Back to the Rack

Bill Starr
Complete Iso Program Part 5

I’ve said that the best way to introduce isotonic-isometrics into your strength program was to
insert a few positions throughout the week as you continue your regular routine. That enables
you to learn how to perform isos. As I’ve mentioned, even though the system is extremely
simple to understand, it involves a great deal of technique. The more you do isos, the more
proficient you’ll become, which means they’ll be more productive.
 

After a month or so of doing two or three isos a week, you should feel confident about your
form. At some point you’ll be able to tell for sure that you’re putting forth maximum effort.
Of course, no one can actually contract his muscles 100 percent. That occurs only in extreme
situations of fright—you know, the lady who lifts a car off her trapped child. You can do
contractions in the 75-to-80 percent range, however, and that’s sufficient for your purpose,
which is to improve your strength.
 

What often happens when athletes become familiar with this system of strength training and
discover that the positions they’ve been using have had a positive effect on certain lifts is that
they want to do more than just a few positions during the week. They want to give isos
priority for the next two months and use free-weight exercises as complementary movements.
That’s exactly what many of the Olympic lifters at the York Barbell Club did in the 1960s.
Almost all of them—including me—did some isos throughout the year. During the off-season,
from late June to September, we’d shift to workouts that featured more iso than free-weight
work. The change paid dividends in a number of areas. Doing less heavy pressing, cleaning
and squatting gave our abused joints a much-needed rest. Not having to worry about moving
big numbers in preparation for an upcoming contest was a huge mental relief. Since the isos
were enabling us to gain strength, we could concentrate on honing our technique with lighter
poundages. It was also an ideal opportunity to deal with weaker areas and improve our
endurance base.
 

The relatively quick iso sessions and lighter-weight workouts left us with plenty of extra
energy to expend on our aerobic conditioning—plus, we had more time to do so. During the
season we’d lift almost every Saturday or at least every other week, with demonstrations
thrown in for good measure. Hoffman insisted on exposure, and we all learned how to deal
with competing frequently. Then there was work. Everyone had a job. No one got a free pass,
though that was often the conception about York lifters. Bill Bednarski, Bill March and
Roman Mielec worked in the warehouse, Tommy Suggs and I put out Strength & Health,
Garcy was a schoolteacher, and Gary Glenney, Fred West and Homer Brannum worked in
town. Tommy and I tried to get to the YMCA at least once a week to play racquetball or
volleyball, but as everyone knows, an hour a week isn’t going to help much.
 
In the summer, though, we had plenty of time, and we did our best to do more aerobics: We
knew that having a strong endurance base was most useful. Some of the meets would go on
until the wee hours of the following morning. At the Philly Open one year, Barski was clean
and jerking at 2 a.m., and his class had started lifting at 6 p.m. We also realized that a better
aerobics base would help us train harder and faster. That was a plus when you ended up
following yourself on platform, and it happened often to lifters like March, Tony Garcy and
Barski because no one else was handling nearly as much weight as they were.
So there were plenty of positive reasons for us to give isos precedence in our off-season
strength work. When we resumed our regular Olympic lifting regimen and relegated the rack
work to an auxiliary role, we were more physically fit, free of old injuries, stronger and eager
to get back into competition.
 

I’ve received a number of letters from readers—for example, a football player, an Olympic
lifter, two powerlifters and three from older men who wanted to use isos to help them
maintain a high level of strength fitness—requesting that I present sample programs for
building a routine around isotonic-isometric exercises. As Dr. John Ziegler designed the
system specifically for Olympic weightlifters, the first program is for them. Keep in mind that
the military press was part of official competition at the time, so the routine puts more
emphasis on the jerk. I include pressing positions, however, because I think they improve
strength in the arms, shoulders and back, which is directly transferable to the jerk. In addition,
shoulder strength benefits from both the clean and snatch. It’s a five-day-a-week program.

Isotonic-Isometric Program for Olympic Lifters

Monday, Wednesday and Friday will be all isos. Tuesday and Thursday will be free-weight
exercises.
Monday
Three press positions: start, eye level and lockout.
Three pulling positions using a clean grip: start, below the knees and high top pull on your
toes.
Two front-squat positions: deep bottom, as low as you can squeeze under the bar and still hold
your position, and midpoint.
Calf raises.
Tuesday
Clean and jerks: three cleans and two jerks per set for six to eight sets. Use light-to-moderate
weights and concentrate on form.
Back squats: five sets of five; go heavy but not to max.
Good mornings: four sets of 10, and push them to limit.
Wednesday
Three pulling positions using a snatch grip: start, just below the knees and top pull high on
your toes.
Two press positions: start and another where you climb on your toes and fix the bar at the top
of your head. You want to emulate where you drive the bar for your jerks. When you improve
your strength in the start and the important follow-through position, your jerk will show
instant improvement.
Jerk lockout while in a deep split. Try to split a bit deeper than you normally do when
performing the lift.
Two back-squat positions: deep bottom and midpoint.
Calf raises.
Thursday
Snatches: six to eight sets of three reps, light to moderate weights.
Inclines: three sets of five, then three sets of three. Work them hard.
Front squats: six sets of three. As with the back squats, go heavy but not to max.
Friday
Three pulling positions: slightly below start using a clean grip, just below knees using a
snatch grip and waist level with feet flat to the floor using a clean grip.
Two press positions: start and eye level.
Jerk lockout with a tiny split.
Two front-squat positions: deep bottom and about six inches from lockout. Try to find the
position you use when you dip down to start a jerk.

Calf raises.
 

The emphasis on the free-weight days is perfecting your form on the three phases of Olympic
lifting: cleans, snatches and jerks. That means the amount of weight you use is of little
importance; making all your reps with minimal flaws is your goal.
If you think you need to handle some heavy weights on the two quick lifts during the week, as
many of the York lifters did, add a Saturday or Sunday session. Meanwhile, the two exercises
in the program that you do want to lean on are good mornings and inclines.
The inclines aid your quest for more overhead strength, and the good mornings ensure that
your lower back is getting plenty of direct work. I felt that the isos weren’t hitting my lumbar
to the same degree as they were the other parts of my back, so I always included them and
worked them with purpose. Good mornings can also be done as an iso movement, but I was
never comfortable with that position.
 

Barski liked to start his training week on Sunday with an iso workout. He’d do two more on
Tuesday and Thursday. On Monday and Wednesday he handled light weights on either the
snatch or the clean, did some presses and squatted. He took Friday off, as did the other lifters.
Friday afternoon was officially party time. Then on Saturday he went all out on the press,
snatch and clean and jerk, and he finished off with more squats.
Another workable plan that I have Olympic lifters use is to stay with the light weights as
outlined in the recommended program, then every third week drop the Friday iso session,
totaling out on Saturday. That helps them determine their progress on the various lifts.

An Isotonic-Isometric Program for Powerlifters

This is the same formula I suggested for Olympic lifters, three iso workouts per week and two
using free weights.
Monday
Three pulling positions: slightly below where you start your deadlift, just below your knees
and midthigh.
Three bench press positions: start, midpoint and lockout.
Two back-squat positions: deep bottom and midpoint.
Calf raises.
Tuesday
Incline presses: three sets of five plus three sets of three. Work them to limit.
Back squats: five sets of five. Work them but not to max.
Good mornings: four sets of 10. Push to limit.
Weighted dips: four sets of eight.
Wednesday
Three pulling positions: start, just above the knees and shrug at waist level.
Two back-squat positions: deep bottom and midpoint.
If possible: inclines: start, middle and finish.
If not possible: standing presses: start, middle and lockout.
Or: bench presses: start, middle and lockout.
 

L When setting up your program, always give your weakest lift priority on both the iso and
free-weight days. If you know that the lift hurting your total the most is the bench press, do
the exercises for your upper body first at every session. In the event that your lifts are all
pretty much in balance, switch the order of the exercises around regularly. Start with squats
one day, do pulls the next and presses the next; then change them again.
 

A note about incline isos and overhead presses in the rack. I believe incline isos are most
beneficial because the strength gained in that angle converts directly to the flat bench. That’s
also why I have lifters work it hard at the first free-weight session. I’m aware, though, that
many can’t perform inclines inside a rack. Some don’t have racks that are wide enough, and
some just don’t have incline benches. The next best substitute is the overhead press. You may
well ask how pressing overhead can help the flat bench. The isos strengthen the deltoids and
triceps, which play a major role in bench pressing. The added bonus is that overhead isos hit
the muscles of the upper back, and a stronger upper back helps you pull and squat heavier
weights.
 

Your objective on the free-weight day is to improve form. I’d keep the reps on the bench
fairly high to restrict the amount of weight and to force yourself to pay closer attention to
small points of execution. You should do every rep perfectly—same for the squats. Notice I
said to work them hard but not to max. That may need some clarification. Let’s say you can
handle 405x5. While you’re doing the isos three times a week, work only up to 385x5. The
lesser poundage will help you concentrate better on your technique yet still be heavy enough
to force you to exert yourself.
 

You’ll notice, too, that I haven’t put any deadlifts in the routine. You don’t need them. The
isos three times a week provide the strength component, and you’ll also be hitting high pulls
hard and attacking your lower back with good mornings. What’s important is to establish the
same line of pull on the high pull that you use when you deadlift. In reality, a high pull is no
more than a deadlift followed by a shrug. You do it much faster than a deadlift, and that’s
good because the dynamic move builds a different type of strength.
The weighted dips are optional. I think they’re a great shoulder exercise and know for certain
that they have a favorable influence on the bench press. Should you feel that by adding them
to your program you’re overworking, however, drop them or do them just once a week.
 
Every three or four weeks, skip the Friday iso session and total out on Saturday. It doesn’t
have to be an all-out test, but you need to go heavy enough so that you can determine which
lifts and what positions require additional attention. Let’s say your deadlift is stronger than
ever except at the finish, which had always been a piece of cake, and now it’s the weakest
link. Remedy: Switch from high pulls to shrugs on Thursdays, and do iso lockouts three times
a week until that position gets proportionately stronger. What you’re looking for when you
max out on all three lifts is weak points and in very specific areas. Try to pinpoint a problem
in a lift, and then do isos in the corresponding range. It’s a never-ending process. Improve
strength in the weakest part of an exercise, determine what area takes over that role, and then
go after it.
 

Next month I’ll present more sample iso programs plus an extensive review of all the
subtleties of the isotonic-isometric system. Meanwhile, here are a few reminders. When you
do any iso position, the time you fix the bar against the top pins in a maximum contraction is
more important than how much weight you’re using. If you can’t hold the isometric
contraction for at least eight seconds, use less weight.
 

Never do more than three positions for any bodypart, and change the selected positions
regularly. Even moving the pins up or down one hole is beneficial. Make sure the muscle
groups you’re about to put under great stress are thoroughly warmed up. Isos are very
concentrated work, and you must prepare your body in order to gain the desired results and
avoid being dinged. Move quickly from position to position. Finally, keep accurate records:
which holes you used, the amount of weight you handled and how long you held the isometric
contraction.
 

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University
from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive and Defying Gravity.