Why Isometric Exercise Works In Theory And In Practice
An isometric exercise is a form of bodyweight training in which the muscle length and joint angle do not change when an exercise is performed. As an example of this let's say that you are pressing against an immovable brick wall with all of your might. Unless you're Superman, of course, the wall will not move. As this is the case neither will your arms which means the muscle and joints will stay the same as well. This is known as an isometric contracion. Compare this to a more conventional exercise like a bench press. When you perform this exercise obviously the weight is going up and coming down. This means that the muscles being worked are always changing their length. They need to contract in order to move your limbs to press the barbell.
What benefits can you expect from following a program of isometric training? First of all you can expect to become much stronger and more defined. If you watch your diet and follow certain procedures you can expect to add some serious size to your muscles as well.
Other benefits of isometric exercise are as follows:
They can be done anywhere
They do not require equipment
They are extremely safe
They can be done extremely quickly
They are fantastic for building strength
They are great at sculpting the body
Isometrics, or static strength training, have been around for thousands of years in disciplines such as yoga and the martial arts. During the early part of the 20th century legendary strongmen such as Alexander Zass and Maxick used isometric training to build their incredible physiques and great strength. Alexander Zass actually developed his own form of isometrics when he was captured by the Austrians during World War I. In his cell he began pulling and pushing on his chains in an effort to maintain his strength. To his great surprise however he discovered that this method of training actually allowed him to get stronger! He became so strong that he was able to bend his prison bars and break his shackles in order to make his escape.
Why does this form of exercise work? Essentially what isometric exercises allow you to do is to trick the body into using as many of the muscle fibers as possible all at once. This is called the "Synapse Effect" and this is how it works.
Every muscle in your body is made up of hundreds of individual muscle fibers of varying length and abilities. When you go to perform any action your mind activates the bare number of muscle fibers required to accomplish the task. So if you pick up a coffee cup your mind will only activate those muscle fibers that are absolutely needed. If you pick up a heavy weight it will activate that much more, but always the bare minimum.
Now lets say you engage in an isometric exercise which utilizes and isometric contraction. The example above of pressing your palms together is a good one. When you do so your mind is trying to move both of your arms at the same time. It has no idea that they are opposed to one another so it assumes that the object you are trying to move is very heavy. Therefore it continually recruits more and more muscle fibers in a vain attempt to move your arms. This is why it's possible to exhaust ALL of your muscle fibers with isometrics within 12 seconds, whereas it takes 3 sets of 12 (for example) using conventional weight lifting.
If you are looking for an exercise method that gets you in superior shape in record time following a program of isometric exercise just might be for you.
David Nordmark is a Vancouver based fitness consultant as well as the owner and operator of Animal-Kingdom-Workouts.com, a fitness site with a unique twist. For more information on bodyweight workouts, yoga and isometric exercise check out his website.
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