The Show Up Fitness Podcast

Ep. 229 Muscle Contractions: Pass NASM/ACE/ISSA/SUF

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 2 • Episode 229

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Need to pass NASM/ACE/ISSA/NSCA/SUF, master muscle contractions. Everything isotonic, isometric, isokinectic. Become a successful personal trainer by reading chapter 12 How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer vol. 2 to pass in 30-days

Muscular contractions form the foundation of all human movement, yet many trainers struggle to translate this science from certification textbooks into effective client programs. In this comprehensive breakdown, we demystify the three primary types of muscular contractions—isotonic, isometric, and isokinetic—and explain precisely how understanding each transforms your training approach.

Diving deep into the sliding filament theory, we explore how myosin and actin interact during different movement phases and why this matters for your clients' results. You'll discover why eccentric training (where muscles lengthen under tension) produces greater strength adaptations with less volume, how isometric holds can build tissue tolerance at points of pain, and when to implement advanced breathing techniques like the Valsalva maneuver for experienced lifters.

Beyond the physiology, we translate this knowledge into practical applications across all fundamental movement patterns. Learn how to identify weak points in a bench press and implement isometric pin presses to break through plateaus. Understand why controlling the eccentric phase of a pull-up builds the foundation for clients who can't yet perform a single rep. See how proper breathing mechanics change as clients progress from beginners to advanced lifters.

The difference between memorizing terminology for a certification exam and truly understanding how to implement this knowledge represents the gap between textbook trainers and qualified professionals who transform lives. Whether you're preparing for your NASM exam or looking to elevate your training approach beyond industry standards, this episode delivers the science, practical applications, and confi

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry, one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book, how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy y'all, welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we're going to help you better understand muscular contractions.

Speaker 1:

The question comes from Miss Cindy. She's in Jacksonville, florida. She has her NASM exam here soon and she needs to pass it ASAP. And she said could you help me better understand concentric, eccentric amortization all the terminology that you need to know to pass that textbook certification? Now remember the difference between a textbook trainer and a qualified trainer. Textbook trainers are great at answering test questions. Qualified trainers are great at training the human body. So if you cannot get a refund for your test and you need to pass it ASAP, chapter 12 of my book, how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer, volume two, gives a ton of information and questions helping you better understand this. You leave a five-star review. We're going to shoot you over our study guide and quizzes over a $200 value so you can pass it ASAP and then move into guided experience. Get a mentor, go to an internship If you're in Miami at the end of the month. Go to a seminar. We're going to be in Denver next weekend. In two days. You will learn more than any textbook certification. I guarantee it, because you're going to build your confidence, you're going to understand how to program and you're going to understand how to build a book of business.

Speaker 1:

So there are three types of muscular contractions. We have isotonic, we have isometric and isokinetic. Isotonic means there's a change of length and for the test they're going to ask you a question like that. They could say which of the following is a type of muscular contraction where there's changes in length consistently and it's based off of a machine. That would be isokinetic. That's all you need to know about that.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to the two main topics isometric and isotonic it's based off of the siding filament theory and the myofilaments I know this stuff can be boring, but you need to know it for the exam. And the myofilaments are protein filaments within the muscle that are involved during the muscular contraction. There's three main types. We have thick filaments, which are the myosin thin filaments, which is actin. Then we have elastic filaments and that's like titan. You're not going to see much on the latter. It's going to be more so on actin and myosin and what's happening during a muscular contraction.

Speaker 1:

So I think the easiest one to start with is isometric. There's no change in length. This is what we'd like to implement when we find weak areas during a lift or maybe you injured a specific area. I did a podcast with Doc Farnsworth the other day and we talk about pain and at the point of pain it's great to implement isometric exercises to help build the tolerance and improve that weakened area or that injured area. So think of a plank, a prone isoab in the NASM world. You are on your elbows, you're holding there for 30 seconds. That is an isometric contraction. You can also see that when you're sitting on a wall, whether if it's at 90 degrees or maybe you have a client who has discomfort and pain. So you go right to that point and you hold for 30 seconds and then the sensation of pain should go down. That's building tissue tolerance and a lot of times with pain, that's what we need to build on that capacity.

Speaker 1:

Pain is multifactorial. We can't just simplify it by saying you have knee pain, go do wall sits. In our seminars we break down screens when to refer out. How do I identify low hanging fruit? So if the knee has discomfort, maybe it's the ankle, maybe it's the hip. Those are things that we're going to teach you. And then the soft tissue that's going to help down, regulate the nervous system or take the brakes off, and then you implement some corrective exercises so you can get into a trainable workout. That's the most important part. When a client comes to you with discomfort, get them out of pain momentarily. If you need to refer out, you do because you have a physical therapist on your team and you know how to stay in your lane A great isometric exercise to help really improve your strength at a weak point.

Speaker 1:

So let's say you're identifying a weak point with an athlete and they're doing a bench press and it's coming down super, super slow, which is the eccentric, and we'll cover that here in a second and you notice at a point the bar begins to speed up. We should have control eccentrically, but you notice that we lack the control. So you could put some pins on the bench press at that point where you notice where there was an increase in speed and now you take the bar and you press against it concentrically to the point where you hit the pins and now you have an isometric contraction where you create maximal voluntary contraction at that weak point. That will carry over on the eccentric and concentric portions which I'm going to talk about next. So an isotonic contraction is where there's a change in length and the easier of the two to identify is the eccentric. Take the E and think of easier.

Speaker 1:

We are the strongest eccentrically. In the case with the bench press, I'm on my path for 315 this year. I'm right about 285. One of the things I'm implementing regularly is super overloads where I'm going to put 120% of my one rep max and I control it eccentrically. That's going to teach my nervous system and allow for adaptation. So I will be able to hit 315. I will move significantly past 315 to teach my nervous system to handle it for that point when it comes to being able to push 315. I will move significantly past 315 to teach my nervous system to handle it for that point when it comes to being able to push concentrically.

Speaker 1:

So when the muscle lengthens also referred to as the negative. As I said, we're the most strongest eccentrically but we also create the most damage delayed onset, muscle soreness. You could be doing a ton of bicep curls but one workout. You really focus on the eccentrics and you do half the amount of volume. You will be more sore the next day than the prior times when you were emphasizing more volume. So gravity is constantly pulling us down at 9.8 meters per second squared. Actually first theorized by Galileo, that was like in the 1500s, but Newton was the study who came around and really solidified 9.8 meters per second squared.

Speaker 1:

So when we're going with gravity, that's the eccentric. So let's take a look at the movement patterns. We have a push, a pull, a vertical push which we can classify as a press, a squat, a hinge, unilateral, and the transitional. And I'm really going to focus more on the jumping with this one because of another part of a muscle contraction, as we see with the stress shortening cycle and plyometrics. So when I do a push up, when I'm coming down, so think of yourself in that top position, or what they call a tall plank, elbows extended. When I come down to the ground, I'm going with gravity. That's the eccentric portion. I'm stronger there. That's why, for clients who cannot overcome gravity concentrically and do a pushup, we start with the eccentric portion. You may start on a bench or on a bench press and use the bar because it's a regressed version, but we can at least control the body down to the ground when we look at a pull-up, at the top position where your chin is over the bar when you come down. That is easier. Clients for the most part cannot do a pull-up. So you start with their head over the bar and you control the eccentric because it's easier. The body will adapt, get stronger and sooner or later, more efficiently than assisted pull-ups, you will be able to do your first pull-up. It takes time, repetition For the overhead press.

Speaker 1:

If you were to have some dumbbells overhead and you were to bring the dumbbells to your shoulders, that's the eccentric portion of a military press. When we look at a squat, we unrack it. We take a couple of steps back. When we descent, we come down. We're going with gravity. That's the eccentric portion. During a hinge, a deadlift, we start concentrically on the ground. You pull it up when you're at that top position and now you bring the bar down. You're going with gravity. That's the eccentric portion For a unilateral exercise. Let's take a look at a step up, at that top position on top of the step when you come down. That is the eccentric. When we look at a jump, the loading portion which is coming down is eccentric. So now let's take a look at the opposite side of the positive, that's the concentric portion.

Speaker 1:

The muscle is shortening and I know this is a podcast, so it's auditory, you're hearing it. But this is a really great exercise because if you can conceptualize it, listening, it's going to be a lot easier when you take the exam. So I want you, if you're driving, be careful, but put your arm right out in front of you so your elbow is fully extended. If it was a ruler, it's 180 degrees. If you flex your elbow and you bring it to 90, you've concentrically accelerated elbow flexion. Your biceps are flexing the elbow. Well, technically, the main elbow flexor is your brachialis. Your brachioradialis is another flexor, but for any of those exams they just want you to know it's the bice. Your brachialis. Your brachioradialis is another flexor, but for any of those exams they just want you to know it's the bicep brachii Fun factoid.

Speaker 1:

The word brachii means upper arm. We have our brachioradialis. As I said, we have our brachial artery, one of the 17 muscles of the shoulder, along with the biceps brachii, the coracobrachialis. It's referencing upper arm and so when you flex your elbow, you are concentrically accelerating against gravity. We have a greater motor unit recruitment concentrically. A motor unit is a neuron and all the associated muscle fibers that it innervates. Remember, a neuron has three parts the cell body, the axon and the dendrites. They could definitely ask you a question around that physiology, but motor unit recruitment is really emphasized concentrically.

Speaker 1:

This is typically when we want to breathe out. It's the hardest. So at that bottom position when I come up in a squat, that's concentric. That's when you want to breathe out. Now factor in if we're more intermediate or advanced.

Speaker 1:

Congratulations to Miss Katie. Not only did she have a birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Katie. Happy birthday to you. She just passed her test to be a referee for powerlifting. She is the judge to determine if your squat, bench and deadlift get the green light. And with those competitions, the athletes.

Speaker 1:

They need to incorporate the Valsalva maneuver, which is holding your breath concentrically, within reason, and that's why you get people to have a little grunt when they're exercising If you have a lot of weight on your back, you come down, you take a big deep breath in and then when you're coming out of the saddle you're pushing a little bit of air Because if you hold it for the entire repetition concentrically you may get a little lightheaded and dizzy. And we talked about this earlier because you're creating so much intra-abdominal pressure. It's going up against a closed glottis. That's a little flapper to separate your esophagus, which is your food pipe, and your trachea, which is your windpipe. So when you have a closed glottis, air cannot be released. So you create this intra-abdominal pressure which is great for stabilizing your low back and you need that for those lifts, especially when you're going over 80%. That's why you'd wear a weightlifting belt. It helps support the system. Now, for your lifts where you're doing 10 plus reps easy, you don't need a weight belt.

Speaker 1:

But the Valsalva maneuver is super important for intermediate to advanced lifters and the reason you get a little woozy. Someone asked in the Facebook group if you're not in there, make sure to join Qualified Personal Trainers community. Why is it that a client will have a heart rate of 150 or so when they're doing the reps and then when they rack it'll shoot up instantaneously 20, 30 reps. Sometimes they'll get a little woozy and dizzy and see some stars because of the pressure on the vagus nerve, which plays a role in the parasympathetic nervous system, and so you're actually calming down the system when you're holding your breath because there's pressure on that. So then when you start breathing after the lift, your blood pressure shoots up afterwards and that's where you can get a little woozy. So make sure that you help your clients rack the weight and you're there when they hit that one rep max because you don't want them to fall and pass out.

Speaker 1:

So to come back to a beginner, concentric is when we want to breathe out. Eccentric is when we want to breathe in. So let's take a look at those movement patterns again, starting with the pushup. You're coming off of the ground, so your chest is on the ground. You're pushing away. You're going against gravity. That's when you want to breathe out. When you come down, that's eccentric. If you were to pause halfway during the pushup, that is now isometric.

Speaker 1:

During a pull up, you're hanging and you're bringing your chin over the bar. That motion up to the bar is concentric. The muscles are shortening. Your artisimus dorsi is adducting the humerus in the frontal plane. When we do an overhead press, your humerus is abducting in the frontal plane. It's going away. You would want to breathe out. When you push up, that's concentric. When you control it down, that's when you want to breathe in. You want to have a breath. So here's what it would sound like if I was doing a military press. The bar is on my upper pec, which is the clavicular portion of my pec major. I'm pressing up, I extend my elbows, my humerus is abducted, my scapula is upwardly rotated to the top position and now I'm going to control it down. Then I pause isometrically and I'm going to breathe out. That's the breathing mechanics that we want to implement during the lifting mechanics for beginners.

Speaker 1:

When we do a squat, when we come out of the saddle. So if we do a box squat, you actually sit down, you pause for a second, your tushy, or your gluteus maximus, is on the bench. So when you come up, your hips are flexing, your hips are extending. That's where your glutes are working. At the knee they're also extending, which is your quads. If you got to take that NASA, mesa, issa, you got to know the synergist is your hamstrings. But, as qualified trainers know, it's actually not the hamstrings, it's the adductors. So for that test, answer hamstrings. Now if you take the show up test, you got to know it's the adductors, because there's actually no length. That's happening because my knee is extending but so are my hips. My hamstrings are working at the hip but they're also working at the knee because they're biarticulate, so the hamstrings are actually not changing much length. When you do a hinge, a deadlift, and you're taking the bar off the ground, that is a concentric muscle contraction. When you do a unilateral going back to the step up, when your foot is on the platform and you come up, that is concentric. Then when we do a jump, it's coming out of the low position Forcefully, maximal force production. That's the concentric. All of these play a role as a trainer in how we implement it within the program.

Speaker 1:

There's another phase of the movement called amortization. That's referencing the stretch shortening cycle during plyometrics. Amortization loan is a very short loan in the real estate world. So to conceptualize this, I'm going to talk you through it slowly, but you need to speed it up and do it maximum. So when I'm standing I'm going to load my arms behind my body as I come down eccentrically. Remember this is slow-mo. There's going to be a very quick pause and that pause is the amorization phase. It's like 0.15, 0.25 seconds, it's instantaneously. And then we quickly, rapidly throw our arms forward, we flex our humerus into the air like we're trying to touch the stars. That is concentric. That's where we produce max force. There's an energy transfer from the eccentric. That amortization phase. Is that energy transfer into the concentric? The question you may see on an exam is which of the following is not a phase incorporated during the stretch shortening cycle for plyometrics Concentric, eccentric amortization and isometric.

Speaker 1:

So the correct answer there would be isometric, because during plyos you do not want to pause because you're taking away that elastic energy. Think of pulling a rubber band back. If you just hold it back as long as you can, it's going to stretch, stretch, stretch and you're losing out on maximal force that it's going to be able to expand, whereas if you rapidly pull it back and then let go, it's going to go a lot further. That's the amorization aspect. So when we look at the movements and we understand a muscle contraction, with isotonic, concentric and eccentric, with isometric, there's no change in length. Isokinetic, there's a constant rate of change and this is used with machinery, like in a laboratory when I was at the University of Connecticut they had isokinetic machines. That's all you need to know for the exam about isokinetic Changes in length at a constant rate. If you're working with a physical therapist they may use the word tonic. That's the technical terminology for the quote-unquote.

Speaker 1:

Overactive, underactive Tonic is a constant low level of contraction and we can see that, like with posture. I always say the best posture is when your chest is out. You're showing off that emblem on your chest. Some people will say, show me your titties. I can't say that, I'm going to get in trouble. I had a girl student say it one time.

Speaker 1:

But if you would expand your chest out, there's no wrinkles in your chest and you're in that anatomical position, standing up, and you flex your humerus forward, so your arms are in front of you. When you flex your humerus forward, so your arms are in front of you and now you horizontally AB duct. So if I look to my left, my humerus is at 90 degrees and I can see my fingers in front of me with my hands up. That's a pronated grip If I externally rotate. So now my thumb is pointing towards my ear and then I AD duct which is bringing my humerus to my armpit and if you look in the mirror you go, whoa, there's some confidence. I like that.

Speaker 1:

With that posture you're going to have a sense of tonic. In the pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, the retractors of the scapula, there's a tonic contraction. It's not just isometric sitting there, there's no change, there's a low level of contraction. And what happens throughout life is we can put ourselves into positions where some muscles will become more tonic, such as the upper trapezius, maybe our hip flexors, and we like to blame them. You got lower cross syndrome, you're going to die. You got a foam bronze chest for the rest of your life.

Speaker 1:

In theory that can kind of work within reason, because what you're doing is you're moving, you're bringing blood flow to that area. That wasn't getting much before. So just movement in general. You put a foam roller or something on their blood flow, you do a little bit of stretch, you're going to feel better. But the challenge to that is you could have done a lot of other more effective things that would be superior. So that's why I don't like the foam roller and we prefer the soft tissue techniques, because you're adding value as the trainer versus the client thinking oh, my hips hurt, my back hurt. I need to go buy one of those foam rollers. How much are they? How much was that, theragun? It was a hundred bucks. I need to go buy one of those foam rollers. How much are they? How much was that, theragun? It was a hundred bucks. I need that because it made me feel better, for qualified trainers know these techniques in areas that are more tonic, so you can implement the technique that's appropriate within our scope and it helps them significantly more effectively than all those other tools. And then you teach them some correctives, get some blood flow in there. But then you're going to work on the eccentric control, the concentric portion of the movement. Hold isometrically for a second or two and you're doing eight or 10 reps and then you move into the workout. We're not getting on BOSU balls or stability balls, we're optimizing force production.

Speaker 1:

The fundamentals of movement are important and that's exactly what I just reviewed with today's podcast. If you enjoyed this and you want to hear more physiology, psychology, programming, nutrition, physical therapy and rehab, let us know. We're always trying to evolve. Grow the podcast, educate trainers leveling themselves up so they can turn their passion for fitness into career. If someone asks you I want to become a trainer. Send them to show up. We have a seven-day free trial. Our class in Atlanta in person to get your CPT is full. Super excited to launch that with Josh and Keith. Next one in Santa Monica is going to be July 7th Two months. You're going to gain hands-on learning. You're going to build your confidence.

Speaker 1:

I got the coolest text from Linnea today. She was one of our students. She got her degree in kinesiology, university of Utah, but she didn't feel confident in programming, in training people, because you don't learn that when you get a degree. So she came to our program In two months. She felt so ready and confident she got hired on the spot at Equinox in Santa Monica. Most trainers will need a couple years of experience before they can get hired at elite gyms like Lifetime and Equinox.

Speaker 1:

When you get your show up in a CPT, you have the hands-on learning. You go in there and you are a rock star and they want you and that's why you elevate to one of the best trainers there, building your book of business. You're still going to have fears. You're going to have those ants, but when you have a community to talk to, we prepped for that test so much she was confident. The questions that they asked her. She was still nervous but she was able to give the answer confidently and the manager said we want you. She's now on the team.

Speaker 1:

We have six trainers at the Santa Monica Equinox to have their show up in a CPT. Our goal is to have every top gym out there Equinox in a lifetime to have their trainers qualify with a show up in a CPT. If you're already certified and you need to get certified for life we have that option. We have a soft tissue certification. We have a nutrition coach certification. You work with dieticians, you work with physical therapists. That's what levels you up to become a successful personal trainer. If you like the book, leave that five-star review. Growing that sucker as big as my biceps. Remember big biceps are better than small ones. Keep showing up.