What is the difference between isometric and isotonic exercise?

Exercises keep you healthy and strong. Regular exercises increases your circulation and helps to burn excess fat. People engage in exercises for various reasons. Some do it to lose weight. Some do it to stay healthy. Athletes are obligated to do exercises every day. Some do it just for fun. There are many types of exercises. The type of exercises differs according to your goals. Therefore, it is important that you clarify and set your goals before starting exercising. Then you should choose the type of exercise you need. Therefore, it is important to have a basic understanding about the types of exercises.

Exercises are divided into many categories. Strength training exercises are one such category. Strength training exercises are divided in to two. They are isometric exercises and isotonic exercises. Strength training exercises are designed to increase muscle strength. This is achieved by combining both isotonic and isometric exercises. The effects of the exercise are more when it is done against resistance. When the resistance is more the tension within each muscle fiber increases. As a result, with time the muscles become bulkier and stronger.

How to differentiate isometric exercises from isotonic exercises?

The main difference between these two is the movement at the involved joint. Isometric exercises keep the joint immobile while the isotonic exercises involve all the movements of the joint. Now you might wonder how to exercise without moving anything. The following explanation will answer your question.

Isometric Exercises

As mentioned above, isometric exercises do not involve movements at joints. These kinds of exercises increase muscle strength by increasing the tension of the muscle while keeping the muscles at a static level of contraction. How can you do this? It is done by keeping your body in a static posture for a long time. It might seem that staying at the same posture does not require any muscle activity, but it is not true. Maintaining posture involve contraction of opposing muscle groups at an equal intensity. Maintaining the same posture requires a lot of energy. Examples of isometric exercises include pushing or pulling against an immobile object and yoga exercises that maintains a posture for a long time. The disadvantage in this type of exercise is that one should use many postures in order to strengthen each muscel group in the body.

Isotonic Exercises

Unlike isometric exercises, isotonic exercises involves joint movements. The muscles are made to lengthen as well as shorten, but the tone of the muscles is kept static throughout the range of motion. Isotonic exercises include pushups, running, jumping, curls and climbing.

Both isotonic and isometric exercises increase muscle strength as well as endurance. To achieve maximum benefit from your exercise program, you should combine both of these types of exercises.