Category: xb

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Week 6: Isolateral Isometrics – and Free Stylin’

Welcome to 35 minutes! we have arrived at the recommended time it takes to mitigate the effects of sitting at work all day. How do you feel? Over the past six weeks you’ve been increasing your Time Under Tension – the total time in your workout that you are doing work (versus your recovery time). Time under tension usually happens as you increase the length of your workouts so that you are asking your body to endure more effort and adapt to that effort.

TUT is different that VOLUME – where volume is pretty much the number of reps you do of a movement. For example – doing the almighty 100 push ups – fast – versus 100 push ups where you’re doing at least one second up and one second down – it’s the same VOLUME in terms of number of reps, but the INTENSITY is different for the slower version: slower movement, more time where the body is under load between recovery bouts – so TUT is greater.

Getting to more time under tension is associated with greater muscular and associated metabolic responses, which is fantastic, but takes time – like adding a block a week – to build up to that level.

Isometrics for Time under Tension

And if we’re looking at really being able to look at Time under Tension, isometrics let us focus on those holds – isolateral isometrics also add an additional strength challenge

In our last week of this pilot, you can put together blocks any way you wish AND, building on last week’s bilateral isometrics, explore isolateral isometrics this week.

side plank

YOu can put together your blocks any way you wish this week – one recommendation would be to keep your week five blocks and add a final isolateral isometric block.

YOu can make any isolateral movement an isotmetric by finding a challenging point – usually where its at the most loaded or lever disadantaged – and use that as your hold point.

Some examples of isolateral isometrics are the side plank (shown). In one block simply alternate sides – hold up for 15; recover – 5 times side a/ 5 times side b, you know the drill. Each five is one set.

bulgarian split squat

Other isolateral isometrics include the Bulgarian Split Squat – try holding that in the most challenging position (front leg bent to squat position – also shown)

alternating hand push up

You can also choose a push up, but move the hand positions so that one hand is either up on a block or stack of books or further back or in front of the other hand that stays in a kind of normal position – and then keep your body just an inch or so above the deck.

In fact you can do the same with the feet in the push up

elevate one leg in a push up for your isolateral isometric.

-raise one back foot then the other – while holding your upper body still.

Gain Total-Body Strength With These 17 Push-Up Variations | Project NEXT
ways to create isolateral isometrics with push ups removing a hand or changing hand position
Staggered Arm Push Up | Exercise Illustration
alternating hand position for an isolateral plank hold
How to do an L-Sit Hold | Calisthenics Athletes
a one leg l-sit from the top of a dip – like chair dip – position

You can also do L-sit variants where you raise and hold one leg out while the other is tucked – THis is effectively a dip (using two chairs) with one leg out.

In other words, you can explore whatever alternating limb holds you wish – by all means use the closest thing to what you try from the list available in the app, and make a note of what you did.

Where BALANCE comes into strength.

A key difference between isolaterals and bilateral – whether isometrics or not – is not only change in strength management but the balance part of strength comes into play too. This change creates a new kind of challenge for the body – but just in terms of strength – also often brings smaller stabilizer muscles into play in the spine. That’s a good thing.

When we make isolaterals also isometrics we get to explore our endurance with those wee muscles too – another good thing.

In the case of these iso iso’s – be gentle with yourself – explore where the challenge parts are in the movement, as places to which you can return over time.

RECOMMENDED – only do one block this week as isolateral isometrics – give yourself a chance to get used to these.

Yielding and Overcoming Isometeric Isolateral?

REMINDER FROM LAST WEEK – you can change any bodyweight yielding isometric (remember what yielding is?) into an overcoming isometrics by pushing or pulling against a fixed point, as shown below.

Push-Ups: How To Use Them To Build Muscle (4 Science-Based Tips)
making a push up as isometric – a yielding type – an overcoming one by adding a strap or band

Can you see options for exploring isolateral isometrics? One below shows a person in a lunge (isolateral) position while hanging onto handles on a rack in a weight room, and then would be trying to stand up from that left side leg. How might you try something like this at home or outside – perhaps with a stairway banister, maybe a rope too?

OVERCOMING ISOMETRICS: MYELINATION TO REACH MAXIMUM POTENTIAL

Exercise Index: Overcoming Isometric Towel Lateral Raises - YouTube
another isolateral isometric overcoming style – not in the app but for information and exploration

Ok, hope you have fun this week

  • Celebrating getting to 35 minutes a day
  • building up time under tension (TuT)
  • exploring a new kind of isolateral
  • feeling stronger!

Thank YOU!

Thank you so much for your help in this study -we’ll be reaching out for feedback to review what we think we’ve heard you request, and to co-design with us towards the next study in the fall.

On Teams, please let us know, what would you like/need to help you keep going with your strength practice once this study is over? If we can support you further, now that we’ve got started, we will.

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Week 5: isometric focus – “hold it; don’t move; perfect”

Protocol suggestion: add one block of isometrics – suggest it’s your final block for this week. Example combinations, below

Welcome to Week 5 prep – this is the last of the move types of push/pulls we’ll be exploring. Thank you again so much for working with us to find out how a strength practice feels, and how to simply schedule it into your day – including working with your team and line manager to explore the art of the possible. After all, what if 35 minutes out of the work day to stay strong lets you work better, sharper – get more done, eh?? We could study that next for 6 weeks, too.

Here’s a wee Ted Talk of the “things that make me go ‘hmm’ ” variety about how there’s no such thing as “finding” time. Strength is not just about the physical…

you will be amazed and go “hmm” and not think of your time the same way again.

What are isometrics

The main feature of isometrics is that you create muscular effort without moving a joint. So where a squat is moving the body up (a push) from the ground, and repeating that, a wall sit is taking a position that creates tension in muscles, and holding that position.

Yielding and Overcoming

Isometrics are usually characterized as either “yielding” or “overcoming”

YIELDING is when there is a set amount of load necessary to maintain YOU in a particular position. For example: imagine maintianing yourself in a push up where you hold your body about 6 inches off the ground. You need to control the amount of effort to keep you there: more and you start to go up; less and you touch the deck.

OVERCOMING is where you are pulling or pushing against an object. For example you could push both hands together and generate a lot of muscle tension – and KEEP generating tension till you fatigue – and you won’t be moving. You could squish yourself into a doorway and push against it with your legs or arms -same thing. Your joints stay still; you generate as much muscular tension as you can.

You can see that most of our calisthenic or body weight movements fall into the YIELDING category. There are other variants, but these two concepts are great for us right now.

Any Move as an Isometric: Find the challenge point, and work it

You can also make just about any bodyweight movement into an isometric by finding a challenging place in a movement to hold. For example, holding a push up 6 inches off the ground is more challenging that holding it with arms fully extended – because you get to use the elbow joint to support the movement – rather than working the muscles quite as much.

m.c. demonstrates isometric hold.

What about OUR moves? Isometric versions

There are some classic isometric moves and you’ve already practiced a few: the plank and the wall sit. But there are better ones for our blocks – so here are a couple more, including some new ones:

For Week 5 – Some BILATERAL ISOMETRICS: The HORSE STANCE is a great lower body isometric. The TABLE held for time is another awesome BACK of body isometric that gets just about everything. The SUPERMAN is a great BACK body isometric too. The HOLLOW BODY hold is a good front hold that really hits the middle (do not let your lower back get off the ground). Holding the top position of the DIP between chairs – great iso for upper body – the L SIT version where you stick your legs out in front or tuck up in that dip – really powerful – you can also do the LSIT off the ground or the tuck up version rather than stretching out your legs. A yoga V sit – that’s another challenge and a half.

We’ll talk about isolateral isometrics next week.

Examples

The Perfect Horse Stance! - YouTube
horse stance – strive to hold upper legs parallel to the ground. – be gentle with yourself.
Heart- Pumping YOGA - WOMEN'S HEALTH ~ Ma Petite Niche
V-sit – be safe – this is one variant of the position – see what works for you
How To Do Superman Exercise??? | WorkoutTrends.com
superman hold – notice legs and chest are up but legs are straight – not bending at knees
How to Master the Hollow Hold Form for Better Abs Exercises
This move is really powerful only elevate legs and arms as much off the ground as you need to get a feeling of good tension from fingers to toes – in other words you’re lifting your legs and arms as little as possible – AND ESPECIALLY KEEPING LOW BACK IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. It may be easier to start this move with arms and legs up and then lowering them to find that last bit of movement where you can still keep your back on the ground. This is a small movement.
Core Stability Training for the Advanced Lifter - Bret ...
This is how you can use the top of the dip as an iso – and also turn it into the start of an l-sit – if holding yourself up with your arms is TOO MUCH – let have one or both feet on the ground, holding you up with as little contact on the ground as you need.
Look and Feel Younger With The Same At-Home Exercise ...
this move makes a great isometric hold – be gentle – explore hand position/rotation here for your shoulder comfort
10 Hanging Core Exercises | Redefining Strength
you can also hang from straps, bar, door – for time – here a toe down of one foot assists the hang.
The Fitness Playground Will Tone Those Trouble Zones
Assisted Pull/HANG – this is a great example of managing load so that you get the experience of holding in different positions, but also not having to use your entire weight in the practice.

The straight leg get up is another isometric hold where here the focus is on the inner thighs – putting your feet apart as much as you can to get as low as you can, and then focusing on pulling your legs together – make sure you have something you can move back towards to ease standing up again.

Isometric Block Combination Examples

For our blocks, find a position in a movement you choose that you can hold with some effort for 15 seconds. Ideally you’d do the same 10 rep test of the movement to find your 5 rep block load. For example to do 10, 15 second wall squats, you may need to raise your butt slightly above having your upper legs parallel to the ground. If you don’t do that test, the heuristic is: keep holding for 15 seconds – and if you need to move a bit do – but try not to. NEXT – as with all blocks, take your recovery time between these holds – as much as you need – but as little as possible.

  • The HORSE STANCE is well worth exploring as a Move A; combine that with a(n assisted) Hang or that SHALLOW PUSH UP (stop 6 inches above floor or whatever incline you use)
  • The SUPERMAN and HOLLOW BODY – are made for each other.
  • The TABLE and the VSIT go well together
  • The (assisted) LSIT can go nicely with the STRAIGHT LEG GET UP.

If you have questions,

Please bring questions/observations over to the Strength Questions in TEAMS

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Moves for Week 3: keep hands and feet together

Welcome to week 3 preparation!!
A push a pull a hinge and a squat. This week, with TWO BLOCKS we get to do one of each.

BILATERAL FOCUS – exploring togetherness

For Week 3 , we’re focusing on “bilateral” versions for each of the moves for each block. That means both main working limbs are equally engaged – and at the same time. So a push up with both hands in same positions relative to body side; squats with both feet on the floor – these are bilateral. I’ll explain why this focus at the end of this post

First, let me give you the types of moves to choose from, and then offer some suggested combinations, ok? Questions, please ask in the Strength Questions channel in TEAMs.

Some BILATERAL moves

Each of these moves are illustrated in the xb-strength-moves page

pulls All the table pulls, the door pulls, the towel pulls, the sheet pulls, the negative pull up, the pull up itself using feet on the floor to assist.
pushes the two handed pushes – so all the variants of the push up we have with both hands evenly placed.
squats All the squat variants – including holding the edge of a table or a door to get up or down
hinges The glute raises, table position, full bridge – each of these have both feet on the ground and push up the hips, and work the back of the legs – the back – all the “pull” muscles.

Suggested Combinations for blocks

upper body pull can go with upper body push or lower body push or lower body pull for one block

PRINCIPLES: With the PUSH PULL HINGE SQUAT – we can divide the moves in two ways: PUSH / PULL and UPPER/LOWER – Everything we’ve been calling push pull on the moves page happens to be upper body work; everything labelled squat/hinge is lower body work – this is just The Way these things get discussed.

The idea of a block is to put together two moves complement the muscles working in that block. We have TWO blocks this week, that’s a possible four moves. What are useful combinations?

We can do one block that does lower body push/pull and another that does upper body push and pull. For example: a squat variant and a bridge variant. That can be a bit intense – check it out – see how that combination works before committing.

We can also complement and upper and a lower against two blocks – you can do an upper and a lower PUSH in one block – like a squat and a push up variant in Block 1, and a PULL upper and lower in the second – a door pull and a bridge raise and lower in the second.

lower body pull can go with a lower body push (like the box squats) or upper body push or upper body pull for one block

We can cross combine a lower/upper push with a lower/upper pull – something you may have done in your first block. So Block 1 might be an upper Push and a lower Pull and block 2 might be a lower push and an upper Pull. Or vice versa –

The key thing here is within two blocks you’re complementing your upper and lower push pulls.

an example block: upper body (box push up)+ lower body push (box squat)

Why Bilateral right now

The ideas we’re exploring are: how do you build up a strength experience – knowledge, skills, practice – to really FEEL the experience of a strength practice – that a push FEELS like this; a PULL like that. When i work legs i feel like this the next day but rarely that the next day with upper body pulls. I feel sharper when i get at least X blocks of strength in, in a day. i FEEL like i could do more practice on the weekends or i feel the weekend off really helps me feel perkier on mondays.

BILATERAL MOVES let you focus on STRENGTH by lessening the balance and coordination challenges of strength that come when doing one side only (sometimes called unilateral, isolateral or ipsilateral depending on the way the movement is put together).

A TEST to EXPLORE all on THE FLOOR work

Standing on one foot, chair support, spotting required
balance test in prorgess

For example – have a chair close by for this – and simply stand up, both feet on the floor. Now close your eyes – and just notice how stable you feel with your eyes closed. Try to stand there for 20 seconds.
Perhaps you feel a wee bit less than when they’re open, but maybe not much. NOW, with your eyes open lift one leg and hold that for 20 seconds. How is your stability? put it down. FEEL that. Note that. A little less stable? Last, close your eyes and lift the OTHER leg – see how you feel? Perhaps the least stable?

This is your body finding the extra sensory input to compensate for not having vision to help you balance. This demonstration models what happens when you do a single leg movement – you are not only exploring strength but also balance – so you can’t initially lift as much as you could being more stable.

unilateral move example for weeks 5 and 6

We’ll get to isolateral/unilateral work a little later – and i’m sorry with not making that idea of progression at the beginning when exploring all the moves – thank you for your help to refine this process.

hope you have a great long weekend – and are able to relax, restore and have a fun double block on monday!

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Updates for eXplore Strength – an Xperiment in a Box pilot

Thanks to your feedback we’re going to be posting APP updates to this blog so there’s fewer interrupts at you from Teams.

We’ve moved content like the moves and the BLOCKS protocol and the Assessments to the website as well to the website as well.

We also have updates for the app in the works based on your feedback so far.

These updates should be with you this weekend – again. These changes will add a clearer flow to be able to explore the moves, assessments, tools within the app itself. For example, the timers will have count ins so you don’t have to juggle starting a timer with finding your pulse or getting to your mat.

We’ll use the GENERAL tab in TEAMS to make announcements, and we’ll also keep the APP bugs/features/questions on Teams as well – and anything else where we’re having a conversations, Q&A.

Thank you – in two days you’ve already made this pilot BETTER and our strength lab in a box better.

Assessments
Protocol
Strength Moves

PS ASSESSMENTS

Please do take a look at the ASSESSMENTS page just to note what are Baseline, daily and session assessments.

If you have questions about any of the movement progressions, the Blocks Protocol for week two and beyond, or the Assessments, please ask on Teams in the Strength Questions section.

Quick reminder in teams General you’ll also see we have a quick face to face meeting scheduled for Thurs after lunch.