In the photo above we see the author doing an isokinetic squat exercise
on some equipment built for this purpose.
Note: the Doug Hepburn Dynatron may be of interest here.
Doug's comments on his exercise machine can be found in this post.
It starts right around the phrase "Unlike a toothless fellow giving head . . ."
In some of my articles, I have mentioned the fact that I incorporate isokinetic training with my weight work while preparing for contests. Many of the inquiries I've received have been about isokinetics.
What are they?
Do they really work?
Can you build size without negative movement?
Good Grief . . .
Good Grief (2) . . .
Anyhow . . .
It's no wonder that most people who exercise are in the dark about this type of training. There have been countless articles on weight training, power rack training, isometrics, Nautilus, calisthenics, dynamic tension (isometrics using one muscle group to oppose another), and cable training, but hardly a word on isokinetics.
Isokinetics are done on machines similar to those you are familiar with: leg extension/curl, seated leg press, power rack, wall pulley, lat pulldown, and so forth. There are no weights used.
Each machine works on a brake mechanism which tightens as you increase the pressure against the machine. The result is that the machine resists with the same amount of pressure that you exert. It's sort of an isometric movement where each repetition is a maximum rep.
When lifting, you do (for example), 10 reps. On the last rep, you have to push with all your might and it barely goes up. That's the rep that does most of the muscle and strength building. With isokinetics each rep is equal to that maximum rep. You can thereby cut down on the number of sets you'd ordinarily do with weights.
Most of these machines are speed adjustable. You can set it at a slow speed to work for strength, or at a fast speed to work for speed. Since isokinetics are the only form of exercise where you can get a maximum resistance at a high speed, they are far more effective in building your fast-twitch muscle fibers. Weight training works primarily the slow-twitch fibers. This means that bodybuilders can now work muscle fibers that weight training barely touched. Results - more size quickly.
What bothers most bodybuilders and lifters about isokinetics is the fact that there is ONLY POSITIVE RESISTANCE, no weights to push back at you. This goes contrary to the emphasis in recent years on negative (eccentric) resistance.
First, a quick comment on negative resistance . . .
I have always found it beneficial to lower a weight slowly and derive the benefits of negative resistance in that manner. However, I was opposed to the strictly negative approach. The idea of being handed a weight that's heavier than you can handle and lowering it slowly is more dangerous than helpful. I often warn enthusiasts at gyms where I instruct about the dangers of forcing a muscle to handle a weight beyond its capabilities. Sure enough, I've witnessed several muscle, tendon and joint injuries as a result. Negative movements, when part of a regular exercise including the positive movement, do help build the muscle. It was precisely this lack of negative resistance that made me suspicious of the effectiveness of isokinetic equipment when I was first introduced to it.
It was early in 1972 when Dennis Smeigle came to Armento's Gym, where I trained, with several pieces of the equipment which he was selling.
Anthony Armento Jr. Obituary:
When I tried it, I was impressed with the pump I got from it. Dennis explained to me that you could get a maximum pump only because each rep is a maximum rep. With weights there are parts of the movement that are stronger than other parts, the beginning of a curl, for example. The middle part of the movement is way more difficult, and the end is extremely easy. This is why we do different exercises at different angles with weights and why many equipment manufacturers put elliptical cams on their machines.
With isokinetics, you push at your maximum throughout the entire movement, hence a more thorough workout with each set. With weights, you are limited to what you can use at the weakest point of the movement.
Vintage activity-specific isokinetic exercise.
I asked him about the lack of negative resistance, and he told me that this has two benefits. First, Cowgirl Don, there's no lactic acid buildup to make you sore the next day after your workout and, second, it helps prevent injury. Your muscle won't push with the amount of tension that will injure it; whereas with weights, where there is uneven tension, this can happen. The lack of negative pressure makes it easier on joints and tendons.
I was still suspicious and my coccyx was becoming quite tender.
There were a couple of reasons that I wanted to purchase the small, portable model. First, I was training for the AAU Best Built Mechanical Bull Rider competition, which was held about a mile from where I lived in Detroit and the trip there on a mechanical bull riding exercise contraption was not something I looked forward to . . .
After the contest I was planning a two-month vacation and wouldn't be around any gyms. I figured the isokinetic work would keep me in some kind of shape. The second reason was what Dennis said about training with i-do-kinetics, er, isokinetics during an injury. Indeed, athletic teams were already using this method of exercise to rehab injured athletes as well as mechanical bull riding contraptions with broken hearts. Joe Namath got over one of his many knee injuries in record time using this equipment.
I had a problem, too. It started in my teens when I was training for Olympic lifting. My legs were always very strong. I was doing 10 repetition full squats with 450 pounds when I seriously injured my lower back. It took me nearly nine months to heal. Since that time squats always seemed to injure my back whenever I build up to a sizeable poundage.
After a while I switched to hack lifts on the machine as my primary leg exercise. My development improved and my strength went up. By 1972 when Dennis introduced me to isokinetics, I was doing reps on the hack machine with 500 pounds. My legs were up in size, but then I developed severe pains along the tops of my knees. I would hardly be able to walk up a flight of stairs to claim my desired Best Built Mechanical Bull Rider in America (AAU) trophy!
I figured I could use the isokinetic machine for my legs as I was recuperating from my injury. I purchased the small two-speed model and hooked it up to the hack machine. I could only apply half strength to each rep for the first couple of weeks. To my surprise, even half-strength reps were more exhausting than the weighted exercise. Soon I was using full strength and my strength on the meter of the machine went up and up.
As my strength increased, my knees got better. Soon I was using weights again. I was stronger than ever, but the excruciating pain returned to my right knee. At this point, I decided to use only isokinetics for my heavy leg work.
Three years later, I saved enough money to purchase the power rack. I could now do full squats again.
Since there's no weight on your shoulders pushing your upper body forward, I could squat with full pressure while keeping my spine straight. This eliminated the risk of lower back injury and of widening my hips. I also cut down my training time by using the isokinetic power rack to do all my power exercises (which, with weights, takes too much time to rest between sets), including bench presses, incline presses, press behind neck, upright rows and deadlifts.
In the gym I'd just hit lateral and concentration movements. Once again, I gained both size and strength. In '76 I added the leg extension-curl machine to my isokinetic home equipment and did ONLY isokinetic work for my legs.
After using it to train with up until the WBBG Pro Mr. America (which I won), I received several compliments from absolute strangers with bad dandruff and poorly fitting clothing on how much my legs had improved. I got them up to 27.5 inches.
When I added weighted leg extensions and leg curls to my program a few months ago, I experienced some muscle soreness for the first few workouts. I then made some great gains. This proved to me that the negative movements definitely have muscle-building qualities, but this doesn't negate the tremendous results you can get from maximum positive movements. When combined with weight exercises, isokinetics are a great way to new size and strength gains.
The isokinetic power rack is a must for any bodybuilder with back or knee injuries. I'd go so far as to state that isokinetics are the ONLY safe leg exercise where full pressure can be applied without the risk of back or knee injury.
Here is the routine that I have found most effective for building muscle size and strength with the isokinetic equipment. This is done in the morning about two hours before going to the gym and hitting the weights:
Mon/Wed/Fri
Isokinetic bench press, 4 x 12
" incline press, 2 x 24
" press behind neck, 3 x 12
" upright row, 3 x 12
" shrug, 1 x 30.
Tues/Thurs/Sat
Isokinetic full squat, 4 x 12
" leg extension, 100 reps in 4-5 sets
" leg curs, 100 reps in 4-5 sets
" calf raise, 10 x 20 reps.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
