Can You Do Too Many Isometrics – Muscle Fatigue – Part 1
This topic was recommended by one of our high school athletes, and it’s a great question.
The answer to this question is “no.” I will preface by saying that the implementation of isometrics by a coach into an athlete’s program plays an enormous role in this. Simply because 99% of the time they are not implemented properly. I’ve seen it time and time again. However when implemented properly, you can train with isometrics every day. And at ELP we do just that.
There are a handful of reasons we incorporate isometrics into our programs:
- To train position
- To eliminate compensation patterns
- To assist in recovery
Each element has a different approach and a different purpose. Each element produces a different stimulus, which leads to a predicable adaptation. If you’re unable to predict that adaptation, then your implementation of the stimulus is wrong.
The Eastern Bloc countries figured out years ago that the same muscle could be trained every day, provided the stimulus was different. This should be common knowledge for anyone who coaches athletes at any level.
With that thought in mind, this article is only going to focus on the recovery element of isometrics. The recovery ability of isometrics is one of the most important reasons you can train with them every day and not “overdo it.” If you’re interested in learning more about the other two elements, please leave us a comment or message us.
Simply put, muscles are designed to work together. When they don’t, that is when fatigue starts to set in. Fatigue is nothing more than the shortening of a muscle. So, if we start our training in a lengthened position, with the understanding that muscles are designed to work together, we begin down the path of resisting fatigue and increasing recovery in our training sessions.
I don’t want to get into too much of the training element of isometrics in this article, but I will briefly touch on the concept. As muscles work together there is both contraction and relaxation. As the bicep contracts, the triceps will relax to the same degree and vice versa. However traditional athletic training doesn’t teach this; it doesn’t teach the body to contract and relax. It teaches that during a bicep curl, the bicep pulls the load up and then lowers or slowly resists the load back to the starting position. However, in normal movement, elbow extension should occur as triceps pulls the arm and load back to its starting position.
Traditional training methods have instead taught the bicep to contract with both elbow flexion and extension, thus never giving the bicep a chance to relax and lengthen. Continue this repeatedly and therefore the muscle fatigues out. This teaches a muscle to be slow, both in contraction and relaxation. When training a muscle slowly, your brain will only allow it to move slowly during competition. This training will ultimately transfer over to the field. So it’s no wonder why so many pitchers get fatigued so quickly, why injuries are increasing and why athletes are exhausted all the time…
So back to the recovery and use of isometrics daily… How do you use isometrics for recovery? It’s simple, create a violent contraction of the opposing muscle group and you will strengthen the pathways for relaxation of the target muscle group. Violent contraction of the triceps to extend the elbow will cause a violent reflex to inhibit the biceps thus allowing it to relax and lengthen. This will subsequently be strengthening both pathways of relaxation. Because the contractions are violent enough that the stimulation to relax will also be strong enough to allow the muscles to lengthen. There will be no fatigue of the muscle because each muscle has a chance to lengthen back to the starting position; away from shortening. Fatigue will only occur when the antagonistic relationship goes one way. For example, when the athlete or client becomes lazy and doesn’t execute the movement properly.
Additionally, when executed properly, isometrics will have a profound effect on the development of the energy systems. So now you’ve trained the muscle to relax, and you’re also building a system of proper energy delivery to aid in recovery; more to come on that in another article.
Hopefully this helps you gain an understanding of how properly implemented isometrics can not only be trained daily, but can benefit you on and off the field.
John Nelson Founder/Director ELP