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| If you're my age (I'm 61) or older, you probably remember the great isometrics craze of the 1960's. But do isometrics really work - and if so, how do you do them for best results? |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of our longtime readers asked me
about isometrics and whether they work.
He also asked if I had ever done them,
and if so, whether I still do them.
Those questions brought back some
interesting memories - so I thought
I'd share them with you.
I was a little young for the beginning of
the isometrics fad of the early 60's, but
there was still lots of fanfare and hoopla
about it in the late 60's, when I started
training.
Isometrics promised super strength in 60
seconds a day -- consisting of a series of
6 second isometric exercises.
That was irresistible. What could be better
than super strength in 60 seconds a day?
So, of course, I tried the isometric system.
I began with the simple stuff. Put your hands
together and push with one and resist with
other.
Stand sideways in a doorway and push
against the side of the door frame with
one foot.
Use a doorway chinning bar to practice
the overhead press lockout.
Later, one of the junior high school coaches
let me borrow an "Exergenie" device and a
discus for the summer, so I could do isometrics
with the discus after attaching the Exergenie
to my doorway chinning bar. (Yes, I threw the
discus in junior high school, before I decided
to stick to wrestling as my only sport.)
And I also bought a portable isometric device
from Peary Rader's Body Culture Equipment
Company. It was made from heavy pipe and
two lengths of log chain. It came with a
wooden base to stand on. It looked really
cool.
I pulled and pushed against those pipes and
chains all winter one year.
But none of it worked.
It was fun, but it didn't deliver any sort of
results.
When I was in high school, we had a York
power rack, so we could do isometric stuff
in the power rack. But I never did. By age
14, I was done with isometrics.
Later, I learned that some of the original
research behind isometrics was wrong.
It was the result of a misplaced decimal
point.
The trainees tested at a world-famous
research lab in Germany had NOT been
making strength gains of 2% per week,
as had been reported.
It was more like .2% per week --
meaning just two tenths of one percent.
Oops.
And then there was the question about
roid use by some of the "pioneers" of
isometric training -- which raises the
question, "IF it worked, was it
the drugs or the isometrics?"
the drugs or the isometrics?"
So, as you can probably see, I'm not a
big fan of isometrics.
Now, there was a slightly different variation
called isometronics. That involved short
range movements in the power rack with
heavy weights. That was REAL training.
I've used isometronics with great results.
You can build some serious strength with
isometronics.
But it's not 60 seconds a day. It's pretty
much the same as regular barbell training --
which may be one reason why it works so
well.
I cover isometronic training in Strength,
Muscle and Power. It won't give you super
Muscle and Power. It won't give you super
strength in 60 seconds a day, but it WILL
make you very, very strong - and it works
pretty darn fast.
Go here to grab the little monster:
Strength, Muscle and Power
As always, thanks for reading and have
a great day. If you train today, make it
a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Do you have the March issue of The
Dinosaur Files newsletter?
If not, go here to grab the little monster:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur-files-march2018pdf.html
Also - if you missed the October, Nov, Dec,
Jan or Feb issues, go here to grab them:
Feb issue
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur-files-february2018pdf.html
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2. My other books and courses are
right here at Dino Headquarters:
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"Would you rather build strength in
60 seconds or build strength for 60
or more years?"
-- Brooks Kubik
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