IsoMax: Bruce Lee Program

I've been training with a focus on hypertrophy for several months now, and will soon wrap up the 8-week training block under the Easy Muscle program. For the next multi-week training block I will focus on strength, which is defined as the maximal capacity of a muscle, or group of muscles, to exert a force under a given set of conditions. For this strength training block, I will practice isometric exercises on the IsoMax.

The book The Ultimate Isometrics Manual includes several training programs for use with the Isochain/IsoMax, each intended for a particular fitness goal. One of these programs is the Bruce Lee, which I believe was taken from Bruce Lee's book The Art of Expressing the Human Body.

In the Isochain/IsoMax user community, fitness trainer Chrys Johnson has reported strength gains from isometric training inspired by the Bruce Lee program - for himself and for his clients. He posted some videos on his channel No Limit Squad

I plan to try a variation of the Bruce Lee routine with my IsoMax and see what strength gains I may get. Chrys mentions in his videos that he typically does both an isometric workout and a dynamic workout on the same day. For example he'll do an isometric workout in the morning and lift weights in the afternoon or evening. I am curious what strength gains may be had if I only do the isometric workout in the mornings, and do not do another full workout session in the evenings, so I will not be following Chrys' example that faithfully.

The Bruce Lee routine is made up of 2 squat variations, 2 press variations, and one variation each of deadlift, pull, shrug, and calf raise. The routine appears to be idential to an isometric routine that Bob Hoffman created for Olympic weightlifters. My fitness goals include the front lever and one-arm chinup, so I would prefer 2 pull variations to 2 squat variations, with at least one pull variation targeting the biceps more directly. Also, I have no interest in taking up the sport of Olympic weightlifting. So I plan to swap out some exercises from the Lee/Hoffman program.

The exercise selection for my version of the Bruce Lee program:

Zercher Squat - This replaces the front squat and is closer in feel to the double kettlebell front squat. The bar height will be set just high enough so the elbows cannot contact the thighs. Allowing this contact seems to transfer more of the load from the arms to the legs, which would make it closer to the Austin Squat. The Austin Squat looks like a good exercise but I think the Zercher Squat is the better choice to progress towards a double 24kg kettlebell front squat. The double KB front squat and the Zercher Squat are both done with the the load partially supported by the arms and upper back.

High Deadlift - Bruce preferred the bar about 2 inches below the knees. Because of my injury history with the low back, I am very reluctant to deadlift that low, and will instead set the bar above the knee. Strength gained should improve my double KB clean. Isometric deadlift should also strengthen the tendons and ligaments of my posterior chain, including the lower back.

Low Overhead Press - The Lee/Hoffman routine mentions this one, but I haven't found any mention of specific cues to do it. I would like to progress towards a double 24kt kettlebell press, so I will work with the cues taught for the kettlebell press, including the Zip-Up.

Low Drag Curl - This replaces the High Pull (Upright Row and Calf Raise combined) in the original. This exercise was probably selected by Hoffman because the High Pull is an Olympic weightlifting exercise. For an upper body pulling exercise, Drag Curl targets the biceps more directly. The bar is set low so that the biceps are lengthened as much as possible. Recent research seems to indicate that isometric strength training with lengthened muscle stimulates strength gains through the full range of motion, not just at the specific isometric training angle.

Medium Overhead Press - This replaces the "close to lockout" overhead press, which puts the pressing muscles at short lengths. Isometric training at the sticking point has been proven effective, which tends to be close to the medium position. Recent research has found that isometrics at long muscle lengths transfer to strength at all joint angles. I have not heard of any research that has found benefits for isometrics at short muscle lengths. The medium angle is very close to my sticking point in the kettlebell overhead press.

Calf Raise - Same as in the original. Perhaps stronger calves will reduce occasional aches and pains I feel in my feet when I walk.

Shrug - Same as in the original. Perhaps stronger traps will improve how I lock out my arms overhead while pressing or snatching a kettlebell.

Seated Row - Replaces the Parallel Squat in the original, as I'd rather have 2 pull variations than 2 squat variations. Strength gains from isometric seated row has reportedly carried over to pull ups, which makes sense as the seated row works the lats. The position that sets the lats at a their longest length in this exercise, also sets the biceps at long length.

Nobody seems to know how many days a week Bruce Lee spent on his isometric routine. Some people seem to think he did it 3 days a week. The Ultimate Isometrics Manual states it could be done all 7 days if desired, because the training volume would be so low, if one did only one repetition of a 6-12 second hold per exercise.

Nobody seems to know for sure how many repertitions of a hold that Bruce did for each exercise. As mentioned earlier, Chrys got strength gains y doing the Bruce Lee every day, with dynamic weight lifting in the evenings. As an experiment, I will do one rep per exercise, log the max force and average force numbers, then see how the number change over 2 weeks. If there is a general upward trend, I'll keep doing one rep per exercise. If the numbers don't appear to trend up, I'll try 2 reps per exercise.