isos? why isos?
reactive work.. rebounds (plyos/hops/bounds etc), jumps, sprints.
What about the diagram above (Muscle actions & energy contribution)?. Stating an isometric contraction leads to greater energy store in the tendons as opposed to concentric/eccentric contractions which store less?.
Do plyos/hops/bounds cut it optimally considering poor form would create conconcentric/eccentric contractions?. Or would they?.
I don't mind doing ISO's at all, as long it's doing my tendons good.
isometric training occurs in virtually every movement known to man.. picture a heavy barbell squat, a depth jump, etc.. eccentric -> isometric -> concentric.. if you want to train isometrically, increase intensity on the core lifts, core ballistic exercises, etc.. for example, going heavier on squat, adding more sets, etc.. A near-max single is considered quasi-isometric because of the speed at which it occurs, ie, any time you lift very heavy, bar speed decreases and the movement becomes a series of isometric contractions along the various "sticking points", this causes alot more pull on the tendons... For ballistics, raising box height on depth jumps, incorporating single leg bounding, etc.. if you want to improve tendon strength & structure, improve your ballistic-training volume & overall progression (rebounds & sprints), this means learning to bound, becoming proficient at DJ's/stiff leg pogos, etc.. every time you "impact", there will be a massive eccentric contraction which causes the tendon to elongate and store energy.. Stiff leg reactive work (stiff leg ankle hops/pogos) are insanely intense on the tendons.. if you are consistent with reactive work, you will definitely improve tendon strength & structure, and thus be more spring-like.. you don't need focused isometric work to achieve the gains you want.. that type of training is largely academic and has hardly had any success in the "real world".. if it was effective, you'd see more people utilizing it by now & the inno sport forum wouldn't have died.
if you're going to incorporate various types of isometric training, i'd make sure it is very much supplementary.. if you implement isos as your core training protocol, you will waste alot of time that could have been better spent improving your core {squat, lunge, calve raise, ghr, etc} lifts.
pC
