body-by-chili

All muscle training falls into either:

Isotonic training Isometric training Isokinetic training

Isotonic training

Here the muscle contracts and shortens to give movement. Nearly all training you will do will be isotonic.

Advantages of isotonic

You cantailor isotonic training to suit your particular sport Strengthens a muscle throughout its whole range of movement

Disadvantagesof isotonic

Thegains aren't spread out as the muscle strengthens at its weakest pointof action not throughout.It canlead to soreness due to the stress while lengthening Isometric

Here the muscle contracts but doesn't shorten so there is no movement.

Advantages of isometric

You can pretty much perform these any whereThey need no expensive equipment They are quick and generally don't hurt These develop static strength which you need to push and pull heavy objects

Disadvantagesof isometric

During exercise, the blood flow to the muscle stops and blood pressure risesas less blood flows back to the heart - this is dangerous.The muscle gains are purely at the angle you use in the movement

Isokinetic training

Here the muscle contracts and shortens at constant speeds. An isotonic contraction is different to isokinetic contractions because it is slowest at the start. This type of training needs special equipment to detect when a muscle is speeding up so it increases the load, slowing it down.

Advantages of isokinetic

The gains are spread evenly over the whole range of movement It is the fastest way to increase muscle strength

Disadvantageof isokinetic

Theequipment can be very expensive thus not available to all The difference between concentric and eccentric contractions Concentric contractions occur when a muscle shortens in length to develop tension.Eccentric contractions include the development of tension while a muscle is being lengthened.

Concentric contractions have been shown to activate more muscle fibres in general however in the eccentric phase more fast twitch fibres are recruited not slow twitch. These findings are very useful to power athletes who want to train fast twitch fibres more so they would bemore favourable to eccentric moves.

One way of training this eccentric way would be using plyometrics.These exercises like high powered jumps and hops would then train fast twitch fibres specifically.

Interestingly, DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness - which occurs24-48 hours after exercises usually results from eccentric notconcentric contractions. This is due to the intracellular pressure irritating nerve endings and causing swelling and pain. However, anappropriate warm up and cool down will alleviate DOMS.