Isometrics are Wonderful

Here is the thing about isometrics: almost everyone dismisses them!

There is no rhyme or reason about it.  My feeling is that no one has actually looked at the research, or ever experimented with this form of exercise- I mean, how can it be that pushing hard against an immovable resistance for a matter of seconds can:

Lower blood pressure, dramatically!

Strengthen that muscle in a huge way, even throughout the muscle, not just in that particular angle!

Be done so fast, and so relatively painlessly!

Well, isometrics CAN do that, and it is just a shame that the benefits have been shoved aside. 

I believe that this is because conventional isotonic weight training- in paleo parlance ‘lifting heavy things’- has the “advantage” of building bulky types of muscle.  Big, chubby muscles that everyone can see, and say “Hey- have you been lifting weights??” 

If you have a fragile ego, like I did when I was 14 or so, to hear this is very gratifying.  And so, people tend to double down on the weight lifting! 

Many take it to extremes.  I did, and I know so many others.  Bigger is better, right? 

I’m here to tell you that no, it’s really not!

Bruce Lee figured this out, the hard way.  He was early in his career when he saw a photo of  Arnold Schwarzenegger in a muscle magazine of the time in the late 60’s or early 70’s.  It inspired him to take up heavy weight training, ala Arnold.

The result?  He injured his back, leading him to a drug dependency to alleviate the pain that eventually took his life!  Heavy weights, particularly squats will do that…

After he was injured, he returned to isometrics, resulting in a physique that was so amazing, that today it is still not only awesome, but timeless.

Trust me, lean, fit and ripped is WAY better than big, bulky, and- eventually- sagging and fat as you age.  And it’s even better at the moment, when you are young- far better!

Isometrics not only made him ripped to the bone, they also made him much more efficient as a fighter, much ‘lighter’ yet stronger, functionally.   They even partially cured his pain from weight training, but only partially.  Heavy weights are ultimately debilitating… and so are heavy things!

So, don’t lift heavy things, at least not for exercise- only because you need to move something heavy!  (What a concept)!  When you exercise, use either-

Light weights, like your own body weight for high reps, as in pushups.

Self resisted movements, where you resist with one limb against another.

Virtual resista

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