The Definitive Guide on Isometric Exercises
This article will be a complete guide covering isometrics on all levels, providing a thorough understanding of: What isometrics are and why they are important. The many variations of isometrics and how to perform them. The countless benefits of isometrics in both a performance and rehabilitation setting.
What are Isometric Exercises?
Isometric exercises are training movements that place a priority on the “isometric” phase of muscle contraction. During a muscle contraction, we have three main phases of muscle action: Concentric; shortening of the muscle fibers (Positive Work), Eccentric; lengthening of the muscle fibers (Negative Work), and Isometric; muscle fibers remaining the same length (Static Tension).
During this isometric phase, the muscle is slowly shortening while the tendon is slowing lengthening, resulting in a total net movement of zero, as the joint angle remains the same. This explains why some isometric exercises are referred to as “Extreme Slows,” where the individual is holding a position but is still moving over a very small range, under extremely slow (near isometric) conditions.
For human movement to occur, a muscle has to contract from its resting state. The contraction is prior to actual movement, the starting point of any movement. This initial action always occurs under isometric conditions. Depending on the specific movement, the transition isometric phase between concentric and eccentric phases can be either slow or extremely fast. For example, during max effort in a heavy squat, the isometric phase will be much longer. In a ballistic (plyometric) movement, such as dunking the basketball, the isometric phase is extremely rapid. The quick isometric phase can be referred to as explosive isometric action. This is something we really want to emphasize in training, as it has an extremely high transfer to one’s sport performance.
In all kinds of movement, the isometric phase of a contraction is absolutely vital. Each dynamic action has to involve a static, isometric phase. It is impossible to initiate, terminate, and repeat any movement without the intervention of the static muscle contraction. This explains why we want to maximize isometric strength and endurance as part of any training program.
Benefits of Isometrics
There are countless benefits of performing isometrics in both a performance and rehabilitation setting. Ultimately, these benefits depend upon which type of isometric you’re performing. Let’s begin with a few general benefits that you can expect from all types of isometric exercises:
A) Internally Driven Exercise — With isometric exercises, the stimulus and intent is coming from within the individual as opposed to external, such as load (weight or resistance). This allows us to train in a “sweet spot” eliminating possibility of overtraining, due to the individual being in the driver seat. Meaning, if you’re neurologically fatigued, the body will fail out of position or simply stop the hold.
For example, we can heavily stimulate someone suffering from an injury or a person fatigued from competition by having them hold (static) a position. By executing a “hold” for an interval of time, they are connecting with every inch of their body and receiving tons of feedback. Ultimately, accepting a new level of stimulus. If they can’t handle it due to being neurologically fatigued, they simply drop out of position with zero damage done.
The point of failure is what we strive for in training. When the body is about to completely fail, it’s neurology changes, heightening to the greatest level you have stimulated. Isometrics allow you to reach that point of failure, safely and with zero risk of injury. If you are relying on a max load to reach failure every time, you risk damage to your structure; joints, tendons and ligaments. With isometrics, you can safely go to muscular failure, harnessing the neurological gains that improve performance and rehabilitate injury.
B) Builds the Foundation — Isometrics sync up the body from brain to muscle because there is enough time to fire and receive feedback. During a hold, you’re receiving far more exposure than any other exercise, while being able to make corrections for any compensations that appear due to fatigue.
Nothing will change until the structure can handle it. This means your improvements on outputs are limited when your joints, tendons and ligaments are unable to sustain the work. Creating a bigger, faster, stronger athlete who lacks a foundation is simply unsustainable. Isometrics; “Iso’s” build structure and turn on the appropriate musculature so you are able to absorb the forces of a given movement.
C) Tendon and Joint Health — Isometrics have been shown to have a highly positive influence on tendon and joint health. When we’re dealing with tendon issues, specifically tendinopathy, we need to load the tendon. During an isometric hold, muscle is slowly shortening while the tendon is slowing lengthening. This is a phenomena known as “creep”, which allows the injured tendon to relax and feel the load placed upon it.
D) Friendly to all Populations— It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, injured, a highly trained athlete, or have never stepped inside a weight room. Variations of isometrics can be utilized and provide excellent results for all audiences.
Types of Isometrics
There are many variations of isometrics, all of which provide valuable benefits that is unique to their specific execution.
1. Yielding Isometric (Extreme Slow)— Get into a predetermined position and resist gravity for as long as possible, maintaining proper position.
A) Motor Learning — Teaches the body position, posture, and where the stopping point is by providing a ton of feedback and exposure. Iso’s strengthen and activate the appropriate musculature to be able to absorb force in a designated movement or position that will eventually be loaded.
“We need to learn how to stop before we learn how to go. If you want to jump 40 inches, the brain must have confidence it can land from that height.” — Dan Fichter
Take the lunge (the most extreme gait position we can get into), as an athlete begins to fatigue, we can pin point certain mechanical breakdowns that would also occur if they were to actually be sprinting and correct them in real time.
B) Facilitates Recovery — When a muscle is weak, fatigued, or injured, the brain will protect it by locking it down. This gives a “tight” sensation. An Extreme Slow is one big dynamic stretch that is working the muscle in a lengthened position (opposite of a fatigued, shortened one), while receiving fresh blood flow to speed up recovery in addition to building strength.
C) Mental Conditioning — Yielding Isometrics (Extreme Slows) are the ultimate emotional, intellectual, and psychological challenge. We can create a life or death scenario feeling, without the actual risk. This connects all aspects of your brain and body. This intensity is what is ultimately needed to break an old injury pattern.
To read more about this, check out my “How To Heal From All Injuries” article.
2. Pulling Into Position — Get into a predetermined position and pull into the direction of gravity with the antagonist muscle, along with as much intent as possible.
This is a higher level of stimulus. You are integrating and feeling more in regards to your relative max. Meaning, the intention in pulling is much greater than simply fighting gravity. This will instantly put you into a position of greater difficulty, causing you to fatigue quicker. Aim to be “pulling” as hard as possible until your expression no longer matches your intention (typically 20–30 seconds).
Pulling into position during a hold is actually a very dynamic and athletic movement. There is an inverted recruitment process where you have to fire fast twitch muscle fibers in order to move as slow as possible. This movement of pulling into your deepest range of motion has a high degree of transfer to athletic performance.
3. Manual Hold/Overcoming Isometric (True “Iso”) — Pushing into an immovable object with as much intent as possible.
This is the “true isometric” as there is absolutely no change in length of the joint angle or position. It is extremely depleting, being a maximal effort and the highest voluntary force generator.
Overcoming Isometrics provide an immediate improvement in maximal performance, whether that be a heavy lift or vertical jump. This is due to the muscle fibers used during the iso to remain activated (post-activation potentiation), assisting in performance of the following movement.
4. Oscillatory Isometric — Quick rebounds out of a hold.
This is executed by tensing the muscle groups responsible for concentric work of a movement followed by a rapid release and return back to starting position. Production of powerful contractions over a small range of movement describes this type of iso perfectly.
True athleticism comes from a built up of tension that is then released, allowing the tendons to drive the work (through elastic energy). Typically, the best athletes are the ones who can “relax” the best in a movement. This is the fundamental movement that occurs in sport and should definitely be used in training. Maximizing this aspect of sports specific training can be a key performance changer.
Incorporating Isometrics in Training
Rehab Setting — As introduced in my “How To Heal From All Injuries” article, to come back from injury we need to create a stimulus greater than the stimulus that caused the injury.
Yielding Isometrics (Extreme Slows) are highly effective in this regard because we can stimulate and fatigue the entire system to produce adaptation, without causing further injury or damage. The greatest level of adaptation occurs in the face of fatigue, Yielding Isometrics are the appropriate stimulus for that to take place, safely and effectively.
Performance Setting — If you want to build the best athletes, make them better humans first, in terms of setting a solid foundation and mastering basic human movements. You want to make sure athletes have the capacity to sustainably express high level movements. Meaning; their muscles, tendons and ligaments can appropriately absorb the forces of a movement seen in their sport.
A good starting point for incorporating isometrics in performance training are with the Extreme Slows. This gives athletes enough time to learn a movement by activating appropriate musculature that will be used in a dynamic setting, identify or correct any weak links or muscle imbalances, and ultimately sync up the entire body from muscle to brain, brain to muscle; facilitating neuromuscular adaptations.
As athletes progress, we really want to take advantage of the higher intensity isometrics (Pulling, Overcoming, Oscillatory) as they have an incredible high transfer to sport. Specifically pairing a high intensity iso with a dynamic movement. During the iso, we are recruiting and activating every muscle fiber and then using that recruitment and activation in an explosive movement.
Examples would be:
A) A heavy loaded calf raise hold of 10 seconds right into 3 max vertical jumps.
B) Pulling into position on a push up bottom for 20–30 seconds followed by bent row rebounds.
Common Questions
Are you only getting strong in the position that you’re isometrically holding?
When you train in the first and final stages of a movement (top and bottom position) through a hold, the body will naturally fill everything in between. Furthermore, if you become really strong in the most difficult position (typically bottom position) of a hold, any other position less than that will of course become easier. Isometric training of muscles in a relatively lengthened state can produce substantial strength increase not only near the region of training, but also throughout the range of movement.
For example, performing an Iso at certain ‘sticking points’ in an exercise can decrease any deficiencies in that region or prime the nervous system to cope with greater levels of loading. It will accustom the body neuromuscularly and enchance the mental perception of performing future dynamic movements.
Unless the individual has not already learned a specific movement, you do not have to train its full range of motion (isotonic exercises) in order to stimulate effectively. The objective in training is to get the brain to learn to fire everything in a designated set of muscles that perform a given movement.
How does a static hold transfer to dynamic movement such as sport?
Human movement relies on a series of explosive isometric bursts among a variety of joint positions. The goal is to tap into the joint angles where athletes create the most force in their specific movement of their sport.
If sport performance was strictly about outputs (how heavy you can squat), bodybuilders would be the greatest athletes in the world. The highest transfer in training derives from taking an individual’s body and generating massive amounts of force. When the individual creates the stimulus from within, the transfer to sport is maximized.
Do I need to reach 3–5 minutes straight on a hold to see the same benefits?
Not at all. While achieving a 5 minute Extreme Slow, of any movement, is a hell of a feeling (literally and figuratively). You will see the same benefits as if you could only hold for 40 seconds at a time. The trick here is that you eventually reach the total set time and are truly attempting to hold until failure or through fatigue.
Conclusion
As we now know, the isometric phase of a contraction is crucial for human movement to occur. Whether we are initiating or finishing a movement, an isometric contraction has to take place. This is why we want to implement isometric exercise in our training! Understanding the multiple variations of isometrics and when to incorporate them will give you a huge advantage in both a sport performance and rehabilitation setting.
For more resources on isometrics:
- Supertraining — Yury Verkhoshansky, Mel Siff.
- Dr. Tommy John — @DrTommyJohn
- Joel Smith — Just Fly Performance
- Dan Fichter — SimpliFaster
- Jay Schroeder — EVO UltraFit
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