Did
you know
that you could build muscle
and become stronger without weight training?
Its true.
Its called isometric
training and it increases muscle mass, giving you that great-looking body you always wanted. And best
of all, you can get fit without going
to the gym or buying all that
expensive home
exercise equipment.
Isometric
exercises involve muscular contractions performed against fixed resistance.
The System gained scientific acceptance
in 1953 when
a couple
of German researchers named Dr.
Theodore Hettinger
and Dr. Eric A.
Muller published
a study showing people who did isometric
exercises obtained dramatic results by causing their muscles
to tense
for no more
than 10 seconds at
a time.
This muscle tension became popular in America when a young man from southern Italy, Angelo Sicilano, teamed up with marketing genius Harold
Roman to produce an advertisement in comic books.
It showed how a 97-pound weakling became a real he-man
and punched
out the bully who had kicked sand in
his face.
This ad launched
the mail order bodybuilding program called Dynamic Tension. Young Angelo went on to win the title
The Worlds Most Perfectly Developed Man.
He changed his name to Charles Atlas,
put on a pair
of leopard skin shorts, and the rest
is history.
Probably the only man Atlas could not help was Mahatma Gandhi. When the great spiritual leader
of India wrote a letter to Atlas asking
for help, Atlas devised a diet and recommended a series
of exercises to help restore Gandhis weakened condition.
I felt mighty sorry
for him, Atlas said. He was nothing but a bag
of bones.
A few
years before Atlas started flexing his muscles, another strongman used
isometrics to build and maintain his strength. Like Atlas, Alexander
Zassbetter known as
The Amazing Samsonoffered his training through a mail order course. Zass was born in Vilna, Poland in 1888, but lived most
of his early years in Russia and
after 1924 in Britain.
He
developed a great belief in the application of isometrics and maximum tension for the development of strength. He believed such an approach was superior to the normal use of weights in developing strength.
I aimed, first, to develop the underlying connective tissues rather than the superficial Muscles,
he wrote in his instruction manual, Samsons System and Methods. I developed
tendon Strength. Without tendons, one would possess no control over the body,
he continued. They and their development
are the secret to my strength. Muscles alone wont hold wild horses back. Tendons will, and do.
Sampson, so-called The Worlds Strongest Living Man, said muscles were an illusion when it came to strength, but
he did encourage his students to develop them because well-defined muscles furnish Quite a respectable physical appearance. Sampson said beginners should practice tensing their muscles one at a time then grouping the muscles
together, tensing as many as possible at one time.
He outlined
three methods of isometric tension: freestyle, using no appliances; wall exercises for resistance training; and weight exercises in
which the student held the weight in a rigid position instead of using curls or presses, the typical
pumping iron method of weight training.
Most isometrics instructors agree not to exceed 10 seconds on each muscle contraction. That is perhaps the greatest appeal to isometricsa person can enhance muscle mass and strength with only a few simple repetitions in a limited time without heavy exertion.
In the 1960s, gym ratsnot wanting to publicly admit their use of steroidsattributed their sudden remarkable gains in strength and muscle mass to the use of isometrics. This association, however false, between the system and the
abuse of steroids created a
panic among the health conscious, resulting in the American public shunning the use of isometrics.
But the system flourished in Europe, especially in physical
rehabilitation programs among the aged. Seeing such positive results in Europes medical use of isometrics,
patients in the United States
also turned to the healing aspects of the system.
Scoliosis is just one of the
afflictions being tackled by the medical use of isometrics. The Anti- Scoliosis Treatment Method is a
Russian approach that consists of isometric and stretching exercises, vibration, spinal manipulation and electrical muscle stimulation.
Travelers thrombosis is another ailment that isometric exercises can help prevent. Brought on by pressure on the upper thighs caused by prolonged sitting and low mobility in narrow
seats on long airplane rides,
this ailment is a greater problem than jet lag or
airline cuisine.
The low air humidity onboard passenger aircraft can favor the
formation of blood
clots in cases where passengers
may be lacking fluids. Studies by Medsafe, a business unit of New Zealands Ministry of Health, indicate the use of isometric exercises helps relieve this condition.
Not only can isometrics help the weary worldwide wanderer, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is out of this world when it comes to recognizing the benefits isometrics offer in the
close confinements of a space capsule.
On long space journeys in prolonged
weightlessness, astronauts suffer crippling muscle and
bone loss. Future space trips will be longer, say three years for example, when astronauts eventually explore Mars. Longer durations in space mean increased muscle and bone losses.
Researchers at NASAs Johnson Space Center recommend a variety of
preflight fitness plans, training space travelers for in-flight use of the exercise equipment onboard the International Space Station, and monitoring their health after their return to Earth.
Muscle and bone loss in space create an entire realm of
biological concerns for astronauts, said William
J. Kraemer, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball
State in Muncie, Indiana. Our challenge is to find countermeasure programs which allow the body to maintain proper structure and function.
Strength training for astronauts involves
two types of resistance
exercises: high-intensity isotonics, which shorten and lengthen muscles (for example, lifting and lowering a dumbbell), and isometrics, which fully contract muscles without movement (such as pushing against a doorway).
While both types of exercises could
potentially reduce muscle atrophy in microgravity, research suggests isometrics may be more successful than
isotonics in protecting slow-twitch fibers, according mto a February 2004
report in NASAs
Biological andPhysical Research
Enterprise newsletter.
For the homebody, massive muscle and bone loss may not be as much a problem as those extra calories packed on while watching
football or soccer on the television. It might be good advice to roll yourself out of that easy chair and spend 10 secondsat a time doing isometric
exercisesat least during the commercial breaks.
The only drawback to "free hand" Isometrics (without the use of any equipment) is that
there is no way to measure your strength gains and you are limited in the number of exercises.
But, there is
now a way to increase there effectiveness by up to 1000%.
With the advent of new "hybrid" exercise equipment such as the Bully Xtreme home gym you can
now maximize your muscle building results while being
able to do more exercises up to 82 different movements. While utilizing the powerful technique of isometrics.
For more information and a free report check out...
http://www.BullyXtreme.net/Frank Sherrill, is a former U.S. Army Ranger and Martial Arts expert. After surviving a
horrific weight training accident, he spent years
researching and finally discovering an exercise program and home gym that was as effective as free weights but, without all the RISK.
