Weight Loss With Isometric Exercise

When you perform isometric exercise, you hold your muscles at one specific angle for a set period of time. This is considered static resistance training, the Sports Fitness Advisor website explains, because these exercises do not involve lifting or lowering. You hold a specific position, pushing against a wall, for example, for at least 10 seconds, preferably multiple times each day. Doing isometric exercise in combination with diet can lead to weight loss as well as improvements in strength.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Often used in injury rehabilitation, isometric exercise allows for strengthening without superfluous joint moment, Sports Fitness Advisor explains. Some people have a tendency to hold their breath while performing isometric exercises. This can raise blood pressure and could be dangerous; thus, it is important that you focus on your breathing while holding the positions. Isometric exercises also work muscles at one joint angle, which might not strengthen the muscle at other angles and does not improve motor performance.

Clinically Proven

A study by Jerrold Petrofsky and colleagues, published in 2007 in "The Journal of Applied Research," found that isometric exercises "increase muscle strength and tone muscles faster than dynamic exercise." Study participants performed isometric exercises which simultaneously engaged the agonist, or balancing, muscles as well as the antagonist, or opposing, muscles. They worked the biceps and triceps, abdominals and lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus maximus four times a day, holding each exercise for 25 seconds, then resting for 5 seconds before starting the next exercise. The participants also contracted their facial muscles once a day, holding the position for 50 seconds. The entire routine took just 7 minutes. After two weeks, Petrofsky found that participants lost approximately 3 centimeters off their waist --- and some lost more than 22 pounds after four weeks.

Diet Recommendations

The Petrofsky study participants also followed certain diet recommendations. The researchers recommended that participants calculate their own caloric needs, make healthy food choices, keep temptation items out of sight and avoid foods high in calories. Each participant ate high-volume foods like vegetables and drank at least six cups of water every day; all were instructed to avoid sugar-sweetened soda while following the program. The diet was easier to stick to, according to Petrofsky, and resulted in blood pressure improvements as well as reduction in total cholesterol, bad cholesterol and triglycerides.

Tracking Progress

At the beginning of the program, Petrofsky and his colleagues asked participants to record their body weight, and measurements around their upper arm, thigh, waist and hips. They were also asked to write down their goals for the program and to find little ways to increase daily movement. Finding a buddy to help with program compliance was also encouraged. Each day, the participants rated how well they stuck to the exercises and dietary recommendations. Nearly 90 percent of the study participants complied with the program.

Exercises

You need no equipment to perform isometric exercises at home. Try the isometric push-up, for example, by getting into the traditional push-up position, with arms fully extended and toes on the floor, back parallel to the ground. Bend your arms, lowering about half way to the floor, Sports Fitness Advisor instructs. Hold this position as long as you can, about 10 to 30 seconds. Isometric squats, meanwhile, can work your lower body. With your back against a wall, lower down until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the floor and your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Stay here for as long as you can, up to 30 seconds. Repeat both exercises two to three times daily.