KIN122- Chapter 5

Lecture Notes

When we want to improve our muscular strength or muscular endurance, there are multiple types of resistance training that we can use. The first is static or isometric exercise, and here we're talking about muscular actions when the length of the muscle doesn't change and there's no visible movement. So in the picture on the left you see the gentleman character pressing out against the walls, but the walls are not going to move, his arms are not going to move, he's simply pressing against those walls. On the picture on the right, again you're not seeing movement, the woman is sitting with her back against the wall doing a wall sit, legs at 90 degrees, and she's building strength, but only at that particular joint angle. So although you can build strength in isometric exercise, it only increases strength at that one joint angle, but not throughout the entire joint's range of motion.