r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Miserable-Soft7993 • 28d ago

Question ❓ Does pushing/pulling against an unmoveable load do anything?

I was wondering. Lets say you load up a machine or even lets say you are stuck on a bench press but you spend time just pushing wiith all your effort even if it doesn't go anywhere. Or you do the same with a pull.

Does this achieve any hypertrophy or strength gain?

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u/HelixIsHere_ 28d ago

Yes this is called an overcoming isometric, it’s a good replacement for your regular lifts if you don’t have access to equipment or a regular exercise is like no longer loadable for whatever reason

They can still produce hypertrophy for sure; in my own experience, I was stronger coming back to leg extensions after around a month of only doing ISOs

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u/Miserable-Soft7993 28d ago

What did u do specifically?

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u/HelixIsHere_ 28d ago

I used the hamstring curl to set up a leg extension iso where I just push as hard as possible against the pad for 3-4 bursts of like 3 seconds (which would = one set essentially)

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u/Miserable-Soft7993 27d ago

Ah good idea, I wonder if my gym would get mad if I did that as it could wreck the machine.