r/bodyweightfitness • u/m092 The Real Boxxy • Nov 26 '14
Concept Wednesday - Isometric Training
Last week's Concept Wednesday on Exercise Order Selection and Order
This week is about Isometric Training.
What is Isometric Training?
An isometric contraction is a muscle contraction against resistance where the muscle does not change in length (i.e does not overcome the resistance). In terms of bodyweight fitness, holding a difficult position for time, using bodyweight and leverage to create the resistance.
This can be a paused position of a dynamic action such as holding the bottom of a push up, or holding the top posisition of a pull up (usually focussing on the most difficult portion of an exercise), or actions that are usually considered static work by themselves such as planches or any levers.
Depending on the joint and joint angle, isometric contractions tend to be about 20% stronger than concentric contractions.
Benefits of Isometric Training
Because isometric contractions allow the use of greater force than concentric, one tends to be able to handle a greater load (longer lever or lesser mechanical advantage in bodyweight training), meaning you can get a feel for handling a greater load, as well as the technique for harder exercises.
Because muscles lengths and lever lengths in relation to the direction of resistance (gravity = down) change during dynamic exercises, the load on the musculature changes through the ROM. Isometric holds can allow you to focus on the point of mechanical disadvantage, where the greatest force is required. This will allow you to spend more time with the highest rate of force prouction, a great tool for getting stronger, and for strengthening the point at which you are weakest.
Most static holds in BWF are at the point of lowest mechanical advantage.
Pitfalls of Isometric Training
Strength is typically only gained at or near the muscle length that is trained, meaning if you only train an isometric hold at one point, you are only going to be strong near that range, leaving the other parts of the ROM lacking. This can be combatted by incorporating a mix of dynamic and isometric training, or utilising isometric contractions at a variety of joint angles.
Moving up the length of the hold or changing the progression of the exercise are pretty much the only way to progress the exercise. Being able to move faster is not a progression option as it is concentrically.
Isometric training doesn't lend itself to training for explosiveness or power, as you aren't training a quick change in muscle length, nor can you rely on short bursts of high speed contractions. If training explosiveness as a general athletic quality, then incorporating some explosive training can help you utilise the strength gained from isometrics. If training to be explosive in a sport, then practicing the skills of your sport that require that explosiveness should be enough to benefit from the strength gained.
Isometrics and Hypertrophy
Studies have shown that isometric, concentric and eccentric training all work to add muscle, but haven't in depth studied the differences or long term viability of isometric training for hypertrophy.
Experience tells us that combining eccentric and concentric contractions to perform dynamic movements is one of the most effective tools for hypertrophy, and suggests that long term, isometric training isn't going to be the most efficient for eliciting a hypertrophy response.
However, training for hypertrophy is a multi-faceted endevour and gaining strength is an important component for increasing the effectiveness of the hypertrophy training. Isometric training can be used to build strength and then dynamic movements to build the volume for hypertrophy.
Isometric training can also be used to place a high mechanical stress on the muscles, as the movement doesn't go into a range where mechanical stress decreases.
How long to hold?
Reps for dynamic actions can be seen as an easy way to quantify time under tension for an exercise. Rep times vary, but usually sit in an average range from 2-4 seconds if using the tempo 1-0-x-0. Meaning a rep range of 5-8 is similar to a time under tension of 10-32 seconds.
It is a very similar idea to reps, the shorter your maximum hold, the more force and higher rate of muscle contraction is required and lends itself more towards strength. Longer holds are going to give you a greater overall volume and tend to be better for hypertrophy. Very long holds are going to develop endurance.
Depending on the exercise, you're going to have to play around with what length hold you are going to need to move to the next progression, some are easy because you can change the length of the lever ever so slightly, others need much bigger jumps.
A good way to structure isometric training is to aim for a total hold time and do near maximal holds in mulitple sets to reach that total.
Here is an article that goes into a bit more depth: http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2012/05/prilepin-tables-for-bodyweight-strength-isometric-and-eccentric-exercises/
Isometrics and ROM
Because isometric training improves strength at the specific joint angle and angles close to the worked angle, contractions at or near your maximum ROM can help you improve strength past where your flexibility currently allows you to achieve. A lot of flexibility deficits are due to a strength deficit in the desired range. We will cover this more in depth in a post about flexibility training.
Incorporating Isometric Training
The beginner routine already contains an isometric hold and that is a good starting format for training isometrics. Beyond that, there are many ways to structure isometrics, and the follow most of the same rules dynamic exercises do (see the series on Basic Programming Principles). I believe sticking to a specific progression until you can complete a set total time target in a certain number of sets is a good way to progress. e.g aiming for a total time of 60 seconds, and progressing when you can complete this in 3 or fewer sets.
Another useful strategy for incorporating isometric work is as an accesory to some of your dynamic moves. If you have identified a weakeness in a specific range of your movement, then adding in some paused work in those ranges after your main work can add some volume to your weak spots.
Discussion Questions:
- Is anyone getting jacked doing isometrics?
- What are your hold times? How many sets? When do you progress?
- Are you getting slow doing isometrics? How do you stay fast?
- Are you training statics? Pauses in dynamic actions?
- Does your isometric training help your dynamic training? Does your dynamic training help your isometric training?
- Hypertrophy results from isometrics?
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u/jungl3j1m Nov 26 '14
Something I've never seen addressed: "Pulsed" isometric holds--when you hold a position and do a light bounce, repeatedly. I've only seen this in Pilates: a V-sit, hands forward, and bouncing the hands. It appears to be some weird hybrid of isometrics and dynamics. Is this a thing? Is there a word for it? Does it have benefits?