The Elusive Isometric Power Belt

I was fortunate to be one of the few people that acquired John Peterson's Isometric Power Belt (The lengthier version) and ever since he gave me one (two actually) it has been one of my go-to pieces of equipment for Isometric and sometimes Suspension Training. For years since using it, I have achieved pretty good results in terms of strength, mobility, joint health and power in my tendons and ligaments. 

It has gotten some bad press by people who never shut up about the flaws John had and it's level of verbal abuse because it wasn't ever released to the public because John can be a perfectionist but at the same time, have trouble realizing that you can't keep promising something that goes on for years without showing or truly presenting something. Although it's sad it wasn't ever brought but it's a blessing in disguise because someone who actually owns one can show the awesome exercises one can come up with. With that in mind, it's not a complete waste.

There are other straps/belts out there that you can snatch up such as a yoga strap, the World Fit Iso Trainer, Rings, Suspension Trainers and others that are readily available. Is the Isometric Power Belt any more special than those other things? In reality, not really but it is special to me because it was a gift, it has many uses other than training for Isometrics and since I was given two, I gave the other one to Bud Jeffries during the week leading up to my wedding. Now that he's passed away, his wife is now in possession of it and if she finds use in it great, if not that's ok too because I know it's in good hands or would be passed on to someone. 

The original belt that John had previously put out was about 10-14 feet long and it was loosely based on the design that Dr. James Bailey used or designed for athletes (more notably used by prisoners that John had written about for the exercise booklet for the belt) to have greater variety of Isometric Exercises that you can carry with you in a suitcase. There were different designs that came and gone through the years like for example the Isometric Chain Alexander Zass used to supplement his isometric training based on what he did to escape prisons during WW1. 

In recent times, an old timer named Bruce Tackett made a somewhat crude version of an Isometric Strap called The Hook where you can attach handles to the strap and do Isometrics from there, it was also used for suspension training and a DYI version of the Chest Expander. Quite frankly it was a pretty ingenious idea and I wished I had gotten it but never got around to it even though I said I would. Most of that product went to his Sierra Fitness Forum members while one of them got pretty damn shredded from using it. Yoga straps have been around quite a while but the World Fit Iso Trainer has been one of the upcoming brands of Isometric Equipment that has had quite a bit of success. 

This version of the Isometric Power Belt is twice as long as its "older brother" and has a stronger form of handling heavy amounts of weight (like it can take up to 7000 lbs before it tears a part or something like that) so not even the legendary Zass or Bud Jeffries could've torn this thing a part bare handedly. This thing is a combination of many straps/belts in one piece of equipment. John even planned on releasing a book of exercise for the belt (the belt itself is 28ft long BTW) but never released it so it's even more elusive if not scrapped but all I did was take the exercises from the original booklet and amplified them along with making a few additions of my own like Arm Wrestling, Bow and Arrow, Handcuffed, mimicking shoveling snow and used exercises from the book Overcoming Isometrics.

The belt is just another piece of equipment I use in my training and it's neither better or worse than the rings or the World Fit but I'm glad I have it and if John ever releases it one day (which 999.999% sure won't happen) it be a nice thing to add to a collection. I'm also probably the only person with this specific belt that has filmed working out with it so if you ever want to see it in action, here are some videos.....