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Exercise & fitness

Isometric training

DEIsometrisches Training

Isometric training means contracting a muscle against an immovable resistance, with no joint movement. Think planks, wall sits, or holding a mid-range squat. It builds tendon stiffness and strength at the specific joint angle you train, while putting minimal mechanical stress on the joint, which makes it useful in rehab. And it has a surprising perk for blood pressure. A 2023 network meta-analysis (Edwards et al., Br J Sports Med) of 270 randomized trials found that isometric exercise, especially wall sits, produced the biggest drops in resting blood pressure of any type studied, about 8 mmHg systolic and 4 mmHg diastolic, beating even aerobic and dynamic-resistance training.

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Sources

  1. Carlson DJ, Dieberg G, Hess NC, Millar PJ, Smart NA. (2014). Isometric exercise training for blood pressure management: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Mayo Clinic Proceedingsdoi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.10.030
  2. Edwards JJ, Deenmamode AHP, Griffiths M, Arnold O, Cooper NJ, Wiles JD, O'Driscoll JM. (2023). Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicinedoi:10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503