If you’ve trained with us at ELEVATE, you’ve probably noticed a theme: we start many TEAM and ELITE sessions with exercises where you don’t move.
You might hold the bottom of a squat, the bottom of a push up, or the bottom of a split squat. It looks simple enough until you’re still there 20 or 30 seconds later.
There’s a reason we do it, and it’s not just to feel the burn.
Before we ask you to move through a position, we want you to demonstrate that you can control the position.
The duration and position are selected for a training purpose, not because we equate discomfort with effectiveness.
What we’re doing is isometric training, which means producing force without meaningful movement at the joint and muscle-tendon complex. There are two primary types: overcoming and yielding.
In an overcoming (aka pushing) isometric, you try to move an immovable object, like pushing as hard as possible against a fixed bar.
In a yielding (aka holding) isometric, you resist an external load and try to maintain your position. A body weight split squat hold at the bottom position is a basic example.
The evidence suggests these two types of isometrics can produce different adaptations, although we still have limited research comparing them. Overcoming isometrics generally allow you to produce greater forces and may be more useful when maximal strength is the goal. Yielding isometrics may be more useful for developing local muscular endurance and the ability to maintain position under load.
That distinction helps explain why we prefer to use yielding isometrics so often at the beginning of our sessions.
Why put them at the beginning?
First, they allow us to practice positions when you’re fresh.
When you hold the bottom of a split squat, for example, you’re not waiting for the clock to run out (ok, maybe you are). You’re learning to organize your feet, hips, pelvis, torso, and shoulders while producing enough force to maintain the position.
As fatigue builds, you get immediate feedback. Can you continue to maintain the position? Do you start to collapse? Does your weight shift? Do you lose your balance?
That information is valuable to you, and to us as coaches.
Second, yielding isometrics build the ability to sustain force.
A 30-second hold is obviously different than a heavy set of five reps. You’re not trying to maximize the amount of force you can produce. You’re asking your muscles to continue producing enough force to prevent your body from losing position.
That’s a useful quality for adults.
Think about carrying something awkward, holding yourself in a position while skiing, getting up and down from the floor, hiking over uneven terrain, catching yourself when you lose your balance, or spending a long day on your feet.
Those situations don’t always require maximum strength.
They can require you to produce and control force for long enough to complete the task.
Third, yielding isometrics give us a way to prepare for the training that follows.
A well-chosen isometric can expose you to the positions, muscles, stabilizers, and coordination you’ll need during the rest of the session without immediately adding significant external load or movement complexity.
Because we’re coaching 5-12 people in a small group environment, yielding isometrics are practical. A dozen people can perform a bottom squat hold, a bottom push up hold, or a bottom split squat hold simultaneously with very little equipment while we move around the room coaching positions and providing feedback.
You can incorporate isometrics too.
You don’t need a specialized program to experiment with isometrics.
Try adding 2-3 sets of 20-30 seconds to a position you’re trying to improve:
- Goblet Squat hold at the bottom before a squat session
- Push Up hold at the bottom before a horizontal push day
- Split Squat hold at the bottom before split squat or lunge variations
- Single Leg RDL hold at the bottom before hinge variations
Choose a position you can maintain with control, rather than trying to survive as long as possible. As you become more capable, you can gradually increase the duration, add resistance, or progress to a more demanding position.
Isometrics aren’t a replacement for dynamic strength training. They’re one tool within it.
For us, they’re a particularly useful tool because useful strength isn’t just the ability to produce force. It’s also the ability to control and sustain it.
So, when we start your session with what looks like a boring hold, don’t think of it as something we’re having you do before the “real training.”
It is part of the training.