OVERCOMING ISOMETRICS- Building Muscle Faster!

BUILDING PURE STRENGTH. Overcoming Isometrics is the Power Lifting of Isometrics!

In our bodies, electrical signals travel from one nerve cell in the body to another (for example, from one nerve cell body to a muscle) on axons. The rate at which these electrical signals travel is dependent upon the level at which the axon is coated with myelin. Myelin speeds up the transmission of these electrical signals to the muscles by insulating the axon and reducing loss in electrical charge (higher the charge the larger the potential for the action). The objective of myelination is to increase the nervous systems efficiency by improving the speed at which signals are sent and limiting energy loss.

The purpose of implementing a phase dedicated strictly to myelination is to improve motor unit recruitment, which will improve activation of the muscle needed to perform the desired movement, while, at the same time, deactivating the fibers that work against the desired outcome of the exercise. It is simply teaching the brain which motor units to fire to produce the desired movement. In the weight room, it will help develop gross motor skills that recruit large muscle groups for multi-joint movements. Developing these multi-joint movements or “big lifts” (squat, deadlift, bench press, etc.) in the off-season will transfer to stronger, faster, and more powerful athletes on the field during competition.

Overcoming Isometrics

One of the more effective ways to program a myelination phase is through using Overcoming Isometrics (OI) variations of the big lifts. An OI is different from your typical isometric, also known as a yielding isometric when the athlete performs a pause at some point during a movement (like performing a brief pause at the bottom of a squat). OI exercises involve pushing or pulling against an immovable resistance or object. During the exercise, there will be no external movement; however, the intent will be to move the resistance. An example would be pressing or pulling a bar against pins on a rack. There are many reasons why OI's are preferred to yielding isometrics during a myelination phase.

During a study, it was found that during maximal OI muscle actions, there are higher levels of muscle activation (95.2 percent) than during maximal eccentric (88.3 percent) and maximal concentric (89.7 percent) muscle actions. These findings state that an individual can recruit nearly all motor units during a maximal isometric contraction only, which improves neural drive and greatly increases their peak potential for strength and power (1).

Another study found that after a phase of training using only OI's that when performing maximal knee extensions, the co-activation of the hamstring decreased by 20 percent. This reduction in hamstring co-activity is very important because it will provide less opposing force to the contracting quadriceps. The implementation of OI's will limit the opposing force of the antagonist muscle, resulting in a more powerful contraction of the agonist muscle (2).

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