You can find a lot of exercises that can be really good for muscle and strength gains like full body weightlifting but you can find at the same time workouts that a lot of people don’t do any longer.

There is an old school trick for training that will help you get really strong, strong men of old that practiced it gained the ability to bend metal bars and break chains, this might appear as though I am over exaggerating but I assure you I am not, Bruce Lee himself used it(explained in The Art Of Expressing The Human Body by John Little).

Just before I mention it I want you to know that you won’t gain 10 pounds of muscle in a month just by doing this alone, in fact this way of training is primarily for strength gains, if you happen to combine it with weight training then you can expect to see some awesome visual gains (assuming you put in the work).

It’s called isometrics…

Beginning Of Isometrics

Isometrics go back so far as world war 1, Alexander Zass (who is known as the father of isometrics), as captive of that war was put in chains.

During his time in captivity Alexander developed immense strength by pulling on the chains he was put in right up until at some point he broke free and fled, in fact according to Wikipedia he was captured 3 times and was able to escape the POW camp all 3 occasions.

From then on Zass joined up with the circus where he went by the name Iron Samson to conceal his real identity, there he performed amazing feats of strength like carrying a horse on his shoulders and catching a cannon ball that it was shot out of a cannon.

This guy weighed at 165 pounds and was 5.4 foot tall, he was not very big and definitely did not look especially strong.

The point is, isometrics will make you very strong if you incorporate them into your training.

Do I Need To Do This 60 Minutes A Day?

You can devote only 10 minutes out of your day into isometrics and you’ll be alright, the key here is doing isometrics regularly.

“In the 1950s, Dr. Theodore Hettingler and Dr. Eric Muller established that a daily isometric effort at 66 percent of maximum intensity, held for 6 minutes, could increase strength by approximately 5 percent per week.” – Never Gymless by Ross Enemait

You do not need to spend hours on this, all you need is a few minutes of your day by spending a few seconds on each exercise, thats right every exercise takes merely a couple of seconds.

Do I Need Fancy Machines?

Nope!

You could either make your own equipment or use your home environment to exercise, isometrics are mostly done by resisting against something without any actual movement with as much intensity as you can, to provide an example…

Easy Shoulder Exercise

Find a low ceiling, could very well be in the house or something ceilingish on the outside, put your hands against it and push against it with all of your strength for 10-15 seconds (or a bit more if you wish). Don’t spend too much time on the exercise otherwise it will get monotonous with you standing there feeling as if you’re an idiot.

More Exercises

I included a resource in the links area down below to a really beneficial site that will help you out with everything regarding doing isometrics, also theres a link to an online book bringing up Bruce Lee using isometrics (the one I mentioned above).

Also some refer to isometrics as static contraction, you might find a few exercises on Google, just be wary of inadequate information.

Why Should I Use This If It Wont Help Me Build Muscle

Isometrics are good for getting over plateaus, if for instance there is a specific weight that you can’t bench for more than 10 repetitions, you can use isometrics to get past the plateau.

Plus if you do this you will get really strong, that is if you stick to it over the long run.

Remember that this is not a cure all and by itself will give you limited results if you want to gain mass.

One thing that you have to remember is that nothing in life is guaranteed, don’t expect magical results from doing isometrics, the only thing in life that is guaranteed is that we all will die someday. Try to have realistic goals, by that I mean don’t expect yourself to be able to lift a horse in a month, that could take a few years…but it is possible if you set out to do it.

Author Bio: Click here to read weightlifting workouts to include with isometrics. Isometric exercises with a homemade tool plus some old school references. Copyright © 2010