The ML Editor

Our Bed & Breakfast is located on the first floor of a magnificent 18th Century palace as a pearl in the majestic “Via Atenea”, the historical street which shows the splendour of the city centre. The area is plenty of bars, restaurants, pastry shops and valuable manufacture shops.

The building had been planned by the architect Pasquale Vinci and built by the famous master mason Salvatore Carmina. The entrance is from a quiet little square (street number 2) at the end of “Via Ficani”, a picturesque 30 metres long little lane which can be covered from the “Via Atenea”.)

The rooms with two or three beds are elegant furnished and overlook to the elegant part of the city with private balconies or windows.
Every room has a modern exclusive new system bath with shower, bidet, w.c. and washbasin. You will have every comfort: television and full control of the room temperature thanks to a central heating system and air conditioning.

The service includes:

- Overnight stay in very elegant rooms.

- Air conditioning / heating

- Rooms with satellite TV (Italian and foreign channels) and bathroom with shower

- Balcony or window with view of the “Via Atenea” (the most beautiful trade street in Agrigento)

- Rich breakfast

- Daily cleaning of the room

Planning a trip to Italy? The top 3 destinations in Italy are Rome, Venice and Florence; for example, in order to make it easy to find an hotel in Rome, you can have a look at our advanced search. Simple as 1-2-3, the same method can be applied to find guided tours in Naples, or to compare price for different hotels in Palermo, from bed and breakfast to Hotels.

I know what you’re thinking. Warming up is for sissies, and wimps. You wouldn’t be caught dead on a treadmill or exercise bike. You’re here for one reason– to move big iron and get massive.

Well what if I told you that warming up could help you lift heavier, which in turn could help you get bigger if you are not over training, eating enough protein and getting enough rest. And I’m convinced it will help prevent injuries, provided you don’t do something stupid after you warm up like trying to squat 300 when you can barely get ten reps with 100.

How will warming up help me lift heavier?

Lets take barbell curls for example. If you start off with your heaviest weight which let’s say is 100 pounds. You, for one thing, will have to spend some of your energy just getting into the groove. I’m sure other people will have different opinions of what that means, but to me it means getting mentally into the lift and deciding what tempo I’m going to use. Am I going to do slower reps emphasizing the negative portion of the lift or am I going to do my reps a little more explosively. (Hint: All this should/could be decided during the warm up based on how strong you’re feeling on that particular day or on how mentally you are into your training on that day.)

But if you start out with an empty bar and do say two sets of 10-20 reps and then move up from there in whatever increments you choose you may find that you are feeling strong on that day so you’re going to try and do 102.5 pounds for 8 solid reps. You may only get 6, but that’s how you build a big, strong body, by slowly, (I can’t emphasize SLOWLY enough) increasing the weight and/or reps on the basic exercises.

How does warming up help to prevent injuries?

Ever see a glass blower? When the glass is hot they can bend and shape it into any design they want. Of course we all know what happens to glass when it cools.

Think of your body in the same way. When you lift weights without warming up your muscles and tendons are like cooled glass. However when you warm up before hitting the heavy stuff your muscles and tendons are like the hot glass. Now don’t misunderstand me you can still get injured even if you warm up thoroughly, but are a lot less likely too.

THE ROUTINE:

Before I get started on the exercises that comprise the warm-up I would like to explain why you won’t find any descriptions of how the exercises are supposed to be done. I’ve left them out for two reasons. One is because I think that most of the people reading this will have at least a couple of years (if not a lot more) of training under their belts and will already know how to do the exercises.

Secondly, if you are new to bodybuilding I would suggest you hire a competent personal trainer to teach you the basics. Please take your time, ask around, and find a good competent, trainer. Don’t be fooled if they tell you they are certified, that doesn’t mean they know what they are doing. The best thing you can do for yourself, in my opinion, is to learn how to do the exercises correctly in the beginning. This way you won’t have to break an old habit and then learn a new one. Not to mention the fact that you will be a lot less likely to get hurt if you learn the proper way of performing the exercises in the beginning!

After years of working out this is the warm up routine I’ve found that works for me.

10-15 minutes of some sort of movement, my favorite is the treadmill. The idea here is to get your body to the point where it feels warm. You don’t need to be sweating profusely.

Next we move dumbbell laterals. I do them standing, but you can do them seated on a bench. I do two sets, I don’t count reps, I just go until I feel I’ve done enough. Do them slowly and in complete control. Two sets of 10-20 should be enough. Don’t be afraid to go really light on these. I’ve hurt my shoulders a lot over the years, so I use one pound dumbbells.
I can hear a lot of you laughing, saying to yourself I’d never be caught dead using one pound dumbbells. Maybe, not now, but trust me if you ever hurt your shoulders they’ll be your best friends-in the gym that is. Remember you can never start too light, but you can always start too heavy.
Next up are shrugs. Yep you guessed it, it’s two sets of shrugs, with the 1 pound dumbbells. Again I don’t count reps, but two sets of 10-20 reps will probably be sufficient. Remember this is a warm up, so do them slow and in control.

From the shrugs we move to good mornings. I have an old hollow EZ curl bar that I use for these. Again it’s two sets, this time shoot for 20 reps on both sets. Do them slow and don’t bounce at the bottom.

Next we move on to the abs. I like two sets of swill ball crunches. If you train at home and don’t have one, or your gym doesn’t, do two sets of 20 reps of whatever you like–sit-ups (if they don’t aggravate your lower-back), leg raises, etc.

VARIOUS POINTS:

That’s the warm-up. As far as I’m concerned, your abs, shoulders, lower back, and traps, are involved in some degree in everything you do in the gym, so they need to be treated as such. Some of you might be shouting hey what about the hip/glute/leg area. Good point. But I feel that the 10-15 minutes of light jogging or walking or biking that starts this routine is sufficient enough to warm-up that area.

This is just a basic warm-up. If you feel two sets of an exercise isn’t enough add another. Everyone is different. As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, for me that’s enough warm-up for my lower body, but if it is not enough for you add two sets of bodyweight only squats to the routine.

Even though you went through the routine above,you should still start light and pyramid the weight up on any exercise. Just to give you an example even though they are relatively warm, I still start my dumbbell shoulder presses with the one pound dumbbells and move up from there.
CONCLUSION:

Don’t let your ego prevent you from warming-up. Once your hurt a part of your body, it never feels perfect again. So if you’re not hurt, warm up so you’ll stay that way! And if you are hurt give this routine a try. Don’t be afraid to put your own individual spin on it. You won’t regret it. Keep Training!

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Len A.K.A the fitness dude as been involved in all aspects of diet, nutrition, and training for over 20 years.

Recuperative massage

Trigger point therapy (fancy name for massage)is a common method for relieving chronic pain related to sports injuries.

It is the most important tool in any athlete’s tool box; you might be surprised how many old nagging injuries can be dealt with just very simple massage techniques.

But you need to do it the right way, the idea of massage is never to massage the pain area, instead the muscles surrounding it.

Specifically, you need to find spots that are tender for pressure.

These spots are so called trigger points, and massaging them can be a huge help to many musculoskeletal pain problems. (More information below)

Joint health Supplements

As we age joint cartilage starts to thin down and loose its elasticity.

This can eventually cause pain as the bare bones starts to rub on each others.

Nutrient called glucosamine can help to slow down this process and help to rebuild lost cartilage.

Many of my weightlifting friends use it successfully and have gained additional mileages to their training years through it.

I’m not talking about training with those pink dumbbells here, but real heavy training.

Aerobic exercise for cardiovascular health

If you like training and you want to enjoy it as long as possible, you better keep your heart in shape too.

Aerobic exercise, even though it hinders and limits the muscle building potential, becomes more important as we age, as it helps to promote heart health better than just lifting.

Stretching for proper movement patterns

Adding some extra stretching and joint mobility work to your training regime might be useful, especially if you aren’t doing exercises with full range of motion. - Some key muscle croups to stretch for proper lifting bio-mechanisms; glutes, hamstrings and psoas.

And always remember that you aren’t really stretching muscle, but rather tricking your brains to command your muscles to lengthen. (get them used to new range of motion, and new movement patterns), so don’t hinder this effect with overly painful stretches, but take it gentle instead.

Resources

Learn more about glucosamine supplements for joint health below.
Information on Glucosamine chondroitin sulfate

Also more information about trigger point therapy can be found through the above link.

If cardiovascular health is something that interests you might want to check out Natural supplements to lower cholesterol page

That’s about it.

Good training.

Karri Koivula

The Bent-Over Lateral Raise is one of the most common exercises used for working the rear or posterior deltoids. For most trainers, it can be difficult to really feel the rear delts working during this movement as the larger, stronger muscles of the back have a tendency to take over.

To really get the most out of this exercise, you need to remove the back muscles from the equation. This can be easily accomplished with a simple technique.

How to Do It:

First, get yourself into position for the Bent-Over Lateral Raise. This can either be standing, seated or with your chest on an incline bench. The same technique applies to all variations.

Your arms should be hanging straight down in the start position.

Now, drop your shoulders down towards the ground without moving your torso. You will be keeping them down throughout the exercise. This forces the back muscles into a stretched position, thereby reducing their involvement in the exercise.

Once your shoulders are dropped, start the movement by doing a reverse wrist curl with the dumbells. This means simply bending your wrists back and up and holding them there.

Now squeeze the weights up to the top position of the lateral so that they are in line with your head at the top and squeeze hard at the top.

Here is an excellent tip for the way up: as you raise the dumbells, imagine as though you are trying to wrap the backs of your arms around a tree. You’ve often heard that you should try to wrap your arms around a tree for dumbell flyes, now apply it to this movement.

Also, try to force your hands into as wide of an arc as possible and keep the dumbells as far away from your body as possible. This technique will help you to keep your shoulders down as you lift the weights.

What all these tips accomplish is to reduce the ability of the stronger back muscles to contract during the exercise, forcing the rear delt muscles to “shoulder” the burden of the exercise.

The keys to remember are:

1. Shoulders down throughout the movement.

2. Do a reverse wrist curl at the start.

3. Wrap your arms around a tree on the way up.

4. Raise the dumbells up in line with your head.

Incorporating these tips into the bent-over lateral movement will target your rear delts like a laser beam!

For pictures on how to execute this technique go the following URL: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue10-delt-tip.htm

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com.

Going bald in boys affects approx eight million in the United Kingdom, the most common kind of baldness is genetic male pattern baldness. The hair loss can often begin as early as nineteen and cause emotional issues.

Hair loss is traditionally genetic and will often target males as well as females. The hair loss appears due to the hair follicles on the head shrinking and the hair falling out altogether. Loss of hair routinely follows a hair loss pattern around the hair line and also at the crown of your scalp.

Losing hair is not an awful disease and does not affect your actual health, although your emotional health might often become affected through lack of self esteem.

There are three terrific big league treatment methods for losing your hair, Minoxidil, Finasteride and Strand by Strand from Advanced Hair Studio, also known as AHS. The 1st heavy weight hair loss treatment is a topical lotion that goes on the head and can be purchased from online chemists. The hair loss treatment Minoxidil works by reducing and slowing down the speed of hair loss, simply breathtaking. The second treatment works by minimising the conversion of the loss of hair hormone. The spectacular Strand by Strand hair restoration method from Advanced Hair Studio, aka AHS, uses the most recent baldness medical technology and involves new hair regrowth growing on the scalp strand by strand over a short time. With both the Minoxidil and Finasteride treatments they need to be forever applied and taken for the hair growth effects to keep working. Explore the latest hair loss techniques from Advanced Hair Studio, home to hair restoration.

They make up the biggest trio in bodybuilding.

No, not Arnold, Franco, and Lou.

These three components combine to make up a vital element of your upper-body development. They’re known as the brachialis, the brachii, and the pronator teres, but in more simple, direct terms, we know them as your triceps.

For men, they seem to be one of the more difficult to develop muscles in your upper torso. To women, they’re lost somewhere underneath that drooping bag that sags under your arms.

Nonetheless, these three muscles are a part of your anatomy. It just takes the proper training and dedication to lure them out.

Here are a few triceps exercises that will help you in your quest:

CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESSES: These are just like they sound. They are bench presses except with a much narrower grip than what you’re used to with standard bench presses. The closer your hands are together during this exercise, the more of the emphasis is placed on the triceps.

Grip the bar so your index fingers are about six inches apart from one another. After lifting the barbell off the rack, slowly lower the weight to the mid-chest section. Just before the bar touches your pectorals, reverse the motion and begin to push the weight upward. As you approach the starting position, you should feel the tension in your triceps muscles as opposed to in your chest. Do not lock your elbows out, but be sure to squeeze your triceps during the contraction.

Try doing three sets of between 10 and 12 repetitions.

PARALLEL BAR DIPS: Like the close-grip bench presses, dips will place some stress on your pectoral muscles and your deltoids. However, the main target with be the triceps, especially if you maintain an erect posture during the exercise.

Come off of your feet as your grab onto the bars and cross your ankles underneath you. Slowly bend your arms as you lower your torso toward the floor. When your elbows are completely bent and you cannot go any lower, raise your body back to the starting position, where you’ll squeeze for a moment.

Depending on how advanced you are, you can hang weights from belt around your waist for extra resistance. For now, try 3 sets of 10-15 reps of your own body weight.

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For those who spend more than 1 minute on strength
training workouts, you are wasting your valuable time!
Wouldn’t you want to strength train in the most
effective, scientifically feasible way, and increase
your muscle and strength by multiple percentages?

One (1) minute muscle developing workouts are done
ONCE per week or less. That calculates to
maximally 4 minutes of strength training exercises per
month! I am sure many people are saying that I have
gone mad. The famous words, “he’s got to be kidding”
are ringing vigorously in my ears. Dear reader, I am
NOT kidding! Thousands of people are now exercising
less while getting tremendously better results. It is not just me stating this; the scientific documentation by far speaks
louder than our conversation.

I would like to tell you about a client of mine named Todd.
Todd, a relatively lean 46 year old, wanted to improve his
strength and muscle tone. Prior to consulting with me, he
followed the typical 3 days per week, 3 sets per exercise,
and 3-4 exercises per body part routine. Todd was following the program John, his neighbor, told him about. Neighbor John received all his information from typical “bodybuilding magazines.”

Yes, Todd did get results in the beginning due to the initial
adaptation of physical activity, but after three months, gains kept coming slower, and slower until there was no progression
at all in his strength and muscle size. As a result of limited
progress, Todd told me he hated to workout. He said he was tired all the time, and workouts were taking up too much time in his life. This is precisely the point in which he contacted me for help.

I quickly diagnosed the reasons for his challenges, and
enthusiastically told him to take three, yes THREE weeks
off where he would not lift one single weight. After the
three weeks, I explained to him his program was not
effective, efficient, nor based on rational, sound exercise
science principles.

Todd’s initial program took him 4 hours per week; therefore, I
condensed it down to 1 minute per week. He was hesitant,
and thought I was joking. However, I reasoned with him, and
he started to see significant strength, and muscle gains
not monthly, but after each workout. My rational approach
to his new effective, efficient, result producing program is attributed to hi intensity, Static Contraction Training.

The majority of driven bodybuilders are not thinking
logically, or scientifically about what they are doing. They just do what the next person does. This current non-rational bodybuilding approach, that has been around for decades, leads to wasting valuable time, overtraining, and lack of long term progress. Hi intensity, Static Contraction Training does neither of these!

First of all, Static Contraction Training is based on the principle of activating the absolute maximum number of muscle fibers possible in their greatest strength range, therefore, triggering the muscle fibers to adapt by getting stronger and larger in size.

Please be aware, strength training is not aerobic (low intensity, high volume work. ) It is a high intensity, all out maximum effort for an extremely short duration. Muscle growth can be broken down into two main principles which I have practice for years, intensity and rest/recovery. In order to stimulate muscle growth, you need to provide a greater intensity or apply a greater stimulus than you generated in
the previous workout, thus, activating the growth mechanism.
Once this highly complicated growth mechanism is triggered, you MUST let the body replenish its limited reserves, compensate for the stimulus, and overcompensate to adapt for another training session. The precise amount of rest is mandatory in order to complete the muscle growth process. In the event you fail to allow sufficient recovery time to occur, you most definitely will short circuit the growth process, significantly compromising results.

Another crucial aspect of progressive results is tracking
progress, and rest days between workouts. If you are not progressing each workout, you need more recovery time. If you are progressing each workout, you have optimized your rest
days. There is no fixed program for all. It is specifically individual. Some will need 4 days rest between workouts, while others need 12. Your specific numbers will dictate your rest days.

When performing Static Contraction Training, your
objective is to statically (without motion) hold the maximum amount of weight you can in your strongest range of motion
for 5-10 seconds. Record that weight, and move on
to the next exercise. If your intensity is high enough,
and your rest is optimal, your numbers will
skyrocket! This translates into significant strength,
and muscle gains.

I could go on forever regarding the science, and
studies to back Static Contraction Training, but for the
scope of this article I want to cover the basic, core principles.

For a detailed, tell all, guide to Static Contraction
Training, I highly recommend the Train Smart ebook.

For those who prefer working out in their homes, a
brilliant friend of mine designed an amazing
home gym that is built only for Static Contraction
Training. It is truly a cutting edge scientific
breakthrough. Check it out at, meter and all, it is like
nothing you have ever seen.

For additonal information on the XF-7000 and Train Smart ebook, click the link below which will take you to a recent edition of Wellness WORD Newsletter.

http://www.WellnessWord.com/ww91505.htm

The information above will get you started on your way
to investing the absolute minimal exercise time while getting
better results than any other bodybuilding protocol available today.
Enjoy your muscles in minutes while training intelligently!

* Please Note: Consult your physician prior to starting any exercise
program.

*** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners ***
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine, Blog, Autoresponder, or on your website as long as the links, and resource box are not altered in
any way.

Jim O’Connor - Exercise Physiologist / The Fitness Promoter

Copyright (c) - Wellness Word, LLC

9461 Charleville Blvd. #312
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
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Since the early days of physical culture, modern man has been searching for the elusive ”Fountain of Youth”. The promise of radiant health, enduring strength and a Herculean physique has drawn millions on this quest for physical perfection.

Through the early decades of bodybuilding, the forefathers of physical culture established basic guidelines for the muscle enthusiast to follow. Natural foods, resistance training, plenty of rest, and a positive outlook in life were the primary ingredients for achieving ones goals. The demand for knowledge on ‘how to’ reach the stars would result in millions of booklets being sold by mail order, while magazine stands and bookshelves were continually restocked with the latest ‘muscle building secrets’. Tons of steel and exercise equipment would find its way into the homes of thousands of Americans all across our nation. Health clubs and iron gyms would sprout up in local neighborhoods and towns, while physique competitions were held to determine whom the best in the land was. The strong roots of physical culture were taking grip in our society, and the mighty oak of bodybuilding would soon branch out through every city in America.

A new ‘way of life’ became a reality for many as the ‘body beautiful’ movement swung into high gear. For decades the much traveled road to muscledom kept its promise, then by the mid-60’s what seemed pure and natural took a wrong turn setting the course of modern bodybuilding down a dead end. The introduction of anabolic steroids into the sport of bodybuilding would usher in a new era of super sized and equally strong muscular physiques that would attract millions of young men with a desire to achieve the same naturally unattainable goals.

Along with the growth of the sport, the physiques continued to become bigger and more vascular as bodybuilders experimented with ’stacking’ the latest in designer muscle enhancing pharmaceuticals. Magazine and ticket sales were at a peak and bodybuilding competitions were seen regularly on network TV. The popularity of the sport was soaring high. Then, what could have been mostly prevented by not promoting and rewarding individuals whose physiques were chemically altered became a reality as the widespread use of drugs in the sport became relevant.

Words such as steroids, cycling, and growth hormones became common place in our gyms, and juicing no longer meant enjoying your favorite health drink. Reports of bodybuilders on dialysis and with heart ailments became a frequent occurrence while the eventual death of several competitive pros hit home hard. What had been a dark cloud in a sport with such great potential turned into a storm that spread its vast shadow on a culture that once shined.

Organizations dedicated to natural bodybuilding and a healthy lifestyle would soon respond to the call for a return to the ideals set forth by the forefathers of physical culture. Physique promoters throughout the land created natural bodybuilding competitions so athletes could compete on a level playing field without running the risk of ruining their health. Publications featuring natural bodybuilders began to spread the gospel of healthy living through proper nutrition and exercise. The televised media developed new bodybuilding and fitness programs to inspire future generations of natural iron pumpers. And as the age of cyber space came upon us, the Internet became a resource of concepts and opinions for bodybuilders to learn and express their views with other physique artist throughout the World. The new millennium is here and those dedicated to physical culture have begun to prevail as the radiant beacon of light from the torch of natural living begins to shine through the storm.

Mario Strong is a published author, trainer, national judge, competitor, gym owner, and recognized bodybuilding authority with over 40 years as a proponent for natural bodybuilding.

To learn more about natural muscle building and bodybuilding’s golden era go to http://www.mariostrong.com.

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another. You’re cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you’ve gained back a couple of pounds. It happens to everyone. Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine. Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!

There are many ways that you can strategically modify your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all. However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the time under tension, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week. Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to obtain the best results from your workouts, doesn’t it? Well, that’s where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn’t get stale. Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.

Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Booooorrrrring! Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

•Try 10 sets of 3, with only 20 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a heavier weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.

•Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise

•Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes.

•Try a workout based on all bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, bodyweight squats, lunges, etc.

•Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.

•Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.

•Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.

•Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.

•Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables. I hope this article gave you some ideas on methods for you to take your body to the next level.

Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/Training-and-Nutrition-Articles.html to receive your own personalized metabolic rate calculator as well as 4 of my secret hard-body workout routines - both FREE, with no purchase necessary.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer (NCSF-CPT, AFAA-CPT), and author of “The Truth about Six Pack Abs” ©2004-2005.

Are you looking for a simple and effective way to increase your strength? This article will show you how to incorporate isometrics into your training regime to increase the strength of your favorite lifts.

Soviet research, dating back to the sixties of the 20th century, points out that isometric training preceding dynamic work may increase its effectiveness by up to 20%. This is called the “immediate after effect” of isometric training. When the reverse sequence of training was tested (dynamic work preceding isometric work), results actually deteriorated.

According to Mel Siff’s “Supertraining”, the after effect occurs immediately after the preliminary isometric tension. Strength continues to increase and peaks between the 10th to 20th minute. To maximize the strength boost, I recommend performing isometric holds 15-17 minutes before the hardest sets of dynamic work. Doing so will synchronize the strength after-effect peak with the hardest part of the training session. Example: consider a training session that consists of high-volume Bench Presses and Deadlifts. Iso-Bench-Presses should be performed 15 minutes before the hardest sets of Bench Presses and Iso-Deadlifts should be performed 15 minutes before the hardest sets of Deadlifts.

The intensity of the isometrics should be carefully selected for maximum results. Tensing at 50% of the max intensity should produce the greatest strength gains. Elite athletes may perform better at higher intensities.

One last question remains: how to select the most performance-enhancing isometric position for a given dynamic exercise? Here you have two choices: the isometric drill should train either the weakest position of your lift, or the position where the involved muscles are maximally stretched (sometimes your weakest position is your maximally stretched one). This recommendation has to do with the long term strength effect of isometrics. It makes sense to strengthen the weakest position in a lift, because a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Improving the strength of a muscle in its most lengthened position, has a distinct strength carryover to shorter muscle lengths. Therefore isometric training at stretched positions, should improve the strength through the whole range of motion!

The training protocol that I have mostly used is 3 sets x 10 sec isometric holds at 50% of the max effort with 10-30 seconds rest in between.

Let’s give specific examples of isometric exercises. For the bench press, load the bar with 50% of your max, lower it 1-3 inches above chest level, and hold for 10 seconds. Rest 30 seconds and repeat 3 times. For the deadlift, simply pull on the bar with 50% effort, without moving it at all. For the squat put 50% of your max, squat down to the lowest position you train, and sit there for 10 seconds. Don’t forget to push your feet into the ground to activate all the squatting muscles. Imagine that you are squatting up, but don’t move.

Here’s the overall protocol again:

• perform 3 sets of 10 sec isometric holds at 50% intensity
• the isometric exercise should train the weakest or the maximally stretched position of the corresponding dynamic drill
• the isometric exercise should be executed 15-17 minutes before the hardest set of the corresponding dynamic drill

You may find that during the isometric holds you start sweating :] That’s because they are a great way to warm up the whole body. You get a dynamic strength boost + a great warm up.

Preliminary isometric tension has these three advantages:

1. it warms up the body
2. it has an immediate positive effect on your dynamic strength
3. it has a long term positive effect on your lifts

You can utilize preliminary iso tension on your max testing days. Here is the scenario: you are testing your Bench Press max. Load 50% of your projected max. Perform 3 sets of 10 sec holds in the position where the bar is 1-3 inches above chest level (rest 10-30 sec between sets). In the next 15 minutes, perform 2-5 sets of 1-2 reps gradually increasing the weight to around 90%. Example:

• Rest 3 minutes, 2×50%
• Rest 3 minutes, 2×70%
• Rest 3 minutes, 1×80%
• Rest 3 minutes, 1×85%
• Rest 3 minutes, 1×90%, Rest 3 minutes

Psyche up, and go for your projected max. Good luck.

Hristo Hristov owns X3MSoftware, a company specializing in developing diet and fitness tracking software. Hristo has a degree in Computer Science and passion for strength training. Hristo has designed and written Fitness Assistant, X3MSoftware’s leading software product. Download your demo at Download Diet Software and Fitness Software by X3MSoftware