Hold It!

Today’s article is a continuation of this post - where I suggest playing with the “time under tension” (slowing a movement down) to create progression in the exercises in your movement practice and help you build strength when you are short on time.

Taking this idea even further and actually holding a position during an exercise is another great way of increasing challenge and getting more strength benefit from an exercise without increasing the number of reps and keeping your movement practice effective whilst in a manageable time.

These are called isometric exercises - the muscles are contracting and not moving. An example of an isometric exercise is a Plank - you are required to contract your muscles and hold the position for a specified amount of time. 

Any exercise can be turned into an isometric exercise by holding it at the safe end range of the movement. So, in a Hip Bridge, you would hold while your hips are in the air, for a Squat you would hold at the bottom, a Press Up you would hold at the bottom too. It doesn’t need to be for  long - even holding for a count of 1-3 you will quickly feel your body working harder!

If you are doing Planks, although there are many “Plank Challenges” circulating the internet and the World Record is over 9 hours (!) I would recommend starting with 10 seconds and focussing on maintaining a strong contraction throughout your whole body, including your legs, arms and shoulders. You can gradually build up to 20 or 30 seconds. Once you can manage this, if your motivation for strength training is strong movement for dance or other life activities, my preference would be to increase challenge with movement rather than increasing the time of your static plank.

If you are starting to exercise from scratch or really struggle with holding a Plank even for a few seconds, check out this article - the exercise I discuss there can be performed isometrically by extending the leg and/or arm as far as you can currently manage whilst keeping the spine in neutral, and hold for a few counts in this position before returning to centre with control.

Give it a try with some of your favourite exercises and let me know your thoughts! I would love to know the creative ways you incorporate this into your practice.

Did you notice the difference?

If you have questions, or requests for future topics, pop them in the comments!