When I played college football, we shared the weight room with about ten other college sports, including the track team.

One of the track coaches from Japan had some unorthodox training approaches – but he produced some amazing success stories.

Now as I learn more about isometrics, I realize that it was one of the unique methods he used regularly with athletes he was coaching.

An Isometric Contraction is when the muscle tenses, but the length doesn’t change.

Most people center their training around concentric (muscle shortens) and eccentric contractions (muscle lengthens) as well they should, but nothing recruits more fibers than isometrics.

Isometrics only strengthen the specific joint angle being worked, which is where a lot of people dismiss the training all together – but they are GREAT if used properly, and for certain goals.

What this coach would do is use a power rack to perform Isometric Contractions at various joint angles of a lift.

For example on the squat, you’d do:

• Bottom to 6″ 3×5 5 second holds
• 6″ to 12″ 3×5 5 second holds
• 12″ to 18″ 3×5 5 second holds

It would actually be quite a long workout – but if you are hitting a plateau, or looking to strengthen sticking points that might be occurring during a lift, this is an awesome way to do it.

Learn more and get a the full 8 week Iso Fit program HERE.

To your success! –

– Forest Vance
Master of Science, Human Movement
Certified Personal Trainer
ForestVance.com