Transcription
Have you ever wondered if there's a smarter way to get stronger? What if I told you that most people are doing one of the most powerful strength training methods completely wrong?
In this video, we're going to take a deep dive into isometric training and show you how to do it the right way. We're also going to compare it to traditional strength training to help you decide which one's better for your goals. Whether you think isometrics are a game-changer for performance or not important at all, I think you'll learn a ton from the science that we're going to cover today. And trust me, you'll want to stick around to the end of the video because I'm going to be sharing a few surprising facts that could completely change how you train.
Here's what we're going to cover:
First, we're going to cover what isometric training is and why most people get it wrong.
Second, we'll cover the latest research from one of the world's leading experts, Dr. Alex NATA, on how to use isometrics effectively.
Third, we'll go through a direct comparison between isometric and traditional strength training. We'll cover what the science tells us for better speed, power, and overall performance.
And finally, we'll cover how to apply this knowledge into your workouts so that way you can get the best of both worlds. So let's go and dive into it.
One of the biggest reasons that people screw up isometric training is that they don't understand how long to hold an isometric position for or how hard to push. So to answer those two questions, we need some background knowledge. There are two different types of isometrics.
Number one would be overcoming isometrics, which involves pushing into an immovable object. Some examples of overcoming isometrics are a mid-thigh pull in a rack, a calf raise ISO push against a fixed barbell, a knee ISO push with a slightly bent knee, a hip ISO push into a barbell with a slightly bent knee for hamstring strength, or even a bench press isometric. And of course, there are many more examples.
A second type of isometric is a yielding isometric. This involves holding a position statically against gravity. Some examples of yielding isometrics include a split squat hold targeting the quads and the patellar tendon, a Copenhagen plank for the adductors, a calf raise hold, or a Spanish squat. And of course, there are many more.
Now, these can all be great exercises, but the reality is that if you're not doing it correctly with the right contraction strength and time, you're leaving gains on the table. You may even come to the conclusion that isometrics don't work or they're not important when in reality, you just never learned the science and how to do it most effectively.
So, how do you know how long to hold an isometric for? To answer that question, we're going to move on to part two and learn from Dr. Alex Centa, one of, if not the world's leading experts on isometric training. This brilliant strength coach and researcher from Australia just trains isometrics and makes brisket, and apparently, he's really good at both. So let me do my best to explain to you his high-level take on isometrics. If you want us to do a follow-up on the brisket, drop a comment and maybe we'll do that later.
Okay, when we look at force plate data, we can see that maximal isometric contraction strength can only be held for around 10 seconds before force production begins to drop significantly. That means that performing an all-out overcoming isometric like this knee ISO push for 10 seconds would be 100% of what we call repetition duration reserve, basically pushing as hard as you can for as long as you can, 100%. And that's something that you can do. Bruce Lee, for example, used to train one set of 10 seconds of several different isometrics in a rack against a fixed barbell.
But current research suggests that a different approach may be even more effective. We know that if we go to 100% of repetition duration reserve, we can really only get one high-quality repetition. That's because just one repetition can be quite fatiguing to the nervous system, and your body typically can't reach 100% again. However, if we limit to around 30 to 50% of the repetition duration reserve, we can repeat 100% efforts multiple times. For example, we can perform 3-second maximal effort overcoming isometrics five times with about 5 seconds rest between each effort.
Practically, here's what that looks like: 3-second push, 5-second rest, 3-second push on the other leg, 5-second rest, repeat five times. This way, we got 15 seconds of maximal effort with less fatigue than doing just one 10-second maximal effort contraction. And we can actually rest a few minutes and do that same thing again two to four more times. So, two to four sets of 15 seconds of work, we would get 30 to 60 seconds of total volume at near maximum intensity.
We'll see later how it's actually really difficult to get that same type of stimulus from traditional full range of motion strength training. That's what makes this isometric approach unique. With this isometric approach, we can get a lot of quality work with very low fatigue. This is a great way to improve maximal force production, help athletes sprint, throw, jump, cut, and overall move faster. Big picture, the overall takeaway from this approach is perform short-duration, high-intensity efforts. This has high carryover to improving strength in specific positions that are important for athletes, and you can get these performance gains while providing very little fatigue to the athlete.
Okay, now you're probably wondering though, how this isometric training approach really stacks up against the traditional strength training approach. So let's go ahead and move on to part three where we compare them head-to-head.
Traditional strength training, lifting weights through full range of motion, by all accounts, builds more muscle mass than isometric training. The truth is, it is tried and true for muscle hypertrophy. That said, it's also more metabolically demanding and leads to more soreness and longer recovery times. And for most people, there's a lot more to training than just building muscle mass. Isometrics, when performed properly with appropriate loads and duration, are often shown to be superior for improving rate of force production for jumping, sprinting, and other sport movements. Also, they're shown to be superior for enhancing tendon stiffness and improving maximum force outputs in specific positions. Said another way, athletes can often see better improvements in vertical jump, sprint speed, max strength, and tendon health with less soreness and less fatigue. And I'll link to some of the research from Alex Ana, Danny Lum, Keith Bar, and others that I've read in the description below if you want to read it yourself.
Here's the truth though: the best coaches are going to strategically combine both traditional strength training methods and isometric strength training methods. So let's move on to part four and learn how you can apply this knowledge into your workout, the way you can get the best of both worlds.
I think there are a few different ways. Number one is when you have tendon pain. Consider substituting in isometrics for about 4 to 8 weeks. For example, if your pec or your bicep tendon always flares up when you're bench pressing and it's been doing that for months or years, it's worth trying this approach. Earlier, we said that you can hold a 100% contraction strength for 10 seconds. So doing 30 to 50% of that, or 3 to 5-second maximal strength contractions, was beneficial. It helped get a good effect without the fatigue of going all the way to 100%. Well, for improving tendon health, you don't need to hold 100% contraction strength. Instead, you want to target about 70 to 80% strength contraction. This allows you to hold for longer so that the muscle has time to slowly shorten and a tendon has time to slowly relax and lengthen. This stimulates collagen synthesis. Basically, this means holding a position like an isometric bench press or a front raise with a 7 out of 10 or 8 out of 10 intensity for around 30 seconds. My recommendation is typically to start with three sets of 30 seconds, and you can build up to four, five, or six sets over time. Of course, you can use the same approach for other tendons like the Achilles tendon or patellar tendon as well.
Okay, the second way that you can apply this information about strength training science is focusing on isometrics in season or when you're doing a lot of running or sport training. This is the strategy that high-level athletes like Wembley use at the Olympics to build strength and tendon health without overloading their nervous system and their body with too much traditional strength training. Specifically, when your body is already under a lot of stress from sport, it can be really beneficial to choose strength training exercises that provide high outputs with very low mechanical work and energy cost and fatigue. Of course, you don't have to be an Olympian though to take advantage of this technique. If there's a week, for example, where I'm playing three hours of pickup basketball, going for a long 8-mile run on Saturday, and doing a bunch of yard work, I'll substitute out some of my planned strength training for isometrics. This can be really helpful in still getting a strength stimulus without the fatigue of a full session. I think you can find times throughout the year where this technique would be really beneficial for you as well.
And then the third way that I like to use this science is to improve running mechanics and speed. There are three exercises that work really great for this: the calf raise overcoming isometric, the knee ISO push, and the hip ISO push. These all build strength on one leg in a position that's very similar to midstance running. The mechanics, it's really important for athletes and runners to be strong in that specific position because it has high carryover to running performance metrics. This type of isometric training can improve force output by 30 to 40% over 6 to 8 weeks and significantly reduce ground contact time and improve stride length and stride frequency. This reliably builds stronger runners and works for beginners all the way up to Olympians. I actually covered how an Olympian uses this exact technique in a video recently.
And then the fourth way that I like to use this science is by changing the training stimulus to avoid plateaus. Switching from traditional to isometric training and vice versa for 8 to 12 weeks may help you break through a training plateau. There are a few great short-term studies around 6 weeks in length showing the potential for using four sets of four reps, 3-second isometric contractions to make gains faster than traditional strength training. It is important to note though that the longest study I could find was 24 weeks. So overall, I think short periods of isometric training is actually likely to be most effective for those who haven't done it in the past year. I think it's advisable to make sure though that you don't go too far in the other direction because we don't really know the results of just doing isometric training in the long term. You also want to use traditional strength training over time since only isometrics could also lead to a plateau.
So you might be thinking, which one's better? Traditional strength training or isometric training? And honestly, both are incredible tools with unique benefits. And the best part is, you can combine them strategically to get the most out of your training. I'll be experimenting and testing with myself and my athletes. Now it's your turn to go take this knowledge and apply it to your own training. I hope this video was informative for you and you enjoyed it. If you did, make sure you hit that like button and subscribe. Also, this is just the beginning. There are a lot of really interesting techniques like ISO switches and other advanced methods that we'll be covering in future videos. Like I said, I'll link to some of the research that I've read on this topic, and I'll also link to Alex's isometric course, which I've learned a ton from. If you guys do have any questions about isometric or traditional strength training, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Thanks so much for watching guys, and I'll catch you in the next one.