Types of Isometric Exercises

I received this email from Thomas regarding his isometric training and its evolution with a number of different teachers I’ve been introducing to you in the recent past. As a devoted student he’s been working with many different types of isometric exercises.

Steve Justa, Bud Jeffries and Professor “Stone” Paul – Three teachers of different forms of isometrics

Hi Logan, Bud, Steve and Stone Paul,

I created the expanded greeting line because I have become a devoted student of what all of you have to offer and my comments below are in praise of you all. I have been working on your coaching on isometrics for about two months and although I am not a believer in letters that read “I have done my first workout and I have experienced massive change” I do have some experience in these issues so I offer this:

I love these videos because they have completely DESTROYED everything I THOUGHT I knew about isometrics. I had learned them in the early sixties from the York people and I still have (and use) the chain and handle vertical pull system and do the six pulls for six seconds routine although no one thinks it has any value. THEN I saw your stuff and it showed how wrong a guy can be by following dogma. I was doing a vertical plane for six seconds of six lifts and you showed me hundreds (with Steve and Bud) and thousands (with Professor Paul) and not only the massive number of movements but the circular and angular movement which I had completely ignored for my entire workout career. I love the videos from Steve because they show how innovative a workout program can be and I immediately created a push/pull/iso station in my power rack to imitate his home invented device and I began doing pushes-with-the-arm-plus-pulls-with-the-let and back and forth and bursts and sustained and I will never exhaust all of these ideas. So I loved the videos for powering up my creativity and knowing that it would work. I have begun using my sled in a VERY heavy towing routine while I am doing alternate presses, bag carries and other stuff to mimic the side torque while moving vertically ideas that Bud offers in his video. I am doing long holds, very short holds, bursts, alternate thrusts, side movements while vertical, using rope and doorways to create constant workouts (Isometric Mind) and I am doing a massive body overload once a month of something I never thought I could do and most important of all I am trying to lift the bumper of my car which I will NEVER be able to do (well perhaps in three years, as Steve says) so every aspect of my daily life and workouts have been changed because of these tapes (and your related materials). If you completely change a person’s approach to workouts after he has spent almost fifty years on establishing a routine and then bring him back to his isometric roots of the sixties, isn’t that a good thing?

The results I’ve seen from applying this information are to quote the Isometric Mind “I am seeing new opportunity in everything and everywhere.” In the past I was limited to my home gym for workouts but because I frequently work VERY early in the morning and am very tired when I arrive home I had skipped workouts. You can understand. Now I not longer need to because of Steve and Stone Paul I now carry a rope and push/pull on anything I can find and now that I know what I am looking for I find a lot of opportunity. My hands and wrists are frequently swollen from the effort of iso-bending currently “impossible” IronMind nails as Noah suggested and which I now do every day. I am not totally sure how much my press has increased since I have only been on this program for a few weeks but I KNOW that my life has changed as I integrate the Isometric Mind ideas and the ideas from Bud about integrating will and toughness PLUS the selected lifts. This entire shift away from just lifting (like doing five sets of five curls) to committing to super human strength has had an immense effect on me even at my advanced age and experience.

Because of this I’ve been able to do more workouts than I thought possible before since I am always carrying what I need for a complete workout or, like Steve, I can find something to pull-push-lift on no matter where I am or what I am wearing…the world is my gym. I am older than most and have some physical limitations as everyone no matter what there age does and instead of accepting them I am now actively working on them with the ideas that Steve, Bud and Stone Paul has. And I don’t want to get all “gee whiz” about this but I have begun seeing things with the Isometric Mind, meaning instead of seeing limitation, I am now seeing more and more opportunity so I am actively re-framing my experience and because of my new toughness because of the workouts I am ready for it. I cannot thank you enough for this. Steve’s approach of using every day materials and to persevere over YEARS has changed my “I need it now” approach to developing strength. I have now created plans to create momentum in anything I am doing. AND although I never really worked out for vanity (yeah right), because of Steve I now truly don’t care what others think and only work out for brutal strength AND the endurance to carry strength over time. This is also massive in my life.

Thomas A. O’Donnell

For anyone else interested you can find more about the types of isometric exercises Thomas is talking about and the courses he’s found them in than you can read more below at these three links:

Bud Jeffries’ Extreme Power with Isometrics
Professor Stone Paul’s The Isometric Mind
Steve Justa’s Isometric Exercises