What Kind Of Routine Should You Do For Isometrics???

Although there are limitless exercises in Isometrics and the many ways you can apply them, what should you do if you were to do a routine? The truth is, they can be added to any routine or can be stand alone if you wish. If you're into sports, you can use Isometrics to aid in the development of your skill set whether it's through pitching, hitting, throwing, jumping, shooting, taking down an opponent, slapping on a submission hold or whatever.

You can create a routine where you do one body part a day that takes no more than a few minutes and go on about your day. You can do multiple body parts and round out the whole body within a 3-4 day period. Do one upper body workout one day and do the lower body the next, picking out the various parts of the body you want to work on. It's really a matter of what your goals are.

In the 60's during the Isometric craze of the cold war, Olympic Weightlifters in the U.S used Isometrics to increase the strength not only in their lifts but aiding in their speed and precision. Men like Steve Justa & Alexander Zass used Isometrics to increase their health and strength through sheer practice of various angles and developed their bodies while also increasing the strength of their bones, tendons & ligaments. Henry Wittenberg who won Olympic Gold Medals in Freestyle Wrestling used Isometrics to dominate opponents. The Great Gama used Isometrics to overthrow every opponent he faced and went undefeated in 5000 matches over the course of his career.

The routine that best suits you will be the one that works. I understand that sounds very vague and you want the "Secret Sauce" that will make a routine make you Superman or Wonder Woman but we are all different and we all different sets of goals and we must work according to our level of fitness and getting the most out of what we want to achieve. I've had periods where I did full body Isometrics almost daily or go through a routine where I hit the whole body in a 3 day period and repeated the cycle. Isometrics can do wonders if you act accordingly and learn the proper techniques and breathing patterns that will create results and achieving your goals.

For more info on Isometric Training, check out 7 Seconds To A Perfect Body and learn the key ingredients to create your successful routine. 

Isometrics: A Quick Method For The Time Restricted Folks

We may only have 24 hours in a day but within that time, we get caught up in the "responsible acts" of life such as; getting to work, making a living, picking up kids, paying bills and doing adult stuff that never seems to end. When people want to work out, they feel that what they hear about how much time it takes to get results and what to do to get those results, it can be confusing and full of overwhelming anxiety that one of two things will happen; they'll either quit early or don't do at all because there's never enough time.

There's so much info out there that it can be daunting and hard to pick the right info for you to use to get the time in and what you're seeking. Some people can get to a gym even with tough ways to work around it and it works for them but it isn't for everybody. That's why I turn to Isometrics because it's quick and has great benefits of getting the most out of the time YOU need to get done. Isometrics are exercises where you don't move but you're exerting a lot of force. 

A great version of Isometrics is just simply flexing your muscles to a degree where you don't need more than a few seconds to really feel it. Flex your arms, your legs, your chest, your calves or whatever and hold it for no more than 12 seconds. The rule of thumb here is to not hold your breath as you flex. Instead, make an "sss" or "fff" sound as you exhale. This can help with blood pressure.

Another way to get a good Isometric workout in is taking a few minutes and do Self Resistance type training where you resist against yourself (muscle against muscle) and do various parts of the body like working your biceps, resist trying to lift your shoulders up, push your hands together for the chest ect. You can use a table, a park bench, your chair, pressing into the floor, holding a horse stance, these are all great ways to use isometrics. You can do a quick workout in about 5 minutes. If you do them right, you can also get a good cardio workout in it too. Think about it, using isometrics for cardio and never needing to force yourself to do 30 minutes on the treadmill or have to drive to the gym.

Some of my Isometric workouts last no more than 20 minutes, others, 5 is more than enough. I can give you some great courses to check out so you'll never have an excuse to not get something in. Make the timing count, don't let it steer you away. Get fit without moving whatsoever and do so anywhere from the park to a hotel room, your living room, backyard, at the beach, sitting in a chair or wherever you wish. 

Here are a few courses to check out that help you find cool ways to do Isometrics:

Super Isometrics for Maximum Strength and Muscle Gain

Isometrics By Henry Wittenberg

Developing The Isometric Mind : All 7 Volumes 

Isometric Power Revolution: Mastering the Secrets of Lifelong Strength, Health, and Youthful Vitality

Within minutes, you can get some awesome training in and never have to worry about getting the right time in. Make it work for you and take care of yourself. Strengthen your body anywhere and get the most out of it without being so restricted. 

Step Ups: An Alternative To Running

Some people love to run or jog, it can be meditative, often times a way to escape and get into a better state of mind, but it does have consequences. A good run is one thing and doing so for a few miles is more than enough for most people but if you push it too long/hard it can put a damper on your joints and can cause knee problems. 

I was never much of a runner and with the way my shins and ankles are, running is not a great option or exercise. I have known people who do a lot of running and one of them i'm related to and she runs like a madwoman. Running can be good to a degree in the sense where you're not putting your joint health at risk and tearing ligaments from overstraining or putting too much stress. 

Many use running as a form of cardio which can be good but can only take you so far and if you do exclusively, you're missing out on incredible other forms of exercise that has a safer alternative to your cardio/muscular conditioning. I've been doing Step-Ups lately and the few times I've done them, it's given me a hell of a cardio workout that does better for me than running on a treadmill or a track. I got the idea from learning more about Bob Backlund, the famous world champion wrestler from the late 70's to the early 80's.

I had written before about Backlund doing Step-Ups & The Ab Wheel as a means for developing awesome conditioning. He was an avid runner in his day to get great cardio for keeping up in the ring but once he found out about the Harvard Step Test, he was off and running with it (no pun intended). Once he transitioned to this exercise, his cardio shot through the roof and was considered as one of the best conditioned athletes in his prime. 

It's a simple exercise but a very effective one that builds the legs to last in the long haul and has a safer application on the knee joints and ankles. One workout I've been doing lately is Backlund's workout but alternating back and forth between the wheel and the step ups. 15 min non-stop is a hell of a workout and is a great start to see where your condition is at. How long I'll keep at it that remains to be seen but when I get the urge, I do what I can. 

How high of a step do you need for it to be effective? I don't think you'll need one where your step goes higher than a couple inches past your navel point. This is because you don't want to overextend or put too much flexion on the hip joint because although the legs are strongest in the body, your joints need to be strong too and exercised with safety. So a good 10-14 inches is more than enough but depending on your height and the health of your joints go accordingly. 

How many reps do you need to do to get an effective workout? This can vary from person to person depending on timing, the amount your body can go with and what the goal is. With my superset of step ups and the wheel, I would do 20 step-ups (10 per leg) at a time and do as many rounds as possible without stopping in the time I put up. In the 15 minutes, I would do close to 10 rounds which totals up to a couple hundred step-ups which is pretty decent but if I just did the step-ups alone for 15 min straight, I could probably do more than 300 if I really pushed it. It all depends.

So if you want to use a safer alternative to running and still want to get cardio in just about anywhere, go with step-ups and see what's possible for you. Backlund was known for doing step-ups for more than an hour on a consistent basis. That puts him in elite class when it comes to conditioning and was doing this past the age of 40, 50 and 60. He once did step-ups for a period of 8 hours with a small break in between, that just puts him in a universal class, not just world class. You don't need to go that long to get the benefits, a good half hour is more than enough. Any more, that's up to you.

Get in shape the best ways possible and the simpler it is, the better off. 

Here's a good step up implement you can use at home.... 

Have an amazingly awesome day. 

The Three Bears Concept Of Fitness

What a name for an article huh? What the hell does a children's story have to do with fitness? Well, more than you think because it's quite simple. In life, there's either too much of something, too little or not enough and there's the middle ground that hits the right spot and puts the right things in perspective. Fitness is a lot like that. When we work out, we want the best out of that session or having the best program we can do at the time but at times, we do too much and breakdown or burn out, other times we go cold and don't do enough to get the results we want but we do find that sweet spot and gives us what we seek.

Training is a series of victories, failures, experimenting with what works and what doesn't and finding the best for what suits us. Exercise is like the porridge in the three bears story and we are Goldilocks. There are some sessions where we do too much, we do things to the point something just doesn't feel right and than something clicks in and a workout becomes enjoyable and we get the most out of it because it's what worked. Papa Bear likes his porridge hot and steamy, it works for him, mama bear likes it cold and the baby bear has just enough to where it suits him best. Different things work for different people but like Goldilocks, we try different things and at times it'll feel hot and burns us, it could also make us feel we're not doing enough and goes cold but one way or another, we find that perfect blend and we get the result we seek.

Now unlike the blonde haired runaway, we don't want to just walk in and see what happens. We're hungry for results and we want them now. She just breaks in and starts eating someone else's food and not consider the consequences. Similar thing happens in fitness, we want to just break through and not consider what we're getting ourselves into because we don't know anything and don't grasp the concept of possible injury, not understanding if you're doing the right thing and seeing if the sweet spot is there. We learn from mistakes and not march into something we don't realize what can happen later. Like the bratty, Pollyanna looking ditz, when we do suffer the consequences we don't know what to do and end up with a lecture on what we need to learn from.

Let's take a look at the beds of the three bears and compare the way you recover. Goldilocks goes upstairs and decides to sleep off the porridge she just ingested and have a nice little nap in the process. One bed is too hard and doesn't have any support, another is way too soft and not firm enough and then that perfect bed that just is cozy enough and feels awesome to pass out in. For recovery, you want just enough that you feel good that when you go back, you'll be better than before and be able to progress. Being sore can be a real pain in the ass so you don't want your body to be so hard that it can't do what it needs to do and rest, you also don't want it to recover too much otherwise, you won't want to go back so you want to have that enough of a recovery where your body did it's job and you've got that energy and full tank to get back out there and not only that, progress and have your muscles in order.

Once you find that sweet spot in your training and in your recovery, things fall into place and you have your perfect set up for what you want to accomplish. It may not always go your way, things can happen along the way but make the most of your journey and if you happen to run into some bears, don't break in and see what happens, learn what is just right. 

Mimic Real Animals In The Wild

Animal Exercise has become more of a trend lately than what they're really meant for. As humans, movement is a necessity but the right kind of movement gives you abilities that you can develop like when you were a kid. There are many variations of Animal Movements but very few courses ever really teach the closest mirror image of the movements themselves. Obviously we can't be as strong, agile or conditioned like an animal in the wild no matter how hard you try, however; we can be stronger in the long run if we used our bodies more nature like.

Let's look at the bear crawl shall we; the simplest animal move in the entire movement army that kids, Football Players, Martial Artists, Wrestlers and other sports have used this movement in their repertoire and had incredible results. You're on all fours, butt in the air and you run in that position, plain and simple yet one of the most humbling. These days, it has watered down to several variations that have nothing to do with its original purpose. I do like how it teaches people to coordinate their bodies and utilizing more of the brain in opposite arm/leg movement but the majority who teach it never go beyond that and putting more spins on it than a Nascar during the Indy 500. I understand everybody is different and need a way to move according to their structure and strengths but simplicity is key and overcomplicating it is not going to help in the long run.

Primate exercises are another form that is watered down. Get into a squat, place your knuckles/fists/palms to the floor and mimic a primate. Today, there's too many gymnastic style variations that it doesn't feel almost mirror like. If you can't do a full squat, do what's possible and progress. The flow can be beneficial but in order to get the most out of moving like a primate, learn to actually move in the best form possible. Sure there are areas of moving like a primate that are downright impossible for a lot of reasons but keep the simplicity and focus on areas that strengthen the tendons and ligaments, not so much on the muscles.

When you practice moving like an animal, it forces your body already to use many muscle groups all at once but once you get in the habit of moving and strengthening the tendons, things will fall into place. When I say mirror like, i'm talking the closest to a movement a human is capable of. Watering t down makes it more complicated than it has to be. Once you have the basics down, start training for certain elements, mainly your conditioning. Too many of us get out of breath fast just by standing up and walking down the street, what if we didn't have to do that and our breath is so smooth that walking a mile or more felt like nothing. For strength purposes, it's important to see it not from a weightlifting mentality but a way of seeing it as making it easier to get yourself off the ground, be able to move without your back tightening up and using the body as a tool and not a burden.

One of my favorite books that gets you into the realm of the animal is the book: Animal Workouts. It shows variations of animals in a progressive setting that comes as close to the real thing as possible for a human. It helps develop conditioning in a unique way and giving you that enduring strength that lasts. Having fun getting flexibility and agility that makes you feel like a kid again and having powerful legs that last. These can be done anywhere, any time and some exercises don't have you going more than a couple feet, mainly just being in place. I use these in my own training and feel incredible afterwards. Once you get into the cardio aspects, it doesn't take long before you're huffing and puffing, just the Bronco variations alone can have you down in less than a couple minutes. Most workouts don't need more than 15 minutes to get done but you can do them as often as you can muster and however long you want, your pick. The longest workout I did was nearly an hour and a half and that was fun but brutal.

Get in touch with your natural side and get in top shape moving like our animal brethren. No watered down variations, just a few simple movements that offer big rewards in return.