Isometrics, strength and motor learning.

Isometrics was founded in the early 1920's at the Springfield college in Massachusetts, the experiment involved a frog whereby one of the legs was bound until the leg was immobilised. During fixed intervals the leg was unbound and the strength tested and compared to that of the free leg. The results showed that the muscle of the bound leg was stronger than that of the free leg, how was this so? The bound leg could only strain against the cast causing the whole of the leg to force a static contraction resulting in a leg that became healthier and stronger.

Dr Mueller from the Max Planck Institute in Germany conducted a study involving over 5000 people, showing that a six second isometric contraction per day increased muscle strength by 5% in a week. So in only twenty weeks a human could have the potential to double their strength.

Isometrics have been very useful in certain cases to enable my clients to overcome an undesired, golf swing motor pattern, toning the muscle through a 6 second isometric hold can speed up the process of a swing change more so than a drill, as we strengthen the muscle in the position we are looking to achieve, (remember the body always moves towards a position of strength and away from weakness).

Isometrics also allows the golfer to gain strength without adding unwanted bulk that can creating blocking patterns in the kinetic chain.

So how could we apply this knowledge into the golf swing?  A person who is deemed to be swinging over the top, ask the golfer to swing to the top of the backswing, once there place the golfer into the desired downswing position, the client is instructed to push the hands and grip end of the club into the coaches hands in a more downward manner matching a more gravity based line, the coaches hands restricts the movement thus allowing a isometric hold to take place, repeat three times and then hit a ball and feel the difference.

Happy Golfing ;)