Tara Nicolas, a NASM-certified personal trainer from Fhitting Room, told POPSUGAR that isometric holds "build strength, efficiency, endurance, and confidence in some of the hardest phases of an exercise." In a push-up, that's where you've done the eccentric part of lowering yourself down and you need to generate enough power to push back to your plank position.
- Come into a plank position with your arms and legs straight, your shoulders above your wrists, and your glutes and abs engaged.
- Take a breath in.
- As you exhale, bend your elbows out to the sides and lower your chest toward the ground. Stop as soon as your shoulders are in line with your elbows.
- Hold yourself in this position for 15 to 30 seconds, Nicolas suggests, before pushing back up to your plank position or lowering all the way to the floor to take a break.
- If this is too difficult, do the exercise with your knees on the floor.