In isometric training, the muscle tissue doesn’t really change length, meaning the strain is distributed into the tendons at a much greater rate.

This question stuck with me to the point where I spent a large portion of my Master’s degree to research the answer.Īs discussed in “ 3 Methods to Muscle Mass”, mechanical tension (which would be the key factor for building muscle through isometric training) is only 1 factor. However, this is made worse by the fact that most training recommendations nowadays are centred around developing muscle.īut is there not a way to stimulate the tendon without the same stimulation to the muscle? They literally are the link to transferring force from muscles to bones and therefore generating movement (3).Īnd although the tendons are trained when you perform traditional lifting regimes, due to a variety of factors (namely a lack of blood flow and neural receptors), the muscles tend to grow disproportionately faster when compared to tendinous tissues. It’s difficult to stress the importance of the tendons when it comes to your overall strength, joint integrity and longevity of your health. Research has shown training at lengthened positions to result in up to a 75 degree transfer of strength throughout the rest of the movement, when compared to training in shortened positions, which limits the gains to that specific angle (25).ĭuring all forms of training, but especially isometrics, you should train long, to be strong. Well, you can have that too my highly impatient friend. He was aware that rack pulls weren’t the answer and had turned to deficit deadlifts hoping to build the off the floor strength he needed for competition. He always struggled with off the floor strength however, resulting in him losing position at the top of the deadlift and failing to lock out the weight.

Already sitting around the 270kg mark, he was determined to break the 280kg barrier as soon as possible.

A Monster Deadlift Quick Timeīob wanted to build his monster deadlift ready for his upcoming powerlifting meet in 6 weeks time. Well, as you will read about in a moment, isometric training tends to showcase one benefit above all else – joint angle specific strength. She had performed box squats to this depth, then below it (in a bid to gain some momentum through this point), above it (in a bid to overload her nervous system to handle heavier weights) and yet, to no avail. She had spent hours trying to find the sticking point she was struggling with. Constantly failing to improve her max strength and always in the same place. No matter what Claire did, her squat had hit a plateau.

Full body isometric workout