Wednesday, December 15, 2021

What are Isometric Exercises? Why Does it Build Strength and Muscle Mass So Quickly?

What are Isometric Exercises? Why Does it Build Strength and Muscle Mass So Quickly?
That is the most popular question that I receive from both men and women.

Perhaps, this is because of the popularity of exercising at home and Isometrics has been increasing in the last few years.

Isometric exercise is nothing new. If you have ever practiced yoga, Pilates, or any martial arts you have performed isometric exercises. It is one of the few scientifically validated training protocols.

In essence, it's a method of exercising that does not use a full range of motion. It uses a static contraction or hold to increase strength in both the muscles and the tendons.

What Is Isometric Exercise All About?

As the story goes, experiments were performed on two frogs and quite by accident, one of the frogs legs grew stronger even though it had been tied down.

You see the frog had been resisting against the bindings that held the leg to the table and as a result, the muscles on that leg began to grow. This is how isometrics was discovered.


Later on, two German doctors... Dr. Hettinger and Dr. Mueller conducted tests at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, looking to find scientific proof that isometrics really worked.

They began to apply these tests to humans and discovered that the group that trained with isometrics was able to increase its muscular strength by 5% per week.

These gains greatly exceeded those of the other group that was training with traditional bodybuilding methods. These results were later on reconfirmed by others in the exercise physiology field.

Isometrics In The NFL
In the 1960s, professional sports teams began incorporating isometrics into their strength and conditioning program for their players. One of the first of these teams was the Green Bay Packers.

Many individuals credit the use of isometric exercise with the incredible seasons that the Packers had in 1961 and 1962. The US Department of Naval affairs adopted isometrics into their exercise and workout program in the 1960s as well. This was the golden age of Isometric exercise.



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