ZHealth Isometric Protocols for Strength and Hypertrophy

Strength protocol:

• Contraction at 90%, or higher, of max force at long muscle length for 3-5 seconds per rep
• Rest 5-10s between reps
• 5 reps per set
• 3 min. break between sets
• 3-4 sets

Hypertrophy protocol:

• Contraction at 70-75% max force for 30 seconds
• Rest 10-15s between reps
• Total hold time should be 80-150 seconds, eg. 3 x 30s holds = 90s.

The strength protocol has some similarities to the Promethean program in Paul Wade's book Ultimate Isometrics Manual, which was published some years before the research that the above video mentions was published. In Promethean you pick whatever starting load you like, eg. 50lbs. Then you try to apply at least 50lbs. of force for 4-6 seconds. If you can hold for 6 seconds, you rest 20s, and increase the load by 5-10 lbs for your rep. If you can't hold for 4s, you drop the load for your next rep. Total reps would be 4-6. Eventually, you'll raise the load so high that a 4s hold requires very high effort - you'll probably be working around 90% 1-rep max at that point.

I plan to train with the IsoMax after completing of The Giant 1.x series with single 20kg kettlebell. After completed The Giant 1.2 for the first time with single 16kg KB, I was able to press the 20kg KB for 1 rep. I then did a training block on the IsoMax using my favorite strength protocl at the simte, which was 6x6, also from the Paul Wade book. After that block, I retested my 20kg KB press rep max, and found it increased from 1 to 3, whihch was ok, but not the 5 reps I'd hoped for.

Thus when I complete The Giant 1.2 with the 20kg KB, I'll take a few days off, then test my 24kg clean+press rep max. If it's under 5, I'll try out this relatively updated strength protocol, as shared by Z-Health in the above video, for 6-8 weeks, and see if that raises my rep max.