holding the weight at the stress point

[derek_richmond]

hi,

i am a typical skinny guy, and i've found rather than doing the normal weight movements (bicep curl for example) rather than moving it up and down etc to hold it for as long as i can at when it is working the muscle(s) out the most.

is this advisable (maybe it makes a difference that i'm a skinny guy becuase sometimes my joints get sore before the muscle does whereas with this holding technique its the other way round)

thanks greatly for any comments.

[guids]

doing something like this (static contraction) for biceps is stupid, doing it for large lifts (I love it for squat and bench, and weigted pullups), really taxes your CNS and is awesome. Doing it for the smaller muscles is kind of a waste of time imo.

[thirddan]

do a search for isometric contractions...i think christian thib included a bit about them in one of his recent hypertrophy articles (maybe muscle for athletes?)...

i agree that doing this for all movements is probably a waste of time, at least until you have a solid foundation and an older training age...

[maniacut]

guids, correct me if i'm wrong but for the bench this is like just an inch or two below lockout and probably only safely done with a big spotter or in the power rack with safety bars. Where are the holding points for some of the other lifts namely squat, pullups and deadlift.