I have always wondered about the benefits of static conditioning exercises. Also, I have heard of people refer to 'isometric' exercises, and today I find out they are the same thing, as per this article.
Isometrics seem to help a muscle grow in size and help muscles get stronger, but only at the angle the joint is in at the time the isometric exercise is done. However, the article says there is some evidence to suggest that with some muscles there is some transferrence of strength gains to other angles. The writer goes on to say that isometrics need to be done at many angles to strenghten the muscles at different lengths, which would take ages implying that dynamic exercises would be better. i.e. Squatting with a load.
Strangely he finishes the article by giving reference to many good and renowned and currently fashionable static conditioning exercises such as the Plank and Side Plank.
So are isometrics any good or what?
I don't know really. All I know is that we have done lots of them in TKD training in terms of leg raises and leg holds. There is a question on the Paul Zaichik forums asking what a certain static exercise is doing and Paul replies by saying that stregth is developed in surrounding muscles and that the induced fatigue helps with getting a good deep stretch in afterwards.
Here's a wikipedia article on isometrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise
This article on bodybuilding.com says that isometrics help you recruit more muscle fibers than dynamic exercises do. This is obvioulsy beneficial.
Reading internet articles they all really say the same thing, "good for the angle that you are training in". Now to me that doesn't really seem much use to me, surely you want to have strength throughout your range of movement. I have posted a question to my pal Alex Poole so I'll post here what he comes back with.
I need to do some work now.
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3 comments:
Hi.
Isometric stretches building strength in the extreme range of motion, where the muscles are usually very weak.
Holding your leg in the air is not an isometric stretch. It is an active stretch. An isometric stretch would be the opposite of this, where you use the muscles to try and reduce the stretch, but something (the floor, a chair, a partner) prevents the shortening of the stretch.
Completely opposite. See:
http://www.oracle-base.com/flexibility/isometric-stretches/
http://www.oracle-base.com/flexibility/pnf/
Cheers
Tim...
Hi Tim,
Thanks for those links, they make good reading. Over the years I have done the isometric stretches and, IMO, are superb - I just haven't done them for a long time.
What do you think about the worth of static conditioning which I found is all called isometric conditioning. For example, sitting in stances for 5 minutes. PZ has a You Tube clip where he demonstrates the USA thingy doing some bicep static tension stuff but he works the muscle through the whole range. Any views?
Thanks for those links again, they are great explanations.
Cheers.
James.
Hi.
I think isometric training, like stances has value. It increases endurance and some strength and it acts as a good warm up for splits stretching.
As you mentioned previously, it's only building strength in one position, which is limiting as far as general strength goes, but it is working on exactly the bit you need as far as splits is concerned. Hence the importance.
Remember, you can do all your stances as dynamic movements, like wide legged squats, front and side lunges, so you are building strength through the full range. You can also add resistance with weights or resistance bands to make it progressive.
I think your training will vary depending on your motives. Some of Paul's training methods are for strength, not flexibility. Some are for strength to aid flexibility. Static stances are definitely the latter in my book.
Cheers
Tim...
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