One of the most popular books promoting traditional isometrics in the early 1960s was a book written by Henry Wittenburg. The book uses a variety of isometric exercise using a doorway, rope, or muscle pitted against muscle, combined with more traditional calisthenics (isotonic) exercises to provide strength and full-body fitness. The book is available free at the Sandow Plus website and is still a great read after all of these years - http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Wittenberg/Wittenb...
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Extreme isometrics essentially involves a long-duration isometric hold in the stretch-range position of a given exercise. The following article goes into more extensive detail about this protocol and concept - http://evolutionaryathletics.com/tag/extreme-isometrics/
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Here is a brief article that explains the concept of using Extreme Isometrics with bodyweight exercises to improve muscular endurance and core stability - http://www.livestrong.com/article/411660-what-is-an-extreme-iso-exercise/

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A unique way to tweak the use of traditional isometrics is through something called "aerobic isometrics". I first saw this term coined in Steve Justa's book "Rock Iron Steel". What aerobic isometrics involve is holding the isometric contraction for a period of between 1 to 5 minutes (usually 2 to 3 minutes) at approximately 30% of your maximum effort. This is most commonly done with traditional isometrics involving pushing or pulling against an immovable object, although it can also be perfor...
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Here is a classic video of Alexander Zass, the "father of modern isometrics", showing him breaking chains with his chest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTLOrHlPZic
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Sandow Plus is a great website dedicated to the old-time strongmen. One of the best features of the site is the free downloads of scanned copies of classic books from the late 19th century through the 1970s. It's free to read these classic works. Here is a classic dealing with traditional isometrics - Samson's System And Methods by Alexander Zass.

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Zass/Methods/Samson's%20System/Samson's%20System/album/index.html
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Let's begin our further exploration of isometric exercise with a look at "The Father Of Modern Isometrics", the great Polish/Russian strongman Alexander Zass. Here is a brief biography of Zass :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Zass
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Before we dive into this topic, now is a good time to define what I mean by the term "isometric", in relation to exercise. I am taking a broad definition of isometrics to include the following types of exercises:

TRADITIONAL ISOMETRICS - This includes exercises in which you push or pull against an immovable object, or pit muscle against muscle with no movement involved. These types of isometrics are sometimes also referred to as overcoming isometrics.

THRESHOLD ISOMETRICS - This is basically tr...

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Welcome to my isometric exercise blog. I will be posting articles, sample workouts, and discussions of everything to do with isometric exercise here. Stay tuned!
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