Isometric Exercise – The Little-Known Truth About Isometrics

Well there’s a myth going around that all that Charles Atlas used in his Dynamic Tension fitness and bodybuilding workout was isometric exercise. While it’s true that the name itself — Dynamic Tension– indicates some form of isometric exercise, but Atlas also used body weight exercises.

Isometrics after all is really just a movement where you are either pushing or pulling against something that won’t move. Your own body — a tree — or even a plain door jam is fine to use.

The major advantage of isometrics is that most forms of using it do not require any exercise equipment. However if you add to your workout… Equipment such as free weights — a Tensolator or some of the many compression isometrics exercises on the market today.

You will have an effective way to measure your strength gains as well as add more variety to what can be a somewhat boring workout.

(There are many books on the subject of isometric exercise. Some have even renamed it — for example… Static Contraction.)

The major advantage of using isometrics exercise equipment is that allows you to measure your strength gains. In addition to that, traditional free hand isometrics does not allow you to use the muscle building principle of progressive resistance.

Progressive resistance is the one critical component of all strength and muscle building programs. That’s why after a while body weight only push-ups will not build any additional muscle on your body. The muscles reach a stage called — plateauing.

That’s why adding an isometric exercise device to your isometrics training is such an essential way to overcome the plateau effect.