.
Isometric
exercise is a form of exercise involving the static contraction of a muscle without any visible movement in the angle of the
joint.
Resistance in isometric exercises typically
involve contractions of the muscle using:
- The
body's own
- Structural items (e.g., pushing
against a door frame)
- Free weights, weights
machines or elastic equipment (e.g. holding a weight in a fixed position)
An Isometric Contraction is the tensing up of a muscle without moving the angle of a joint. This
can be achieved with or without weights. Let's answer the question, "why do people lift weights?"
To be stronger? To be firmer and more toned? To develop bigger
muscles? To lose weight? To fight osteoporosis? All of these are acceptable answers, but rather than explain the “why”
it explains the result of the "why".
Lifting
weights causes the fibres of the muscles to contract and tense up. This stress and stimulus causes the muscles to breakdown
and rebuild themselves tighter, firmer and in some cases bigger, thus making you stronger.
So how does tensing a muscle while holding nothing stimulate you to develop tighter, firmer muscles?
The answer is in the tension. The tension and
intensity of a contraction is the stimulus that produces new muscles growth. Weight lifting is an artificial means of causing
your muscles to tense. Because an object is perceived as heavy by your body it recruits more muscle fibre than a light weight,
like a pencil. This recruitment of more muscle fibre causes extra tension – hence extra stimulation, and so you get
tighter firmer muscles.
The fact is an Isometric
Contraction is the voluntary tensing of a particular muscle. This tension needs only to be held for about 7-10 seconds only(if
you are tensing the muscle properly you should be quite fatigued by this stage as the all the fibres in the muscle are stimulated).
The funny thing is people spend small fortunes every day purchasing
expensive gym memberships and hiring personal trainers that waste they’re time and money.
If you’ve ever lifted weights, even if it’s only a light dumbbell or a can of peas you
will notice that you lift the weight from a stretched out position to a contracted tight one.
For instance
in a bicep curl you start with you arm by your side and curl the weight up to your shoulder. It is only in the last second
of the movement that you actually contract the maximum amount of muscle fibres. In an Isometric Contraction you hold this
position for only a few seconds with total tension. This means you are exponentially doing more of the work. But becasue
you don't waste time doing the useless part of the movement you get your workout done far faster.
There are several very good reasons to include isometric contractions in your strength training program.
For one thing, real life situations often require the ability to hold yourself in a certain position—carrying several
bags of groceries, squatting down to scrub a floor, holding a baby in your arms—and isometrics is a good way to train
your muscles to get better at handling those specific positions. For another, isometric training usually involves exerting
maximum force, which will activate and train all of the available muscle fibers and lead to more significant improvements
in strength in less time.
But perhaps the most significant benefit for many people is that isometric training
can literally be done anywhere, without any special equipment at all. All you need is about 10 seconds to do a single, effective
isometric exercise, and you can probably do it without anyone noticing you’re actually exercising.
Let’s
say, for example, that your day is just too busy for you to break out the dumbbells and do several sets of bicep curls. If
you can find 10 seconds, a couple of times during the day, to press your palms together as hard as you can, you can still
exercise your arm muscles effectively. If you can sit in a chair with your abs engaged (tightened) and your feet held just
slightly off the floor, you’re giving those core muscles a good workout. If that’s too easy for you, just push
down on your knees with your hands while trying not to let your feet touch the floor. To work those upper back and neck muscles,
clasp your hands behind your neck, elbows wide, and push your head back while trying to push it forward with your hands. With
a little creativity, you can think of ways to use one muscle or limb to oppose the opposite one (or find some immovable object
in your environment to push or pull against), so that you can give most of your muscles a good isometric workout. As long
you exert as much force as you can for at least 10 seconds for each exercise, you’ll get the training benefit.
ONE POINT OF WARNING:
_______________________________________
Isometric contractions also restrict blood flow and can
cause sharp rises in blood pressure during the exercise. This means that isometric exercises can be unsafe for anyone with
heart disease or high blood pressure, and women who are pregnant. If you fall into one of these categories, do not try isometric
exercises without the consent of your doctor.
For everyone, it is very important to remember to breathe properly during any intense muscular contraction,
especially the maximum contractions of isometric exercise. Never hold your breath during the contraction, and try to maintain
a normal breathing rhythm. And avoid extending the time of maximum muscle contraction much beyond 10 seconds.
_______________________________________ Adding Isometrics to Your Program
Supplementing your concentric and eccentric strength training exercises with some isometric exercises
is ideal. In addition to using isometrics when you don't have time to do anything else, as described earlier, you can also
add them into your regular routine, to make sure you’re really working your muscles to the point of maximum overload.
There are many ways to do this. For example, you can easily turn a regular exercise into an isometric one by simply
pausing and holding, somewhere along the range of movement, for a few seconds. In general, it will be harder and result in
greater benefit when you hold closer to the very top of the lifting phase or the very bottom of the lowering phase (without
actually getting there).
Here are a few examples:
- When doing bicep curls, tricep extensions, chest presses and similar resistance exercises, pause halfway through
your lifting (concentric) phase and hold the weight steady. Make it harder by pausing just before you lower back down to the
starting point of the exercise.
- When doing squats, lunges, and pushups, pause after lowing yourself
down (at the end of your concentric contraction) and hold your body steady.
- When doing crunches,
pause at the top of your crunch and hold. Make it harder by pausing just before you reach the starting point of the exercise
(shoulder blades just hovering above the floor).