Customer Reviews

The Complete Book of Isometrics: The Anywhere, Anytime Fitness Book

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed the isometric exercises my physical therapist taught me to rehabilitate a shoulder I injured at the gym, and I was looking for a book that would have similar exercises for other parts of the body. Although some of the exercises in this book will be useful to me, most of them aren't actually isometric exercises (my PT agreed when I showed them to her), and a few I won't be doing because they put the body in precarious positions and I am prone to joint injuries. It's not a bad book, but it's not what I was looking for and I wouldn't have bought it if I'd looked through it at a bookstore.

Ms. O'Driscoll has created an excellent book on isometric training that can be used by both beginners or advanced trainees. The book provides an excellent introduction into the history of isometrics and their practical application.

She goes on to point out that the individual needs to decide what exercise method is best for their goals. If a person is interested in adding muscular "mass" or creating hypertrophy (muscular growth), isometrics may not be the best choice. However, for strength gains, research has shown isometrics can create the same reults as quickly as standard training with less safety issues.

For trainees who want to work out at home or travel, this would be an ideal book.

Strength coach Pavel Tsatouline recently documented the same research & findings in one of his publications based on Soviet research. So, you know Ms. O'Driscoll's book is on the money!

I'm glad I borrowed this from the library. Many of the exercises are not isometric, and the exercises using weights make you wonder, why not just do a "super-slow" weight workout, or Joyce Vedral's "12-Minute Total-Body Workout" (book) instead?

Also, why no picture charts at the end instead of the lists? The names don't all immediately bring to mind the exercises, and who wants to flip back and forth through the book all the time?

Not as useful a book as it could be.

The book explains the differences between isometric, isotonic, and concentric exercises in fair and reasonable manner. It clearly demonstrates the benefits and drawbacks of isometric exercises such that the reader could apply what is beneficial and avoid the harmful effect of straining the circulatory system with longer stress of high blood pressure.

The book displays photographs for a man and a woman and clearly shows the graceful posture and extreme flexibility and fitness of the woman compared to a stiffed and inflexible man. The contrast of the hair style of the two also deserves notice.

The book's 184 pages are efficiently utilized to maximize the reader's understanding. After merely 27 pages of precise discussion of the subject of isometric contraction, the book turns illustrated with each page containing at least one or more photograph and relevant and clear text.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

The book introduces us to the concepts of the various types of muscle contractions very well and gives us a clear understanding of what "isometric" means.

There is advise given about exercise programs we are to start, and a section on warm-ups. The main part is the section illustrating and describing the isometric exercises. A chapter on stretches follows. The last section is for workout routines, which include isotonic exercises as well as isometrics.

While the isometric exercises are isometric by definition (muscles don't lengthen or shorten), I think many of these exercises miss one concept which the book itself introduced in page 2: that the contraction must be 67% of the muscle's maximal effort for gains in strength. Many just require us to get into a position which we are to hold (and it is only in tables at the end of the book that we get the hint that holds are from 3 to 8 seconds). And depending on how fit we are, such positions will use a lot less than 67% of our strength. Will we get much benefit if the isometric holds are way below 67% of muscle strength and held for a maximum of only 8 seconds?

Could this also be the reason why "advanced workouts" get us to repeat a series (termed superset) thrice, even if isometrics only require one repetition a day (again, from page 2 of the book)?

With all this, I get to wonder if isometrics applying less than 67% of our effort for less than 10 seconds could qualify as exercise.

The book is excellent for the information it provides, but it falls into the trap of including "complete" in its title. Most books with that word in their titles fail to fulfill that word. While it does show no-gadget moves, I did not see the basic press in front of the chest included in the list. This in spite of a variation of it being the picture in the front cover. Neither did I see the expected arm exercises of using the other arm as resistance for a bicep curl isometric, or a tricep extension isometric. It had equivalents using a desk and a wall, but using arm against arm is more applicable "anywhere, anytime." While it did show use of the wall, door, towel and ball, I would think that a "complete" book would at least comment on isometric gadgets like the Bullworker or Steel Bow which can almost be "anytime, anywhere." In particular, the Steel Bow can be an "anytime, anywhere" gadget.

I also noticed a few discrepancies between the pictures and their descriptions. The one in page 50 is obviously wrong.

Still, for all the info it provides, the clear pictures and exercise descriptions, I give it four stars.

I have read the book but haven't tried the excercises yet (tonight). It is written in a pretty easy to follow format :-)