In this article, you will learn what isometric pull up hold is, its benefits, and how to train with it.

What is an isometric pull up hold?

An isometric hold is a form of exercise involving the static contraction of a muscle without changing the length of the muscle and the angle of the joint.

Isometric pull up hold consists of holding a pull up position for a long period of time.

Benefits of isometric pull up hold

Isometric training is often neglected by people despite many of its benefits. Here are 3 of them.

Muscle hypertrophy

When you perform a regular pull up, you lose muscle tension at the bottom of the movement, when you straighten your arms. However, if you stop in the middle of pull up, and hold that position for a longer period of time, you will increase the tension in your muscles. As studies show, time under tension has a significant effect on muscle hypertrophy – building muscle mass.

Improves weak points

Isometric pull up hold can help you build up strength in a particular muscle or range of motion. For example, if the upper part of the pull up is the most challenging for you, just hold that position as long as you can for a few sets. After some time of that training, it will no longer be your weak link anymore.

Rehabilitation after injury

Isometric training is often used in rehabilitation because it allows you to train without painful joint angles. Isometric pull up hold will be helpful for people that have an injury not allowing exercise in a full range of motion. For example, people with arthritis may not be able to perform pull ups within the full range of motion because of joint pain at specific angles. An isometric pull up hold is a great alternative for those people to train despite their injury.

How to train with an isometric pull up hold?

Isometric pull up hold can be trained in many ways. You can do it at one specific angle or several times with different angles throughout the entire movement.

If you’re injured and have a limited range of motion or you want to work on your weakest point you should focus on one angle that is right for you.

But, if your goal is to overall improve your pull up you can do pull ups with holds in many positions. For example, you can stop 3 times with angles of 60, 90, and 120 degrees. You can do that kind of pull ups for reps and manipulate with the time of each hold. Start with 15 seconds (45 seconds per rep) and with each rep go down.