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Isometrics

When was the last time you heard the term Isometric? When was the last time you heard of a coach or athlete who used Isometrics in their training? If you are like most people, your father and grandfather were the last guys that who utilized iso’s, doing countertop curl holds before bed time.  Most view this training method as another passing fad that has died a slow and meaningless death.  The remainder of this article will shed some very interesting and exciting light on this underutilized yet powerful training method.

Isometric, meaning constant (iso) meter (metric), or no change in muscle length during a muscular contraction is part of the “classical” repetition.  If we look at the three phases of movement, there is the pliometric or eccentric loading phase followed by the isometric, coupling, or amortization phase and lastly the miometric or concentric phase.  As you can see in the down and up repetition, you are performing a brief isometric contraction whether known or unknown, but typically not emphasized.  The misconceptions that isometrics are not beneficial or challenging enough are profound.  The underlying research has stated that the only strength gains made from isometrics are fifteen to thirty degrees from the joint angle trained (not entirely true), thus filing this method up there with bosu strength training in the beneficial category.  

The first major benefit from isometric training methodic would be to teach proper position.  It never fails, every year, a new crop of freshmen who of about eighty percent have no training background at all.  Worst is, of the twenty percent that have training background, they have the worst technique and movement patterns known to man.  Of the two, I’d always rather start with the clean slate then try to re-wire bad motor programs to adolescents who think their dad knows everything about training and couldn’t have been leading them down a dark path.  But, none the less that is the job description.  First thing in teaching newbie’s or the dysfunctional is to teach proper position.  Proper position means correct technique and injury free training (To learn more on proper position read Dan Fichter’s article on the subject The Purpose Position ).  Pavel Tsatsouline says, “Strengthen the top position and bottom position and everything in the middle will fall into place.”  Isometrics, even if brief in duration, accomplish this goal and can easily be administered to a large group.  Using the isometrics, trainees have less distraction and more time under tension in those particular positions to “feel” the proper muscles working and understand how to get there. 

“Feeling” the proper muscles fire brings me to the second great benefit of this methodic, proper muscle recruitment patterns.  When a trainee has less distraction and more time to put his “mental intent” on the correct musculature (as long as position is maintained), he/she develops a better body awareness or kinesthesia.  In teaching dynamic movements right out of the gate, often times, too much is going on and the trainee typically will just go through the movement as best as possible without really getting a chance to make it internal.  That internal process is always what leads to a greater understand and depth of mastery for any new skill.  Jay Schroeder of Evo-Sport and Ultra-fit, might be the master at this with his “Extreme Isometrics.”  Don’t let the name fool you too much, what truly seems to be going on here is an active yielding isometric hold in the deepest position possible for (what seems to me the longest time possible) five minutes.  This in actuality becomes a quasi-isometric action; As you pull down into the deepest position possible you start to fatigue and slowly pull yourself deeper and deeper.  Regardless, Jays trainee’s are learning how to actively pull themselves down instead of just giving in to gravity and fall into position.  This is one of the biggest obstacle for most as we are accustomed to collapsing into the car seat or “plopping down” on the coach.  We don’t move like the yester-years of our childhood anymore and we should be ashamed.  We first off taught ourselves how to do it right as we started to crawl and walk, but shortly after that , we got lazy!  We gave in to the status quo and now we can’t squat down without knee or back pain.  In trying to accomplish Jay’s five minute “Extreme Isometrics” your body is forced to find the most optimal firing patterns as your body fights to maintain position for the insanely long duration. 

Next benefit in line would have to be active flexibility.  Note that this is only the case when the isometric contraction is at the deepest joint angle possible (while maintaining position).  Going back to Schroeder’s Extreme Isometrics, as fatigue sets in, you’ll pull yourself lower and lower developing greater ROM using strength.  Active flexibility is the only type of flexibility that has any carry over in to actual performance settings.  Schroeder’s Extreme Isometrics it has been theorized increase fascial length, which in turn has been correlated to increased running speeds or ability.  The increase in lactic acid and metabolites at the extreme end ranges of motion has also been theorized to increase fascia thickness in elongated states.  Once again, possibly increasing your ability for ROM and speed! 

Getting down to the fundamentals there are two basic types of isometrics, yielding and overcoming.  Both have very separate and distinct training effects.  Yielding is holding a given load at a particular angel (typically bottom of movement) for a designated time.  As previously covered this becomes a super slow eccentric  or quasi-isometric movement with enough fatigue and has a major training effect on your connective tissue or series elastic component of the muscle.  This is great for strengthening tendons and fascia and is an excellent preparatory stage for speed strength or plyometric work.  Typically longer durations work best, holding for 15-35 seconds in length is most beneficial. 

Overcoming isometrics on the other hand is for sticking points and generating power.  Overcoming isometrics have also been referred to as sticking point training, where the trainee will exert maximal force against an immovable object at a particular joint angle that is a weak point of the movement.  Louie Simmons’s conjugate method of training which has produced some of the most prolific powerlifters ever is all about, “training your weakness” and overcoming isometrics is one of the most specific ways to accomplish that.  This can be very stressful and demanding on the connective tissue so, durations are typically short.  No more then 5-15 seconds in duration would be recommended due to the stress and strain.  Doing a set or two of overcoming isometrics followed immediately by a set of the regular lift can also have a potentiating effect on the lift.  Performance plateaus and sticking points can be a thing of the past. 

Continuing on to the potentiating effect of isometrics, Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky has stated that an isometric contraction followed by a concentric dynamic movement will increase the force of the movement by up to twenty percent! This has help given rise to the static-dynamic method of training, which most intermediate and advanced trainee’s due to some degree automatically with most lifting movements.  Prior to performing a big lift, you can witness advanced lifters pre-tense their bodies and develop full body tension to help rip the weight off the floor or explode the bar up.  In “Inno-Speak” this is your Isometric Miometric (ISO-MIO) work, which develops that explosive rapid acceleration like jumping or throwing.  Hang cleans are also utilize this effect (if done correctly) and that is why they can be beneficial.  Jay Schroeder has his Explosive Dynamic Isometrics (EDI’s) which utilize this effect as well.  This potentiating effect is extremely beneficial in developing “Starting Strength” and “Acceleration Strength.”  These two factors make an athlete explosive off the line and lighting quick!

Potentiating complex’s for you to try on your own at the gym.

Movement: Bench Press

Try performing 3-5sec. maximal Overcoming Isometrics then rest for 2-5minutes before performing maximal bench press singles.

Movement: Pull Up

Try holding a 10 sec. Yielding Isometric then rest for 2-5 minutes before performing pull ups. 

Movement: Glute Ham Raise

Have a partner manually resist you as you try to pull up for 5-15 seconds, them rest for 2-5 minutes, followed by reactive glute ham raises. 

Using Iso’s and complexing Iso’s into your training will enhance performance during training primarily which will cultivate to a better performance on the playing field.  In the group teaching settings where equipment and space are usually a limiting factor, isometrics side step the problem as equipment and space are typically minimal at worst.  Skill retention and mastery are aided with the utilization of Iso’s first or mixed with other methods to enhance understanding and performance.  Try giving the complex’s above a try during your next workout and see the benefits first hand. 

Until next time

Jeremy Layport, MA, RKC TL, C.S.C.S., USA WL1