Can you Build Strength With Only Static Training?
The effects of isometrics on the human musculature system
Isometric exercises are commonly implemented into workouts to provide a unique type of stimulus. It can help you obtain more gains without having to move a joint through a range of motion, but can it be the only stimulus needed to progress further in training?
What are Static Skills
Static skills are any skill that doesn’t require your joints to go through a range of motion. For example, handstand, tucked planche, and L-sit is all static skills.
Static Movements Affect the strength
The purpose of statics skills is to hold the muscles in a certain position to stimulate them. It can provide and unique type of stimulus than the dynamic movement would. Such as performing ten minutes of isometric training and being the equivalent of a regular training session.
But there are a few drawbacks to isometric training. It can put a lot of stress on your body, specifically the nervous system. Isometric training only improves the position that you're in since you're not moving your joints through a range of motion. For example, performing a plank helps build strength in that movement alone.
Only performing static training cannot help you build muscle effectively due to holding a joint in one position.
Overcoming Isometrics
Overcoming isometrics is another variation of static training in which you try and move an immovable object in a set position. This method of training was invented by Bruce Lee himself where he took barbells and squat racks and loaded them with lots of weight and held a static position for a given. This helps recruit all of the muscle fibers within the body to maximize the amount of strength needed to perform the movement.
Yielding Isometrics
Another form of static training is where you take 70–80% of the weight you use in an exercise and hold it in a set position for 30 seconds.
Dynamic Movements vs Statics
Besides statics training, there are different forms of exercises such as dynamic movements. Dynamic movements require both eccentric( muscle to length) and concentric( muscle shortens) contractions. For example, a pushup or pullup would be considered a dynamic movement, while a planche or OAH(one-arm handstand) would be considered a static movement.
When wanting to perform static movements like the planche and human flag you can only do dynamic movements and still achieve those goals. While only doing static movements won’t get you to your goals. This is because dynamic movements take the muscles through a full range of motion.
Eccentrics Training
There is also eccentric training. This method of training only focuses on the eccentric portion of a movement. This is because the concentric typically is the hardest portion of an exercise due to resisting gravity. But during the eccentric portion, you can be as much as 1.75x stronger than the concentric portion. This form of training can help build up strength for exercises such as pull-ups.
Isometric training for the Injuries and Elderly
Doing isometric exercise can be great for individuals with injuries because they don’t have to move the joint through a full range of motion. Elderly individuals with conditions such as high blood pressure can use isometric training to maintain a healthy body.
Conclusion
In conclusion, only using isometric training to gain strength isn’t reasonable due to the lack of a full range of motion. Instead using both dynamics and isometrics can be utilized to better gain strength for an exercise. Isometrics can be beneficial for the injured and elderly population.
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