What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.
What if I told you that the chest and biceps could grow markedly bigger by having you guys
stand around and do nothing?
Well, not nothing, but not move. Right? We have to always understand that there's 3 different
types of contractions.
And if we're not really including them all in our workouts, then we're missing a big
component of our potential growth.
And that is we have concentric contractions. That's the very common shortening of the muscle
if we're looking at the bicep.
The eccentric, which is tension on the bicep as it's lengthening.
And then we have an isometric. Now, isometrics have gone by way of the dinosaur for a lot
of guys.
They just don't include them anymore, and a lot of people will point out the limitations
of an isometric.
They say that, 'What's the point of doing them if you're only going to strengthen yourself
in the range that you're performing the isometric?'
So, if I'm doing a Bicep Curl, and I hold the bar down here, I can only really increase
my strength in this range.
Or if I hold it up here, I can only increase my strength in that range. Recent studies
have actually proven that to be wrong.
The further away you are from contraction, the larger the range of motion you actually
begin to see strength increases in, almost 15 degrees above and below.
So, if you're looking at a Curl held here, you're actually increasing your strength a
little bit up and a little bit down.
So, don't discount the strength-building benefits of isometrics, but we actually have some really
good size-building benefits of isometrics.
And I wanted to show you today. Apply them to the chest and the biceps to show you how
you can do it.
And first and foremost, it's when you do it. Guys, like any other strength-training technique.
You do it at the right time, you get the best results. You do it at the wrong time, you
could get different results.
With isometrics, I like to put them early in the workouts when we're really trying to
create an overload,
especially if we're trying to create a different stimulus. So, if I were going to do the chest
here, the argument is if we lead off our workout,
now, whatever minimum warm up you have to do to get yourself ready, that's all I want
you to do, just enough to get yourself going.
You do not want to start to fatigue your large muscle fibers. You want to just get yourself
into position and get ready to go.
And you'll do, we have our X-Crossover here, and you'll just perform a Crossover with heavy
weight.
And you get it out here and you overload.
And you hold out, as hard as you possibly can, really squeezing your chest as hard as
you possibly can.
And you try to hold it for about 45 seconds. You should feel that. The intense contraction
is one you've never felt before.
Because you're strongest, because you're non-fatigued, you have all of your ability to recruit as
many motor units as possible.
And that's the advantage of doing them and leading off your workout. In fact, I still
feel as if it's cramped up here because I took the most motor units.
And what happens with an isometric contraction is, you'll get a motor unit rotation, the
ability to hold that contraction.
Basically, one motor unit shuts off and another one comes in and takes it place. That shuts
off, or fatigues, another one comes in and takes its place.
You have this rotation going on, and it's a constant recruitment of the most muscle
motor units you can recruit at one time.
So, you want to talk about a strong contraction, that's as strong as it gets, ok.
Now, we move on to the biceps. It's the same thing.
You would finish your chest work after that, but you lead off with a contraction.
The same thing here. And if I'm going to do a bicep training, you know, like a workout,
lead off with a Bicep/Chin Up Hold.
I'm telling ya'. One of the most intense contractions you'll ever experience with bicep training
is going to be
when you do this leading off before you do any of your Curl work.
You pull up. Right there. You lean back a little bit. You should be at 90 degrees. And
you can see.
You can almost see every motor unit balling up there in the biceps and I can feel a contraction
I just don't get any other time.
And I hold it as hard as I possibly can. And I'm actively squeezing here at the top,
I'm actively squeezing as hard as I possibly can to engage every single motor unit that
I can.
Guys, if you want to start seeing a difference in your training, you got to start trying
the right training principles at the right time.
And that's what we try to do at ATHLEANX. I try to, as I say all the time, put the science
back in strength.
You've probably done isometrics. You probably stopped doing them a long time ago.
A. You got to start doing them again.
B. You should try to start doing them at the right time. I would recommend you do them
here.
Now, you can always incorporate isometrics to complete a burnout, you, to prolong time
under tension.
They're all other applications that you can use, but when you're going for maximum muscle
recruitment, this is when you do them.
Alright, guys. If you haven't already, and you want a training program that gets you
in the best shape ever especially as we hit summer here,
head to ATHLEANX.COM right now. Put the science back in your strength and start seeing better
results faster.
In the meantime, if you liked this video, leave a comment, a thumb's up below.
And we'll keep bringin' 'em out, alright. Like I said, 3 times a week now.
Alright, guys, we'll be back here again soon.