Old Forum Advice please! Easy Strength 40 Day plan with isometrics

[GreenSoup]

I have considered using the Easy Strength 40 Day Plan to build up a few isometric skills: One handed hanging towel grip, isometric neck bridge, and isometric front lever progressions. Maybe even some isometric wrist strengthening work as planche prehab. These would naturally be complimented with multi-joint dynamic work too.

My plan will be to use the rep schemes of the systematized 40 Day Plan that Dan John made here: http://danjohn.net/2011/06/even-easier-strength-perform-better-notes/

To account for isometric exercise, I might use 3x3 as a progression to the 2x5 sets prescribed. The 6x1 and 532 days could just have a gradual buildup in hold time with each set but longer holds are almost the antithesis of the 6x1 principle so I look forward to suggestions. I could always just stick with 3x3 and 2x5.

Gymnastics books suggest an isometric hold of 2-3 seconds equals one rep so an isometric hold for 10-15 seconds would be the equivalent of a 5 rep set and a 6-9 second hold would be used for 3 rep sets. For the grip and neck work I would probably go for additional hold time in two sets instead of advanced progressions or weight.

Does this sound workable? I know we're not supposed to mess with prescribed plans but there really isn't an isometric plan published that is centered on the principles from Easy Strength and I feel like time off from heavy work would help me.

Perhaps this next question is funny, but what is "easy" in isometric work? In the first few seconds there might be no wobbling at all, then it gets more shaky as time goes on, and toward the maximum hold time the muscles vibrate a lot. The end is obviously not easy but does anyone have a suggestion for the right way to use isos?

Thank you for your consideration.

 

[crt1]

You might want to take a look at some gymnastic specific programs such as Gymnastic Bodies from Coach Sommer.  I have no experience with this but there are specific progressions and set/rep schemes.

 

[Jason Ginsberg]

I'm no expert on gymnastics, but I've done similar with some martial arts and qigong exercises I've learned that were based on isometrics. I think the basic plan is sound and looks pretty good. And, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that long a workout per day, and it's only 8 weeks. I think it has a good chance of working well, but even if it doesn't, I think you'll learn a lot from it. And if you do two weeks and are absolutely hating it, you can drop it and do something else.

Regarding your last question, what I would suggest is doing a test of all the ones you want to work on before starting to get a baseline, then start out doing holds that are 40-60% of the time, for a couple of sets, ala easy strength, and then gradually nudge the time up as you feel it gets easy, again like the 40 day program.

 

[GreenSoup]

Thank you for the responses.

ctuozzolo:  Coach Sommers' work is awesome.

Jason: I will use those ideas when I get started this week.  After two weeks it will probably be pretty clear how well this works for isometrics and I'll post about it.

 

[Pavel]

GreenSoup, I am sure it is doable but you are on your own; neither Dan nor I have tried to apply the plan to isometrics.

 

[GreenSoup]

Then I will report back about my progress on the isometrics.

 

[Jason Ginsberg]

Sounds like a great experiment, I look forward to hearing what you find out!

 

[GreenSoup]

NOTES AFTER THE 1st TWO WEEKS:

This is based on my experience as one person whose isometrics were mostly accessory "prehab" exercises. Even so, I hope some can comment on my isometric lessons and mixed results.

Definitely use regressions in your leverage for isometrics. Remember that an isometric hold can be 20-30% stronger than a dynamic effort, so 2-3 seconds may equal "one rep" but if it's your maximum it's like 125% of your dynamic 1RM and not the low-nervous-system-activation joyride Easy Strength talks about. Even taking that kind of percentage boost over dynamic exercise and applying to something like the Brzycki equation (it calculates an estimated 1RM from your 2-10 rep max), you should start with a hold you can do for a long time. Isometric difficulty is sort of a weird cross between the effect of added weight and added reps as the hold continues over time, but this is what I found.

The isometric hold should start between 25% and 40% of the maximum hold time to keep it truly easy on the nervous system. That means you should start at 6 seconds even if your maximum hold is at 24 seconds max. If you can hold for a minute on a given progression, 15 seconds is fine to start. Just advance from there as you feel comfortable. You can always add longer hold times on the second day and beyond after you are sure it's truly easy, and in the 40 plan variation Dan John set up (visible at http://danjohn.net/2011/06/even-easier-strength-perform-better-notes/ ) a slightly harder workout is never more than a few days away. When advancing the length of a given leverage's hold, consider the increased wobbliness of muscular tremors as a sign of difficulty. If you can hold for 15 seconds without any increase in the shakiness, and if the 10th second looks and feels the same as the 15th, that leverage is fine to use for 15 or even more seconds. Even taking it to 30s+ might be useful if the next progression makes the muscles shake too much.

Looking at my yearly goals, along with "stop experimenting with new workouts" was to solidify my one-handed fingertip plank hold. I chose that over the towel grip for my hands. To keep myself relatively fresh, except when things had been tested in the past, I used Dan John's "sort-of max" concept for most tests.

These were the isometrics holds I used (and their regressions) and the results in two weeks (workout #10):

-Fingertip one-handed plank hold (MAX MAX) was 10s L, 12s R. Now: Still 10s max.
-Wrestler's Bridge hold. Only moderate difficulty started at 43s to more difficulty at 54s, not testing a true max. Now: 90s+ without extra difficulty noted at any time! Wow!
-Front Lever progression (flat tuck sort of max) was 10s. Now: 11s was very hard but not pushed to the max.
-Wrist flexion hold (sort of max) was 32s at the wall. Now: 9 seconds plus from the harder floor knee pushup position. Major progress here, just like the neck work.
-Wrist extension holding attempted flexion (does not use gravity for the leverage but did 2x15 seconds at maximum stretch since pseudo planche pushups felt difficult only due the wrist extension). Now: 5 consecutive Pseudo Planch Pushups with the wrist forward are completely comfortable.

Isometric Lessons:
-Neck work, flexed wrist work, and extended wrist worked in two weeks beyond any previous program's results
-Fingertip plank holds may need longer hold times on even easier regressions than I used and I should see how that helps in the future.
-Flat Tuck Front lever work shows the need for abdominal strength improvement and had the similar kind of improvement from 40-day styled work as would in normal isometric sets. Perhaps the improvement was small because the Front Lever's pushing and pulling characteristics overlap too much with my non-isometric exercises. Or maybe I need a regression that is even easier than the Tuck Front Lever, like simple floor planks for more than the standard 15s hold time.

Still it was an interesting experiment with a few very extraordinary results in just two weeks. That was practically a blink in time for results like that. Any thoughts on this plan and how to make it better?