Upper body isometrics
Upper body isometrics
Has anyone had any success with doing upper body isometrics? There are many different types such as pushing one hand against the other for 6-8 seconds etc. For a martial artist what would be some good upper body isometric exercises?
I am a 49 year old martial artist with 32 years & 5 black belts. I teach Tang Soo Do with a little Wado-ryu. Being 49 I can always use suggestions on training methods that work for my age without overdoing it.
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Sacramento TKD
Plyo Book
Regarding plyometrics, there are several excellent books. One I've been using lately is Explosive Strength by Don Chu. He proposes that Complex Training - a mix of both resistance training and plymetrics - will produce substantial gains in explosive strength and speed.
I use two exercises routinely when my training cycle calls for them; higher-rep bench presses followed by a medicine ball chest-pass, and higher-rep squats followed by jumping over a high box. The book details the workouts. I use these for improvements in punching and jumping strenght and speed.
I use two exercises routinely when my training cycle calls for them; higher-rep bench presses followed by a medicine ball chest-pass, and higher-rep squats followed by jumping over a high box. The book details the workouts. I use these for improvements in punching and jumping strenght and speed.
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Guest
Re: Upper body isometrics
I use upper body isometrics extensively doing contractions in positions that I employ in fighting techniques. I think they work quite well and I truly believe they help BOTH my speed and striking power.tsdsensei wrote:Has anyone had any success with doing upper body isometrics? There are many different types such as pushing one hand against the other for 6-8 seconds etc. For a martial artist what would be some good upper body isometric exercises?
The neat thing is that you can strengthen angles and positions that you cant do with weights etc.
The other thing that works very well are upper body plyometrics. Some boxers have figure this out and are developing very usable power with this tool.
Chu's books are excellent but he spends most of his time with lower body plyos.