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An Introduction to Isometrics

In 7 SECONDS you can develop new muscle tissue. That means in less than 4 hours a year you can develop a whole new body adding anything from 12 – 25 lbs of muscle onto your frame while substantially reducing your body fat.


A statement like that seems unrealistic. Fantastic - a figment of a delusional comic book writer explaining how a superhero became incredibly strong.  I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. I thought the same and I’m approaching it from the cynicism of a seasoned fitness instructor and personal trainer. 


There’s just one little, teeny-tiny problem though. It’s possible. More so that it’s a reality for thousands of people every day. 

And no, they’re not on steroids or drugs or part of military experiments creating super soldiers. They are everyday people like you and me. They hold down 9-5 jobs and don’t have time for exercise between the kids and mortgage payments. 


So how are they doing it?

The answer is Isometrics and I’m going to explain what Isometrics is and how you can start doing it as you read the rest of this article. That’s right. By the time you have finished this, you will have completed two exercises, the first to trim and tone your waistline and the second to tone and firm your chest. 


Ready?

Isometric Abs

1. Sit up tall and straight in your chair. 

2. Breath deeply and suck in your stomach as hard as you can.

3. Now tense your stomach hard as though bracing for a punch – still keeping it sucked in

4. You feel that tightness, a slight quiver in the muscles? Good, that’s the start.

5. Breath out tightly making an SSSSSSSSS sound. You’ll feel your abs getting tighter.

6. As you breathe out crunch your abs really hard rotating your pelvis upwards and your rid cage inwards. 

7. Breathe all the way out

8. Relax


How did that feel? If you did it right it should feel great. Your abs will be warm, worked, feel relaxed, and slightly tired. Now do it again and repeat until you’ve finished this article. Your abs will be tighter, firmer, and more toned tomorrow morning than they are right now. Diligent practice of this one exercise will tighten and tone your stomach faster than 1,000 sit-ups.


Now to give you something entertaining to read as you tighten and tone your stomach here’s the fascinating and scintillating science behind Isometrics.


Iso (meaning the same) and metric (meaning distance) are methods of tensing the muscles without moving the angle of the joint they are connected to. The abs exercise above is an example of this. So is pushing against an immovable object. Try as hard as you can, tense every ounce of muscle fiber against something that can’t move, and you’ll feel you’ve done a great workout and in many ways you have!


Back in the old school days of physical culture, the Victorian era’s introduction to bodybuilding and strong men Isometrics was all the rage. Skinny weak sickly kids turned to tense their muscles in a specific way and transformed themselves into well-toned living Greek Statues, strong enough to press grown men over their heads with one arm. 

Their feats of strength astonished the men of the time and women marveled at their physiques. Okay, they couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, or hold back a locomotive but they could easily walk up walls lift horses overhead and in one demonstration lift a platform on top on which ten men were standing.


One such guy was Maxick. Maxick, born Max Sick was a very weak child from birth and was not supposed to live. But he fought on and survived. A young Max once saw a strong man at the circus and was determined to be as strong as the Greek Hero Hercules (their equivalent of Superman).  So little Max started lifting weights. 


Fortunately, his parent soon put an end to this – as he was too weak and fragile to take the strain. Still determined Max began to experiment with his body. Tensing his various muscles as hard as could and learning to control each one individually. Soon Max started to get stronger, and more muscular.  


One day in his teens Max went into a local gym, too young to join he just watched. Then on invitation from one of the chief physical culturists (an old-school name for bodybuilders) tried to lift a weight. Of course, they were expecting Max to fail and have a good laugh at his expense. Max out-lifted the strong man. 


People were stunned. Max became a local celebrity in his home time, demonstrating feats of unbelievable strength and muscle control. He could make his muscles jump and dance with a simple thought. And lift seemingly impossible weights.


He traveled to England where he developed a reputation as being incredibly strong. It was here he teamed up with fellow strongman Saldo and developed his Isometric Training system called Maxalding. You didn’t lift weights; you did Isometric Exercises where you tensed and relaxed your muscles, just like your abs.


How are they doing by the way? Pretty tired? Okay, give it a rest. Instead, let’s try this one for the chest. 


Isometric Hand Press


1. Stand tall and straight

2. Hold your arms out in front of your chest

3. Make a slight bend at the elbow, creating a triangle from the wrist to the elbows

4. Press your palms together

5. As you do so concentrate on making your chest as tight and hard as possible.

6. After a few seconds you should feel you’re chest and arms shaking all over – this is the muscles tiring as they work really hard – this is Isometrics.

7. Hold this position for 30 seconds.

8. Slowly release – this is important, after intense contraction your body needs time to unwind.


Now how does that feel? Repeat it ten times as you scroll down.

The Maxalding system was an early whole-body Isometric Training system. His students got stunning results, and they weren’t the only ones. Years later, a man named Charles Atlas achieved phenomenal fame as the World's Most Perfect Man while promoting an Isometric System he called Dynamic Tension. It’s still around.


However, as time advances, people on the lookout for new fads move on and Isometrics was forgotten until recently. With a new fitness and physical culture renaissance approaching people are turning back to the old methods. And science is discovering some amazing things.


It only takes 7 Seconds to stimulate new muscle growth. 

That said, there is one small detail – it has to be an incredibly intense stimulus. Isometrics just happens to be the most intense exercise in the world and in as little as 7 seconds you can completely exhaust your muscles. The wonderful thing is it doesn’t matter what your current level of fitness is because the force you generate while doing Isometrics is in direct proportion to your current level. 

You can’t really go too far. Isometrics is also incredibly safe because it does not require any weights (except at very advanced levels) making it ideal for rehabilitation, seniors, and everyone else too busy to get to the gym.


If you’ve followed the directions in this article you will have just worked out two of the biggest muscle groups in the body, the chest and the core muscles of the abs. In future articles, I’ll explain a little more about some of the specific benefits of Isometrics and give you some more exercises, as well as reveal how it blowtorches fat, strengthen your digestion system, and your internal organs, and even reverse the again process.  For now, enjoy the feeling of a firm toned waist and a lean powerful chest. Practice these two techniques every second day and remember to breathe correctly.


If you can’t wait for the next article and need to know how to get in the best shape of your life RIGHT NOW, check out my website – the largest online resource dedicated to Isometric Training – http://www.isometric-training.com/article1


Your Isometric Expert and Personal Trainer,


Paul J.O’Brien