Study: Isometrics can help lower blood pressure than other forms of exercise
The health benefits of exercise are well-known, especially when it comes to better cardiovascular health and lowering blood pressure. Now, new research contends doing something as simple as a few wall squats or planks per week can help lower blood pressure even better than other types of exercise.
The study published recently in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that isometric exercises are better at lowering blood pressure than other types of exercise. Isometrics are moves in which you tense muscles and hold them still for a period of time. Researchers in this study combined results of 270 trials from around the world between 1990 and 2023 and examined results from nearly 16,000 participants. The goal was to compare how much a person’s resting blood pressure dropped after following different exercise programs.
Five different categories of exercise were studied, including aerobic exercise like walking and jogging, resistance training such as lifting weights, a combined program of weights and aerobics, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) including sprint intervals and isometric exercises, like wall squats and planks. The results showed all five regimens helped to lower blood pressure, but isometric exercise proved to be most beneficial. Wall squats (propping your back against a wall with your thighs parallel to the ground) were the most effective exercise out of all those studied.
What is isometric exercise?
Frank Velasquez Jr., Director of Sports Performance for the Allegheny Health Network (AHN), explains there are three types of muscle contractions: isometric, isotonic and isokinetic. “Isometric is where the muscle is contracting, but it’s not changing length,” says Velasquez. “If you’re sitting in a chair and straighten your right leg and just tighten up your quad muscle and hold it, that’s an isometric contraction. You’re contracting that muscle and it’s not increasing or decreasing in length.”
Isometrics place a different stress on the body as compared to aerobic exercise. Increasing tension in a muscle and holding it causes a sudden rush of blood to the area when you relax, and this increased blood flow helps circulation and cardiovascular health.
So, should you include isometrics in your exercise routine?
“I’ll say what’s old is new again. Isometrics have been around a long time and used a ton for rehabilitation,” Velasquez said. “We will start you off with some isometric exercises and then build up from there. It’s kind of like one of the foundation blocks for strength training. I don’t think they’re wrong, but I don’t think it’s going to be a growing trend of how we train to improve our cardiovascular fitness.”
He cautioned to start very slowly and with small time increments.
“I will tell you this, if you’ve never done a wall squat … to do one for two minutes? You could probably struggle through it, but you may not be able to walk the next day. They’re saying to do it two minutes with a two-minute break and do that four times, three times a week. You really have to be elite to do something like that.”
He agreed that including isometrics in an exercise program makes for a well-rounded regimen. To get started, Velasquez suggests two isometrics that work the front and then the back of your thighs. Start with 20- to- 30-second wall squats to build up leg strength and work the quadriceps on the front of your thighs. Then, do it seated on a chair with your left leg slightly bent, toes in the air and heel on the ground. Place your right hand behind your left hamstring on the back of your thigh and press your left heel into the ground. That creates an isometric hamstring exercise for the back of your leg.
Velasquez also recommends high-intensity interval training, especially a method called Tabata, named after the Japanese exercise physiologist who created it. Tabata is clinically proven to improve anaerobic capacity and aerobic fitness by doing only a four-minute program.
“You do 20 seconds of work, then 10 seconds of rest and you repeat that eight cycles,” Velasquez said. “Let’s say you were jumping rope. You jump rope for 20 seconds; you rest for 10 seconds. You do that eight times. It sounds easy, but it’s difficult.”
The benefit is concentrating on cardiovascular fitness by focusing on intense but brief bursts of activity. An added bonus is that Tabata workouts don’t take much time and you can get the most bang for your buck in just a four-minute workout a few times per week.
If you’re thinking of trying Tabata training or isometrics, just know that you should start slowly and not overdo it at the start.
“If you’re going to go down the path of isometrics, just make sure you ease in,” Velasquez said. “Don’t read this and try to do eight minutes of wall squats or planks. You’re going to wake up regretting it. Ease in and make it part of a well-rounded program.”