Karen Lehman Report
Area of Interest
An In-Depth Exploration of Overcoming Isometrics
Introduction
Overcoming Isometrics intrigued me. I had decades of experience with fitness, gyms, weight lifting, and traditional isometrics, but had never heard of “overcoming isometrics”. I wanted to learn more. What I read showed potential applicability and benefits for pole dancers in general but also specifically in a 60 minute pole dance class as warm up and time efficient conditioning, but also body awareness, as well as building awareness in ramping up one’s effort towards muscle engagement.
Definitions
Overcoming isometrics (OI) involve trying to move an immovable object with maximum effort. Muscle engagement or contractions should be done with maximum intent, focus, and effort. I had previously used “yielding isometrics” regularly in my workouts, for a number of years. A yielding isometric exercise is a position is being maintained with maximal muscle efforting, such as a plank. However, an overcoming isometric can be more effective in recruiting the maximum amount of muscle fibers and motor units to try to move the object, which teaches the nervous system how to engage as quickly and forcefully as possible. Also, the muscle tenses to maximal effort without changing length.
The OI allows the nervous system to progressively ramp up with each passing second until maximal recruitment is achieved. In other words, you may achieve 50% maximal recruitment in the first second and 75% in the next second and hopefully close to 100% as you continue, generally from anywhere between 3-10 seconds - so, it is also quite time efficient!
An example of an OI would be pressing a barbell into pins while bench pressing or squatting, or pushing one’s arms into a wall with 100% effort.
Research Findings
The Benefits of Utilizing OI’s for building strength
Summary - Overall research has found OI exercises to be powerful, efficient, accessible, and safe for many levels of fitness, and less likely to cause harm, injury, or soreness than traditional strength training.
First, OI’s are exemplary for recruiting greater levels of muscle activation when compared to concentric (contracting or shortening of muscles) or eccentric (lengthening of muscles) maximal effort exercises. Read (2020) specifically found that OI’s have the ability to activate nearly all available motor units. Motor units are recruited or activated when attention is brought to increasing voluntary effort or tension, so increasing the time of contraction may allow for more motor unit activation as one “ramps up” the muscle tensioning (Milner-Brown et al., 1973).
Similarly (Babault, et al, 2001) looked at muscle activation levels during different phases and variations of the same movement. Muscle activation was found to be at 95.2% during an OI movement. In comparison, a maximal eccentric was found to be at 88.3% and a maximal concentric at 89.7%. This study shows that you can recruit even more muscle fibers by recruiting more focused attention on the motor units. This can result in more central nervous system adaptation and greater potential for strength and power outputs.
Oranchuk, et al (2019), also found OI’s provided greater muscle activation than that of a concentric contraction (Oranchuk et al., 2019).
So, we are seeing that muscle activation can be greater with an OI exercise. But, “so what?” Does that result in any increased strength gains or muscle growth?
Kubo, et al (2002) looked at muscle growth when using OI’s versus regular yielding isometrics. Due to the greater metabolic demand that overcoming isometrics results in, average cross sectional area of muscle tissues increased by 12.4% versus 5.4%, which was a significant finding. Further, with OI’s you don’t have the mechanical breakdown or muscle breakdown that you see in traditional strength or weight training. Hence another benefit of OI: muscle growth without the soreness and fatigue caused by mechanical breakdown. This is convenient as it can result in less recovery time.
Isometric training is more effective in maximum force development at a specific angle compared to a dynamic movement and can be used to target the challenging areas of a specific movement (Lum, 2019). What this means is that OI’s are particularly effective at our “sticky spots”, hence making these efficient areas in which to focus.
When executed correctly, the greater focus required for OI’s has the advantage of greater specificity and less interference from other muscle groups. Carolan & Cafarelli (1992) found that after a phase of training maximal knee extension for quadricep strengthening using only OI’s, the co-activation of the hamstring decreased by 20 percent. This reduction in hamstring coactivity is very important because it will provide less opposing force to the contracting quadriceps. Hence, using OI’s is quite efficient, as they will limit the opposing force of the antagonist muscle, resulting in a more powerful contraction of the agonist muscle.
Other potential benefits include improved tendon and joint health (wow!), minimal muscle soreness (bonus!), increased neural drive and efficiency (brain benefits, too?), increased work capacity, and strength through sticking points (Smith, 2020). One benefit of OI is the controlled application of force within a pain-free range of motion – sounds like “less pain, more gain!”. This type of contraction has also been shown to be a reliable means of testing and tracking changes in force production (Oranchuk et al., 2019). Isometric training is especially beneficial in rehabilitative settings where joint movement may be limited or painful. Unfortunately, I think these powerful exercises are under-utilized in rehabilitation settings, where the physical and mental gains would be extremely beneficial and rewarding.
“Yay!” for less soreness and fatigue. Anecdotally, many of the fitness bloggers and YouTubers also tout OI’s as resulting in less soreness and fatigue, as well as being extremely time efficient. I was happy to find these testimonials supported by research as well!
Another potential benefit of Overcoming isometrics, which is often talked about by personal trainers helping clients build greater strength and power, is the priming for a phenomenon called “post activation potentiation” (PAP) - overcoming isometrics could fire up the muscle fibers for a power move immediately following. This area is beyond the scope of this paper, but please see Blazevich and Babault (2019), and deCampos, et al., (2022) for excellent research summaries of PAP.
Some Downsides to OI’s:
While isometric training has been shown to increase strength, dynamic strength training is more beneficial and transferrable to dynamic movements (Lum, 2019). Therefore, isometric training should be included as part of a training program that also includes dynamic movements. I think this concern or downside is actually common sense!
Another concern of coaches is that isometrics will only be beneficial at the specific joint angle. Verkhoshansky and Siff found that isometric training could produce strength gains in a range of 15 degrees on either side of the training angle, however given the specificity of adaptation at the trained joint angle, improving strength through the entire range of motion may require training at multiple angles which may be impractical and time-consuming (McArdle et al., 2015).
Although isometric training may not result in soreness, it is taxing on the central nervous system (CNS) and could take the nervous system longer to recover than the muscular system (Read, 2020). This fatigue may not be as obvious as muscle fatigue or soreness but may impact performance if followed by other CNS-demanding activities. The author did not actually explain this phenomenon in great detail, but my read on this is that clients may have reported greater stress or mental exhaustion when doing OI’s, perhaps. As a Psychologist, I think that a smart training program could mitigate this potential drawback. Can we make the mental focus and “ramping up” intensity fun, engaging, and rewarding, versus “too much”? I’d be curious to read more about this “downside”, because I think there are both creative and common sense ways to overcome it!
In summary, I conclude that the benefits outweigh the negatives for OI’s. But it makes sense that OI’s are only used as one aspect of an overall fitness and strength building program. Given the specific benefits that OI’s are: quick, efficient, require little special equipment, AND have the added benefit of increasing mental focus and increased body awareness, I think that OI’s could be an excellent part of a pole dance strengthening program, which could easily be implemented in a 60 minute class. In the next section I will look at a sampling of various OI exercises.
Using OI’s in a 60 minute Pole Dance Class (or at home)
Equipment needed - wall, pole, yoga strap (or towel)
Step 1 - training in ramping up -
using a fist squeeze as an example, practicing “ramping up” or engaging maximal muscle contraction/efforting - tell students ahead of time that they will be starting at a 1, and quickly moving up to a 10. Per Marlo’s suggestion, we will then keep going to 11, 12, 13 - with proper words of encouragement. Suggested time - since this is the first exercise, a little extra time should be spent - up to 30 seconds, just to really get the idea across.
Even better perhaps is using a “pull down the pole” as an example of ramping up… placing hands at the top of head height on pole, giving command to pull the pole down from the ceiling. - tell students ahead of time that the will be starting at a 1, and quickly moving up to a 10. Per Marlo’s suggestion, we will then keep going to 11, 12, 13 - with proper words of encouragement. Suggested time - since this is the first exercise, a little extra time should be spent - up to 30 seconds, just to really get the idea across.
Step 2 - Using the Wall
Wall push - bend over about 90 degrees and practice max effort OI wall push, from shoulders, walk through a faster ramping up… The goal is to move the wall!!! 10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s
Wall Squat - sit with legs slightly wider than hips, legs are bent at knee at 90 degree angle in imaginary chair. The goal is to dig feet into the floor and use the back to push the wall - maximal muscle activation in feet and legs. 5-10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s
Wall (or pole) Abductor straight leg push. With one side facing the wall, standing about 1 foot or less from the wall. Bend your outside standing leg, lift your inside leg, and push the side of the foot into the wall with leg mostly straight, knee is not locked; You are trying to move the wall with the side of your foot. Ramp up to 100% effort. 5-10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s on each side
I experimented with a few other variations, including a hamstring/glute exercise: your back is to the wall. Stand about 3-4 feet away from the wall, and bend forward at a slight angle. Lift one leg and press the sole of the foot into the wall. You are trying to move/push the wall behind you. Ramp up to 100% effort. 5-10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s on each side - this one felt really good in my glutes!!!
Step 3 - Using a Yoga Belt
Glute bridge. Make a closed loop with the belt (will need to adjust size once in position). Lay on your back in a glute bridge position. Place one end of the belt loop solidly under your feet, place the other end of the loop across the top of your pelvis. Squeeze your butt and underbutt to maximum height and adjust the belt to be super tight just under your maximum height. You are trying to push the belt past its limit. Ramp up to 100% effort. 5-10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s
Deadlift - Make a closed loop with the belt (will need to adjust size once in position). Stand in a deadlift position. Place one end of the belt loop solidly under your feet, bending over, grab the other end (with 2 hands) and pull. You are trying to pull the belt past its limit while trying to make the focus and effort come from the butt/hamstrings. Ramp up to 100% effort. 5-10 seconds max. Do this 2-3 x’s
A similar position can be used as the deadlift, but shift the pulling effort to the pectoral muscles/check; or make it a rowing exercise…
Abductor/adductor - a smaller loop can be created with the belt looped around ankles/lower legs. Lifting a leg out and away for abductors and across the body for adductors. This can be done laying on the side, or standing.
Many other possibilities to explore
With a pole
Chin up - using maximal activation to try to pull the pole down from the ceiling; hands can be at a number of different heights to achieve different results - bringing attention to spinal and scapular position - all those great details!
Rowing - hands at rib height and pulling elbows back. This can also be done by placing the yoga strap around the pole and pulling it in a rowing position.
Encourage grunting and other noises throughout.
Informal Experiment and results
I tried these exercises on my own for 3 weeks, approx 1-3 times per week (not always all of them), and with my group of pole students. Our anecdotal, subjective feedback/responses follow:
Positive findings - time efficient, easy to fit in, kind of fun, feel it immediately with FAST recovery, love the mental focus which distracts from other stressors, increases body awareness and differentiation; easy to fit into a 5-10 minute time slot; increased feelings of strength, confidence and power; great as a warmup before inverts and pole work
Negative findings - none reported
Conclusion
This was such a fun report to research, experiment with, and write! These exercises have really added some fun new workouts to my life, and I use them regularly and with ease in my pole teachings. They should definitely be used as an adjunct to other forms of dynamic full body movement, and even as an adjunct to weight bearing exercise (cross training!). I hope you all enjoyed learning about OI’s, and let me know if you try some out!
References:
Babault, N., Pousson, M., Ballay, Y., & Van Hoecke, J. (2001). Activation of human quadriceps femoris during isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 91(6), 2628–2634. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.2001.91.6.2628
Blazevich, A. J., & Babault, N. (2019). Post-activation potentiation versus post-activation performance enhancement in humans: historical perspective, underlying mechanisms, and current issues. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 1359.
Carolan, B., Cafarelli, E. (1992). Adaptations in Coactivation After Isometric Resistance Training. Journal Of Applied Physiology, Sep., 73(3):911-7.
de Campos, D., Orssatto, L., Trajano, G. S., Herzog, W., & Fontana, H. B. (2022). Residual force enhancement in human skeletal muscles: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of sport and health science, 11(1), 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2021.05.006
Hinks, A., Davidson, B., Akagi, R., & Power, G. A. (2021). Influence of isometric training at short and long muscle-tendon unit lengths on the history dependence of force. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 31(2), 325–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13842
Kubo, K., Kanehisa, H., & Fukunaga, T. (2002). Effects of resistance and stretching training programmes on the viscoelastic properties of human tendon structures in vivo. The Journal of physiology, 538(Pt 1), 219–226. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2001.012703
Milner-Brown, H. S., Stein, R. B., & Yemm, R. (1973). The orderly recruitment of human motor units during voluntary isometric contractions. The Journal of physiology, 230(2), 359 370. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1973.sp010192
Oranchuk, D. J., Storey, A. G., Nelson, A. R., & Cronin, J. B. (2019). Isometric training and long-term adaptations: Effects of muscle length, intensity, and intent: A systematic review. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 29(4), 484–503. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13375
Read, A. (2020, June 03). Isometric Training: What It Is and How to Do It Correctly. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/isometric-training-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it-correctly
Smith, J. (n.d.). Isometric Exercises for Athletes: The Complete Guide. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.just-fly-sports.com/isometric-exercises-for-athletes-the-complete-guide/
Verkhoshansky, Y., & Siff, M. C. (2009). Isometrics. In Supertraining. Rome, Italy: Verkhoshansky
