Isometrics: Icing for the Fitness Cake
Isometrics: Icing for the Fitness Cake
Charles Atlas was America’s first fitness god. Before “beefcake” was a word and workouts were a way of life, his story was known all over the land. “I Changed Myself from a Puny 97-Pound Weakling into the World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man,” screamed magazine ads in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. The Atlas approach to muscular training and body-building went by the trademarked name of Dynamic Tension—in other words, it was built on a strong isometric foundation. It is still around, and while it is a quicker fix than most fitness professionals now prefer, his system certainly has withstood the test of time. With a holistic approach to strength and health, Charles Atlas was way ahead of his time.
What worked for Charles Atlas and his 30 million reported students throughout the world can help you strengthen and tone, too. Think of isometrics as equipment-free strength training. Isometrics, which often are used as rehabilitation, are muscle contractions. Most people do not consider them to be their main work out routine, but they are good to have in your fitness repertoire because you can do them anytime and with no equipment. Isometrics use minimal movement to build muscles. Instead, the force of muscle contraction, muscle-against-muscle resistance, or muscle-against-stationary-object resistance builds strength. This concept is easy to understand as soon as you try it. Hold your hands out in front of you with your left palm up and your right palm down. Press your hands together as hard as you can. You can feel your pectoral,shoulder, and arm muscles working. This is an example of isometric exercise. (In fact,you can add this to a list of isometric exercises.)
You most likely have been doing isometrics without even realizing it. When you suck in your gut, you’re doing an isometric contraction. Runners automatically use isometric contractions to stabilize their torsos. Another example is the Kegel exercise, a contraction of the vaginal muscle, which women are counseled to do during pregnancy to counteract the pressure of the fetus on the bladder and afterward to tone the muscles stretched by childbirth.Here are some isometric exercises that you can do virtually anywhere, anytime. Begin by holding each contraction for five seconds. Two sets of 10 repetitions is a good start. You can work up to 10 and then 15 seconds per contraction and then three or more sets.
? Stand in a doorway, hold your hands at thigh level, and then press the backs of your hands outward against the door jambs. This works the deltoids and supraspinatus.
? Stand in a doorway, raise your right arm above your head, and push your arm against the door frame. Change sides. This works the pectorals, obliques, and arms.
? Stand in a doorway, bend your elbows, and press the palms of your hands—at chest level—outward against the door jambs. This works the pectorals and biceps.
? Stand facing a wall about two feet away from it. Raise your hands to shoulder level and place your palms against the wall. Contract your abdominal muscles, straighten your elbows, lean your body weight toward the wall, and push against it. This works your arms and shoulders.
? Stand with your back against a wall. Tighten your abs so your back is firmly against the wall. Walk your feet forward, a few inches at a time, until your thighs are at least at a 45-degree angle but no more than a 90-degree angle from the floor. (At 90 degrees,your thighs are parallel to the floor, at a right angle to both your upper body and your shins.) Hold this position for as long as you can and then walk your feet back to stand up and relax. Repeat. This exercise also is known as the “wall-sit.” It works the quadriceps and is an especially effective exercise for preseason ski conditioning.
? Sitting in a firm chair, place your hands on your thighs and press down hard, leaning forward slightly. This works your abdominals.
? Still sitting, place your hands palms down on the front of the chair seat and press down. This works your biceps and shoulders.
? Still sitting, press your legs tightly together or place a rubber ball between your knees and squeeze. This works your inner thighs.
? While sitting or standing, place your hands in front of you at chest level with your palms together, as if praying. Press your hands toward each other. This works the pectorals.
? Sitting in a chair, hook your feet under the edge of a desk (pad the tops of your feet with a folded towel or something else soft), the front of a sofa, or another large piece of furniture. Press your feet upward. This works the quadriceps. A variation for the quads that does not require hooking your feet under a piece of furniture is to raise one leg at a time and hold it parallel to the floor with the toes flexed.
? Standing beside a wall, door frame, or piece of heavy furniture, push your right ankle against the stationary object. Switch sides. This works the outer thigh of your right leg and inner thigh of your left leg.
? While seated in a straight chair, hold on to the front of the seat and pull your shoulders up and back, squeezing shoulder blades together. This works the rhomboids and trapeziuses.
? While seated at a table, press your palms against the underside of the table with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. This works the forearms.