Issue 087
April 2012
How isometric exercise can help you build strength fast
Isometric exercise as a method of training is often forgotten, but with a little imagination it is easy to include some into your training.
Barry Gibson
Strength & conditioning trainer
Isometric implies no change in the length of the muscle, so for fighting sports, this is the type of work where you’re clamping on a choke against a tight defense, or trying to prize on an armbar. This is where you are pushing against the might of your opponent but there is no ‘give’ from either side.
Isometrics have been used for thousands of years as a method of gaining strength and they are also very important for combat athletes. They have a long history, but perhaps the earliest pioneer was strong man Alexander Zass. He was captured by Austrian forces during the First World War and, in fear of losing his strength, began to push and pull on the chains and bars he was shackled to increasing his strength before eventually escaping.
The most notable recent example in the combat world would have to be Bruce Lee. He was ahead of his time regarding many aspects of his training principles. He even made a custom piece of equipment to practice isometric exercises on consisting of a 2x4 piece of wood attached to some simple dowel by a length of adjustable chain.
However, during the bodybuilding ‘Golden Age’ isometric training was all but forgotten before Ross Enamait revitalized isometrics in his book, Never Gymless. Enamait cited a 1950s study by Hettinger and Muller in which they established that a daily routine of isometric effort at 66% of maximum effort, held for six seconds could up strength by approximately 5% each week.
It’s probably best to give 100% intensity with each isometric workout protocol to ensure maximum benefits – the ability to estimate your percentage effort is probably beyond most people.
The workouts are not time-consuming and can be finished within 10–15 minutes. Enamait goes further to state that five-second bursts are ample enough to bring about significant increases in strength. Moreover it is essential to keep the intervals short in order to maintain speed for combat sports. ‘Speed kills’ according to the old adage, so it’s vital to highlight here the importance of speed strength for combat athletes.
Another study, by Behm and Sale (1993), discovered that the intention to move fast and therefore generate force quickly was more crucial for speed development than the actual speed of the movement (or lack thereof in the case of isometrics). So the take-home message is this: Produce force as fast as possible in the contraction and hold for approximately six seconds, to get the maximum benefit out of this method of training.
If you’re in the middle of a fight camp I’d recommend only going for three iso workouts per week for no more than 10 minutes so as not to over-fatigue the nervous system.
If you like, you can group the iso work together in a set of mini-workouts as I did in preparation for the sambo championships. This is not essential, however, as you can perform some isometric work prior to your actual weight training and take advantage of the protocol known as the “static-dynamic” protocol.
This is where you perform a static contraction for a maximum effort, followed by some explosive/dynamic movement following the same pattern of motion – e.g. a wall-chair hold pushing back against the wall, followed by a broad jump. The neural activation from the maximum effort wall-chair hold forces more motor recruitment so adding to the effectiveness of the broad jump.
Cover the angles
One of the important things to bear in mind, as mentioned before, is that it is essential to work through a couple of joint angles for each movement. If, for example, you only work a bicep curl from a 90-degree angle, your strength gains will only be at that specific angle. Although some research has highlighted that improvements can be made approx 15 degrees either side of the angle worked. But the method of working three different angles will cover this.
So it is necessary to work at least three joint angles to gather the most benefit from this training. You can read more about isometric exercise in my book, Combat Strength, and next issue I’ll cover some isometric for wrestling.
Dynamic protocol for strikers
5 secs
Straight Right & Left Punches (starting, mid and peak range)
5 secs
hooking punches (starting, mid and peak range)
Hold each position for 5–6 seconds as strong as you can. Remember to start and generate tension as fast as possible. Then let your punches fly for real on a bag or pads
...
