Back to the Rack

Bill Starr
Iso Programs for All Part 7

Last month I presented two sample programs that gave priority to isotonic-isometric exercises
and used free-weight movements as adjuncts to the rack work. There was a routine for
Olympic weightlifters and another for competitive powerlifters.

Those programs are most effectively used off-season, during breaks from important
competitions, although several York lifters used them in-season and tested out at the meets.
Typically, you do them for six to eight weeks, then shift the emphasis back to more free-
weight work, putting isos in a supplemental role.

The two programs I outline this month are for athletes who’re involved in a competitive sport
and are somewhat advanced in strength training and for those who train primarily for strength
fitness. The former group includes athletes who participate in football, wrestling, rugby,
lacrosse and the throwing events in track plus all those strongman and -woman events that
have become so popular. Of course, any athlete can benefit from an iso program. Swimmers
at Indiana University, runners from Villanova and rowers from the Vesper Boat Club in
Philadelphia were among the first to show significant strength improvement while using the
new system of strength training in the early ’60s.

 The latter group consists of younger and older weight trainers who want to maintain a high
level of strength or improve some particular lift but have no intention of entering any
competition. They just like the idea of being strong.

 Isotonic-Isometric Program for Strength Athletes

This is a five-days-a-week routine, but you can modify it to fit your schedule. You do the iso
work in the rack on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and use the free weights on Tuesday and
Thursday.

Monday

 Three incline-press positions, the steeper the better: start, eye level and finish. If you don’t
have an incline bench, substitute overhead presses for the same three positions.
 Three pulling positions using a clean grip: start, just below the knees and high top pull. The
final position is where you finish your pull for a power clean, right at the bottom of your
breastbone, and climb high on your toes before locking into the top pins.
 Three back-squat positions: deep bottom (try to set yourself lower than you go when you
squat), midpoint and three-quarters of the way up.
 Calf raises.

Tuesday

 Power cleans: five sets of five.

  Back squats: five sets of five.
 Good mornings: four sets of 10.
 Bench presses: five sets of five.

Wednesday

 Three bench press positions: start, middle and finish.

 Three pulling positions using a snatch or wider grip: slightly below the starting point, just
above the knees and at the bellybutton.
 Two front-squat positions: deep bottom and middle. If you can’t do front squats, substitute
those same two positions for back squats.
 Calf raises.

Thursday

 High pulls, alternating clean and snatch grips every other week: five sets of five.
 Inclines: five sets of five
 Front squats: two sets of five followed by three sets of three. Again, if you don’t do front
squats, do back squats: five sets of five.

Friday

 Three pulling positions using a clean grip: midshin, right at the knees and a shrug, staying
flatfooted.
 Three press positions: start, eye level and four inches under lockout. If you did inclines on
Monday, do standing presses. If you substituted overheads for inclines on Monday, you can
do either benches or overheads at this workout.
 Three back-squat positions: ultradeep, midpoint and three-quarters of the way up.
  Calf raises.

Since you’re building pure strength with the iso workouts, your objective on the free-weight
days is to hone your form on the selected exercises. The only one you need to push to limit is
the good mornings—and that’s to ensure that your lower back stays proportionately as strong
as the other parts of your back. Whenever I did several weeks of concentrated isos, I felt my
lumbars were lagging behind a bit, so I always did good mornings and worked them hard.
Should you have an aversion to good mornings, you can do almost-straight-legged deadlifts-
a.k.a. stiff-legged deadlifts-instead, but you have to do them with intensity.

On all the other exercises use moderate poundages. Lifting slightly lighter weights will enable
you to pay closer attention to your technique, which should be your main purpose. It’s easy to
lose concentration and hurry through your routine because you know you can handle the
weights easily enough, but that won’t aid your cause. Attempt to perform each rep perfectly,
and make sure that your final sets aren’t so light that you can use sloppy form and still make
all the reps.

Which brings up the question: How heavy is moderate? Some people use percentages, but I
prefer just taking a bit off the top end. Let’s say you’re able to handle 325 for five on the
bench press. While giving the isos precedence, work up to 300 or 305 at most. My rule of
thumb is to select a weight for my final set that I could use for one or two more reps if I
wanted to. You’ll still have to put in plenty of effort, but the lighter weight will make it much
easier to concentrate on the small form points.

Every three or four weeks skip the Friday iso session and test out on the big three on
Saturday: power clean, squat and bench press. Some trainees like to do inclines rather than
flat-bench presses, and that works just as well. In fact, I believe inclines are more beneficial
for athletes than flat-bench presses.

The test day is helpful in that it lets you handle some heavier weights, which means you can
check out whether your form is improving and you have gained strength on the various
movements. Isos always seem to boost one or two lifts more than others. When you resume
your isos the following week, you must give preference to the lifts that made the least
improvement. Remember that the goal is always to find your weak points and make them
stronger.

Now, I don’t mean that you should do more positions for the weakest bodyparts. Three is
sufficient, but you can give them priority by moving them to the front of the workout and
making sure that you’re working to absolute max on your isometric holds. In some cases the
weight you use at the various positions may not be as much as it could be. In that case you
lock the bar into the top pins and hold it for a 12-count without an all-out effort. For those to
be effective, that hold has to make your body shudder.

Also, sometimes you don’t make progress on a particular exercise simply because you’re not
working it frequently enough. For example, you find on your test day that your bench press
hasn’t gone up at all. So instead of doing inclines and overhead presses in the rack that next
week, do three bench press positions at every iso session and see if that makes a difference. It
should. I’ll comment more on weight selection for the isos later on, but now I want to outline
a program for those who are primarily interested in strength fitness.

 Isotonic-Isometric Program for General Strength Fitness

This one is set up the same way as the previous routine: five days a week, three days doing
isos, two doing free-weight exercises. I’m using a few different exercises in this program.
You can delete some and add others to suit your individual interests. Keep in mind that almost
any exercise that can be done with free weights can be duplicated in the power rack. It may
take some imagination, but I’ve seen athletes do good mornings and even leg curls using
isometrics.

Monday

 Three pulling positions using a clean grip: start, just below the knees and top high pull.
 Three positions on the bench press: start, middle and just below lockout.
 Two back-squat positions: deep bottom and just below parallel.
 Two curl positions: middle and finish.
 Calf raises.

Tuesday

 Back squats: five sets of five

  Good mornings or almost-straight-legged deadlifts: four sets of 10.
 Bench presses: five sets of five.

Wednesday

 Three bent-over-row positions: start, middle and finish.

 Three incline-press position: start, eye level and just short of lockout.
 Three back-squat positions: deep bottom, right at parallel and three-quarters of the
way up.
 Three pushdown positions: start, middle and finish.
 Calf raises.

Thursday

 Alternate incline presses with overhead presses: two sets of five and then three sets of
three.
 If you can do front squats, do five sets of three. For back squats stay with five sets of
five.
 Shrugs: five sets of five

Friday

 Three pulling positions: below starting position, midthigh and finish, high on your
toes.
 Three pressing positions: start, eye level and just short of lockout.
 Two squat positions: ultradeep bottom and a tad above parallel.
 Three curl positions: start, middle and finish.
 Calf raises.

As with the other program, skip the Friday workout every so often, come in on Saturday and
go to limit on the primary exercises. You might also see if your curling strength has
improved. Note your weaker lifts and lean on them hard when you go back to the isos.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll state it again: These programs are models. They’re not cast
in stone. I know it’s a cliché, and I try to avoid using them, but in this case it gets the point
across. Use the routines as listed or modify them to fit what you’re trying to accomplish.

For example, you may want to stick with isos throughout the week and go heavy on all the
lifts on Satuarday. That’s how the original program was designed and how Louis Riecke and
Bill March trained with great success in the early ’60s. They did overhead presses, squats and
pulls in the rack during the week, then totaled out on the three Olympic lifts—press, snatch
and clean and jerk—on Saturday.

Perhaps you’d rather use free weights three times a week and work in the rack only twice.
Whatever floats your boat. As for whether you should do isos often or seldom, there are some
rules that should be adhered to if you want to make progress.

Only do three positions for the major muscle groups: shoulder girdle, back, and hips and legs.
If you work those three positions diligently, doing additional positions won’t make them
stronger. In fact, it’s counterproductive to do extra work for any bodypart. Advanced strength
athletes can get away with working three or four more positions for the smaller groups, such
as calves, biceps and triceps, but the majority of trainees are better off sticking with nine
positions total—and never more than 12.

Be sure to warm up well before going to the rack. Get your core body temperature up by
doing calisthenics or riding an exercise bike for five to 10 minutes. Next, do something for
your abs and lumbars. Do situps, crunches or leg raises for the abs. Do hyperextensions,
which flush blood into your lower back in a hurry. Finally, grab a light weight and work the
muscles of the first group you plan to hit in the rack, such as a set of power cleans before you
pull, free-hand squats before you squat or dumbbell front and lateral raises before you do
benches, inclines or overhead presses.

Along the same line of common sense, before you move on to the second and third series of
positions, make sure those bodyparts are adequately prepared for the stress ahead. When you
thoroughly warm up muscle groups, they respond much more favorably to any form of
exercise, and that’s even more the case with isotonic-isometrics because the sets are so
concentrated and short in duration. Warm muscles are also less prone to injury.

Here’s a variation that I’ve found helps athletes learn how to put forth greater effort on the
money reps. On the first position of a series at the start of the workout they do three sets
rather than just one: the first with a light weight, the second with a moderate poundage and
the third as a heavy work set. They do three reps on the first and second sets, tapping the top
pins each time but not holding the bar against them for a count. On the work set they can go
right to the iso hold on the first rep or tap the pins once or twice before locking it into an
isometric contraction for a count of eight to 12. The preparatory tap or taps give lifters a feel
for the work weight and make sure their mechanics are correct. If everything isn’t right, they
can stop and make the necessary adjustments before locking into the isometric hold.

At the second position for that bodypart they can either follow the same procedure and do two
warmup sets or, if they’re confident that they know what they’re trying to accomplish, they
can go directly to the work set. There they can tap the top pins once or twice prior to the
isometric contraction or lock in on the first rep. Obviously, the more you practice the system,
the more proficient you’ll become. Doing extra sets at each position does make the workout
longer, but when you’re in the learning stage, it’s well worth it.

On the subject of workout time, move through the iso workout with purpose. After you finish
warming up, set up for your first position, do the iso, unload, move the bar to the next
position, reload and quickly perform the isotonic-isometric exercise—and on to the next until
you’ve completed your session. No breaks at all. You’ll discover that you don’t need them
and that you achieve greater results when you move through the positions quickly.

In that regard, it really helps to have a training partner when you do isos. Two training mates
are even better to help you with unloading and reloading and moving the pins and bar to the
next position. A little trick to aid in that process is to place a bench or chair next to the ends of
the bar and stack the weights on it. That saves time and energy and will enable you to
complete the workout much faster.

You don’t have to follow the exact order of the positions as I listed them in the sample
routines. You may want to give your weakest position priority and move it up front, with your
second weakest second and strongest third. While that seems logical, some trainees find that
they can exert the most effort at the third position for a certain bodypart. That’s partly because
they’re more warmed up and partly because they’re getting in the groove after the two
previous sets. In that case do the weakest position last. If all the positions are about equal, it’s
still a good idea to switch the order around regularly.

A common error many beginners make is to use the railings of the rack to help control and
balance the bar when they lock into the isometric hold. When they do that, their mechanics
are not correct—usually they’re leaning too far backward or forward.

Keep in mind that if you’re not positioning your body exactly as you do when you perform an
exercise with free weights, you’re not going to gain any strength from doing isos on it. So
learn to fix the bar in the middle of the pins, away from the railings, and make sure your body
mechanics are correct before commencing the isometric hold.

Speaking of pins, the closer you can set them to one another, the easier the isotonic portion of
the movement will be. Not all power racks have holes closer together, however. I’ve trained
on some on which the holes were set six inches apart. Certainly not ideal, but by standing on
boards or plates, I was still able to lean into the isometric contractions for the required count.

When moving the bar isotonically upward, don’t jam it against the top pins. Think in terms of
how you’d go about pushing a car. You’d never get it to move by jamming against it. Rather,
you’d set it in motion by applying pressure and increasing it steadily until the car began to
move.

The same idea applies to the isotonic-isometric contraction. Fix the bar against the top pins
deliberately, make sure your body position is correct, and then start applying tension to the
bar. Over the course of four or five seconds you should increase the tension until you’re
pushing or pulling to the absolute max. Now lock into that extreme contraction for a count of
eight to 12. While you’re in the middle of that surreal experience, focus on the muscle groups
you’re working and visualize them growing stronger as the count progresses. The Zen of
strength training.

I can’t overstress that point: The only way to contract your muscles maximally and hold them
in that state of extreme tension for the desired count is to keep your body rigid throughout the
iso hold. And the best way to achieve that is to start from a solid base. Push your feet down
into the floor, consciously contract your legs, hips, glutes, back, shoulders and arms almost to
the point of cramping, and stay in that state of tightness until you reach your goal of eight to
12 seconds.

Some trainees believe that a five-to-six-second contraction is sufficient to build strength, and I
agree if the athlete is experienced in this system of training. I’ve found that those in the
process of learn isotonic-isometric technique benefit more by doing the longer count.

 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.

Weighty Matters
Whether you decide to use just a few isotonic-isometric positions as supplements to your
regular routine or want to give the rack work priority for six to eight weeks, you’ll find this
unique system of strength work to be extremely productive. In the beginning you’ll work
through lots of trial and error until you learn your strong and weak positions. Keep in mind
that hold time is more important than the amount of weight used in the isotonic-isometric
system. So if you’re unable to hold the iso contraction for a minimum of eight seconds, use
less weight, and if you can easily handle a certain poundage for 12 seconds and you know you
could hold it even longer, you need to increase the resistance.

Should you barely hold a contraction for eight seconds, stay with that same weight until you
can hold it for 12, and then add weight. Let’s say you start into a work set and instantly realize
that the weight is too heavy for you to hold for the minimum count. Stop, take off some
plates, and do it again. Likewise, when the weight you select is clearly too light, replace the
bar on the lower pins and add weight.

You also want to remember to write down what you do at each iso session. Record the hole
positions, the amount of weight handled and how long you held the contraction. If you use
warmup sets, note them as well. This data will be extremely valuable in the long run. Years
later you can look at your training journal and use the information again—maybe not for
yourself but for someone you’re coaching.

After an iso session find a way to decompress your back. Overhead work, squats and pulls all
put a tremendous amount of stress on your spine, and it’s very beneficial to your health and
long-term progress to relieve at least some of that strain. Inversion boots are great and
available again, as are inversion beds, which tilt upward and save you the trouble of finding a
high chinning bar.

At the York Barbell Club the lifters decompressed their backs by hanging upside down from a
chinning bar with their feet fastened to the bar with straps. It wasn’t comfortable by any
means, but it got the job done. When I first dangled upside down, my fingers would be six
inches from the floor. Five minutes later I could touch the concrete. Most of us decompressed
in that manner after every heavy workout, and it really helped prepare us for our next session.
In the event that it’s not possible for you to hang upside down, strap onto a chinning bar and
coax your back muscles to relax as you hang. That will be better than not doing anything at all
to decompress your spine.