A Definition and Brief History of Isometric Exercise

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.

Why would you want to perform an isometric exercise as opposed to a more conventional one? Well isometrics have the following advantages over the more regular forms of exercise:

You can do them anywhere including your home and office
Isometric exercises do not require expensive equipment to be performed
They are extremely safe
An isometric workout can be done quite quickly
They are fantastic for building up strength
They are great at sculpting the body

Static strength training, what we call isometric, have been around for thousands of years. Both the martial arts and yoga often make use of static postures to build strength and endurance. Famous old time strongmen and performers like Alexander Zass and Maxick were known far and wide for using isometric exercises to build great strength and incredible physiques. Alexander Zass actually used his isometric exercises in order to build the strength necessary to break the shackles and bend the prison bars of his prison when he was captured by the Austrians during Word War II!

Isometric exercise enjoyed incredible popularity during the 1960's. Bruce Lee, after injuring himself weight lifting, was a big believer in isometrics. President Kennedy did them as did sports stars like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Not unlike the low carb craze a few years ago every bookstore and newsstand had courses on isometric exercise. However just as quickly as isometrics exploded onto the scene they faded away just as quickly. Why?

Well for one thing it was a fad. People who get involved in a fad, particularly a diet or weight loss fad, are often looking for a quick fix. Many of the isometric books offered at the time, besides being of dubious quality, had titles such as "The Lazy Man's Guide to Health" and "Get in Shape With No Effort" etc. Of course this is foolishness. Isometric exercises are easy to learn but they are difficult to DO. Once people figured this out a lot of them just moved onto the next quick fix.

A bigger problem though was that isometric exercise became associated with steroids. During this time period steroid use had begun to filter far and wide into the bodybuilding and weight lifting communities. Whenever any of these individuals were asked about how they achieved their amazing results they often answered "Through Isometric Training". Although this was true and most of them were using isometrics they of course left off the whole steroid thing. When the truth came out the general public assumed it was ALL steroid use and that there was no value to isometrics at all. This was false but that's what happened.

Despite this a program of isometric exercise can help you get in shape so that you look great in record time. Try it for yourself and see.