Lightness of Foot: The Cool Side-Effect of Overcoming Isometric Exercise
“You’ll be able to judge how you feel, how you look, how you move and your lightness of foot.” (p 13 Justa, Iron Isometrics)
One of the things I appreciate the most about overcoming isometric exercise as opposed to other modalities like calisthenics and weight lifting is how you can feel yourself getting stronger and lighter not just during training but throughout the day while gardening, getting groceries, and cleaning the house. By pushing or pulling against an immovable object you can be jumping around like John Carter of Barsoom
This lightness translates to better speed, power, and endurance.
This can occur with calisthenics. I recall having a similar feeling when I first started getting into pistol squats. After a few months and some improved efficiency, there was a little more spring in my step. I almost enjoyed walking up the stairs and when I would be traveling around train stations in Japan I’d opt for walking the stairs vice the escalator.
When I started using overcoming isometrics one thing that was noticeable is that this feeling of lightness and strength came quicker. Whereas months of progressive calisthenics occurred in weeks with overcoming isometrics.
The reason being is that isometric exercise has been proven to develop more strength in shorter amounts of time compared to other methods. A study by T Hettinger and E.A. Muller from 1953 demonstrated that as little as a 5% increase can be achieved with isometrics each week.
Alexander Zass performing various isometrics with the use of a chain.
Instead of 30 minutes to an hour total of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) each week one can opt for mere minutes of overcoming isometrics. I still do HIIT training but these days but it takes a back seat due to the time and energy efficiency of isometrics.
Isometric exercise doesn’t have the metabolic costs of either eccentric or concentric forms of exercise and you’ll recover from them a great deal quicker. These above benefits combined with consistency will translate into stronger strength gains over large periods of time.
However, in my experience, this feeling will wear off after a few months. However, there are ways to gain it back. One of the ways is by changing the duration of the force generating phase of your isometric movements. If I’m normally doing eight seconds or 12 I’ll switch to one-second bursts trying to get the intensity of my pushing/pulling above 90%. The number of these burst reps I’ll change from day to day or hour to hour. Another option is to practice more odd angles and rotations or multi-limb isometrics where one is combining either pressing with legs, pushing with the arms, pulling with the arms, or adding some ab rotation in there.
But when all is lost just taking a break from training will do you some good as well. There have been several times throughout my journey when I took a week off of training and my strength improved instead of decreasing.
Isometrics training has been around for a while and is unique compared to other forms of training which we have been exposed to for most of our lives. Overcoming isometrics is like that hole-in-the-wall restaurant you’ve passed by for months or years and one day you decide to stop, go in, and check out the food…
To your surprise it’s some of the best food you have ever tasted. There are many books as well as studies on overcoming isometrics I’ve read over the years. It has been of great use to me wherever I travel and no matter what I do.
“Almost immediately after you start your practice with isometric contraction you will feel like a million. You will have lots more pep and energy, you will be lighter on your feet, have a new spring in your step. You will feel younger, act younger and have a new zest for living. This comes about because Functional Isometric Contraction training is not tiring. It builds strength in the muscles, it improves circulation, build internal strength, functional and organic strength, as well as strength in the muscles which help in the functions of the body.” (p 68 Hoffman, Functional Isometric Contraction)
Until Next Time…