Classic Bruce Tegner on Isometrics Book

[stormshadow]

  archive.org/details/Isometric_Power_Exercises_Bruce_Tegner/page/n1/mode/2up

This was one of the first famous Bruces. Bruce Randall another. And now the one and only.

I like how you can do the exercises in the shower, getting dressed and driving. Probably another would be on the can, but he was a decent person so not shown.

[macky]

Bruce Tegner contributed a great deal to the martial arts. He was involved with many groups and helped to demystify Karate especially.

His Isometric course is excellent save for one important detail which I've posted in some time ago under the heading (I think it was) 'Did Bruce Tegner Hasten His Own Death?'

His breathing technique in the isometric course is a sure way to blow your head off, or at least lead to high blood pressure. Taking whacking great breaths and forcing it down into the abdomen while tensing the abdomen, and then the isometric hold as well, is asking for it in my opinion.

I tried it a couple times and when the stars and planets faded from my vision I had quite a headache. 

No other isometric course have I ever seen advocates holding one's breath while tensing into an isometric hold, much less forcing it as well. Most I have seen specifially advise against holding one's breath while performing an iso-hold.

If Bruce Tegner continued on with these methods of his, is it any wonder he died at 56 from a heart attack ?  

[mr potatohead]

Oh, so he's the guy who recommended inhaling air and holding the breath? I had forgotten. Thanks.
Yeah, one should not do that. Perhaps that text is unworthy of the Training Manual Section?

The only exception I can think of would be while doing a stomach vacuum, but that is the extreme opposite of a max inhale. Even doing a vacuum, I will maintain for a bit and then allow very shallow breathing while trying to maintain abdomen tension.

[stormshadow]

Thanks for that Macky. You are right about the breathing. To be truly fit I think you need cardio, strength, flexibility/mobility, and sound nutrition. I think one of the best cardio can be walking or hiking especially outdoors. He was a well rounded martial artist. I have his books on Karate, Judo, Kung Fu, Savate, Aikido, Pressure Points and Self Defense. And this ISO book which has some unique exercises.

[Michael]

Macky very good point. Even that pressurized breathing most promote with isometrics isn't really a good idea. I'd be curious how Silverlooks breaths when he performs his isometrics. I prefer to breath in and out through my nose. I like deep breaths with no struggled breathing. When I do isometrics I work up a nice sweat and feel really good like this.

Stormshadow, I have one of his self-defense books. Can't remember which one but I did find some useful stuff in it.

[Bob50]

As Macky described before, free shallow or normal breathing are also natural for me if I keep high isometric tension and concentrate on performance.

[Silverlooks]

Jun 15, 2019 19:00:59 GMT Michael said:

Macky very good point. Even that pressurized breathing most promote with isometrics isn't really a good idea. I'd be curious how Silverlooks breaths when he performs his isometrics. I prefer to breath in and out through my nose. I like deep breaths with no struggled breathing. When I do isometrics I work up a nice sweat and feel really good like this.

Stormshadow, I have one of his self-defense books. Can't remember which one but I did find some useful stuff in it.

Ken Hutchins, Drew Baye, and Steve Maxwell warn against holding breath or performing valsalva maneuver
(attempting to forcefully exhale while keeping the glottis closed) during exercise as this may cause high blood pressure, headache, and rapid fatigue. They advise to breath naturally with wide open mouth and not pusrsed lips and as relaxed as possible. No grunting and groaning or any activation of vocals.

[Silverlooks]

Jun 14, 2019 18:43:41 GMT stormshadow said:

I like how you can do the exercises in the shower, getting dressed and driving. Probably another would be on the can, but he was a decent person so not shown.

I also read somewhere someone can do stealth isometrics while riding a bus or plane or standing in queue line. .

Of course it's not possible to do so with any serious intensity. I look like about to start transforming into a werewolf when doing isos.

[macky]

That's right. Your breathing is going to come up a bit anyway when you apply iso-hold tension. I try and keep it at least as even (controlled) and low (abdominal) as possible.

As a near-lifelong asthmatic, I am perhaps a little bit more conscious of breathing habits than most, I guess.  Not to say that controlled holding of one's breath is no good, but it's a separate exercise in itself.  The muscles should be as relaxed as possible when holding one's breath as an exercise,  or the breath should be as relaxed as possible while tensing the muscles.   Not both at the same time.

Picking heavy things up one will often momentarily hold one's breath but only for a second or so.  Not stand there with a full puffed up breath for many seconds, forcing it down while holding the muscles tensed, and on top of that performing whatever isometric hold as well.

I had several books of Bruce's in the early 70's when karate was still some kind of mysterious art in NZ.  They were very fine efforts to explain techniques and sensible self-defence methods.

Unfortunately,  karate exponents are often trained in "over-training" as a way to gauge what they can expect of themselves in a combat situation.  It's typically Japanese in its extreme 'pushing until failure' mentality and Bruce's breathing method seems to be an example of it.  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-man_kumite

My wife often spoke of a thousand punches, a thousand kicks in her karate training under John Jarvis in the late 60's/early 70's (Kyokushin, later Goju-ryu).  Her over-training in karate and undoubted mental toughness development thereof extended into all other sports and exercise methods she indulged in, and her passing over ten years ago at 62 was no surprise to me.  I had often warned her of her family's history of polycythemia (which eventually turns into some variety of myelofibrosis) and her 17 years of increasingly poor health was a high price to pay for trained martial attitudes. 

As seen on youtubes with karate masters performing tensho (for example), even forced exhalation can be nearly as bad as holding the breath.  Instead, if the breath is taken in to about half, then tension applied and the breathing continued as normal as possible, the blood pressure can be kept under control, and any exhaustion will come from the muscles exercised rather than both that AND breathing exhaustion.  Obviously in punching, the breath is usually expelled during the thrust, but even then it can be minimal while full force is exerted.  Others will relax to make the punch faster and tense at the last instant. 

But in all cases including isometrics especially, if the breath is not held but kept as normal as possible under the circumstances, the blood pressure can be kept down, and possible heart problems will not arise later in life. 

 

Of course, if the performer is in good health and fitness, they may well get away with it for a long time, but I cannot help feeling that Bruce's death at a mere 56 from heart attack was at least partially due to lifelong forced and held breathing techniques while exerting max/near-max tension. 

[gruntbrain]

Safe breathing( avoiding the Valsalva) is challenging when performing yielding isometrics with max weights . The liftoff from the supports is where I have to be careful whereas proper breathing is much less of a challenge during the timed holds .

[Michael]

Jun 15, 2019 21:08:02 GMT Silverlooks said:

Jun 15, 2019 19:00:59 GMT Michael said:

Macky very good point. Even that pressurized breathing most promote with isometrics isn't really a good idea. I'd be curious how Silverlooks breaths when he performs his isometrics. I prefer to breath in and out through my nose. I like deep breaths with no struggled breathing. When I do isometrics I work up a nice sweat and feel really good like this.

Stormshadow, I have one of his self-defense books. Can't remember which one but I did find some useful stuff in it.

Ken Hutchins, Drew Baye, and Steve Maxwell warn against holding breath or performing valsalva maneuver
(attempting to forcefully exhale while keeping the glottis closed) during exercise as this may cause high blood pressure, headache, and rapid fatigue. They advise to breath naturally with wide open mouth and not pusrsed lips and as relaxed as possible. No grunting and groaning or any activation of vocals.

I agree. When I did isometrics I found myself breathing threw my nose, just felt more natural. It became a habit when I was told in a fight never breath with Your mouth because Your jaw could get broke easier. I pretty much do this with all my exercise and heavy labor work.

[Michael]

Macky I always learn something from Your post. So sorry for Your lose.

[macky]

Thank you Michael.  One should get up afterwards, and get cracking.  That's what my wife told me to do after she was gone, and that's what I did. 

In the process, thanks to people like Bruce Tackett and Bruv who constructed great sites where we can meet wonderful people and exchange ideas and experiences, I've gotten to know guys I never would have otherwise, and expanded my world via close encounters of the written and pictorial kind.     

[jonrock]

Yes macky, your info is always interesting and I enjoy your contributions regarding both life and training.

There is great people here and I am grateful to have found this place.

[jonrock]

Jun 15, 2019 21:14:44 GMT Silverlooks said:

Jun 14, 2019 18:43:41 GMT stormshadow said:

I like how you can do the exercises in the shower, getting dressed and driving. Probably another would be on the can, but he was a decent person so not shown.

I also read somewhere someone can do stealth isometrics while riding a bus or plane or standing in queue line. .

Of course it's not possible to do so with any serious intensity. I look like about to start transforming into a werewolf when doing isos.

That's exactly what I think, when intensity is high there is no way people won't notice it, it is like a volcano eruption. The body is shaking, the muscles are like steel cables and the look in the eyes is murder-like.