Joe DeFranco briefly discusses the importance of isometric holds for MMA athletes. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, these essentially involve holding a weight still at a point during an exercise – usually when the target muscle is already partially contracted. These are often done with rows and shrugs.
Although slightly controversial, isometric training has a long and interesting history. For more information on this great training methodology, try the following resources :
Charles Atlas : part of his Dynamic Tension training system consisted of simple isometric exercises.
John Little and Pete Sisco : the bulk of their ‘Static Contraction Training‘ system comprised isometric exercises.
Bob Hoffman : it was Bob Hoffman’s writing that first encouraged Bruce Lee to incorporate isometric exercises in his training. Hoffman’s works are worth tracking down, as is Bruce Lee’s The art of Expressing the Human Body (review); which also discusses isometric training at length.
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