Steve Maxwell On Isometric Exercise

 This article is geared towards older people. There's no way around it, as you age your body changes, and you have to learn to adapt your fitness practices or wind up dealing with more injuries that take longer to heal. No amount of willpower is going to stop the aging process. 

Once your mobility goes, it's all over.

 Why I Like Isometrics

 Steve Maxwell — April 24, 2026

In my lifetime, it seems like I’ve tried every kind of exercise there is, and from many systems, I’ve gotten good results, but after decades of physical wear and tear, I’ve found myself drawn to no-movement exercise systems.

Without using any movement you can— very effectively— increase strength, muscle size, and stamina; this is isometric exercise.

As a youth, in the 1960s, I  regularly used isometric exercises, along with barbell training.

For my twelfth birthday, my dad bought me a York Barbell portable isometric apparatus, and my high school wrestling coach—who was also my PE teacher—had a York Barbell power rack, which was originally created for isometrics.

I got very good results, and was known as one of the strongest kids in the school.

In those days, arm wrestling was a very popular activity amongst us young guys; no one could beat me in arm wrestling, although one guy gave me a really hard time—and I still remember his name.

Oh, it was very common for a large crowd to gather ‘round to watch two young bucks lock arms—with half the school looking on—and the winner to take the opponent’s lunchtime dessert!

Later, in college, for some reason or other, I dropped isometrics and got involved in other types of training.

Fast forward four decades—and several injuries from martial arts later —and more, general wear and tear from being too willing in demonstrating my strength, I’ve  returned to my roots and found isometrics to be a good place.

There are many athletes who have found isometrics to be a very useful tool and their primary source of strength training. For example, Shaolin monks use isometrics in their Kung Fu training; modern gymnasts and acrobats also rely on isometrics. One famous martial artist, Bruce Lee, highly favored isometric training.

Isometrics are one of the safest ways you can possibly train.

Anyone who wants to get really explosive, will find that isometrics really develop this attribute.

I find many elderly people —who are otherwise immobile, due to joint pain— can well-tolerate isometrics.

One of my clients, a woman in her mid-eighties, when we first started, could not arise from a chair without assistance; but after a mere two weeks of static squat holds/wall sits, she gets up and out of a chair quite well on her own.

Types of isometrics

There are two types of isometrics:

Yielding and Overcoming

An example of a yielding isomer is the aforementioned wall sit hold. Another version would be the horse stance used in martial arts. Many classic yoga positions are examples of yielding isometrics, like the crescent lunge, and  crocodile pose.

The flexed-arm hang is a yielding isometric that serves as a standardized fitness test, wherein you hold your chin over the bar, for time.

The other type of isometric is the overcoming isometric. This is where you push or pull against an inanimate object, such as a cord or strap. There are actual cords, straps and devices specifically made for this purpose, and they are adjustable. The only drawback to overcoming isometrics is that— other than deep level muscular fatigue—you can’t  quantify what you did.

I’ve never found this to be a problem, because if you give it a really hard, honest effort, you’ll produce a very good training effect, which is the objective.

There is a high-tech isometric system, where you use a force gauge to give a readout, and there also exists very sophisticated computer feedback statics, where you push or pull against a machine-lever, and watch a graph from a computer show how much force you’re producing.

Back in the early days, the isometrics protocols were short holds of 6-10 seconds, usually in three positions. Early research indicated that strength only increased at 15-degrees on either side of the joint angle. For example, if I did a 6-10 second contraction at the bottom range of a bicep curl, I would only strengthen that specific range of motion. To insure full-range strength, a second contraction would be held around mid-range, then a third near end-range, which is the fully-contracted position.

Later on, it was discovered that a single, prolonged contraction—at the mid-range, which is halfway—increased strength in all ranges of motion of that joint. What is a prolonged contraction?

70-90 seconds.

This technique is known as SuperStatics.

Let’s go back to the example of the bicep curl:

to perform a bicep curl as a SuperStatic, assume the isometric position at mid-range, arm bent 90-degrees. For a human being, the halfway point of any given exercise is the weakest point of motion. By strengthening that weakest range, for a prolonged length of time (70 to 90-seconds) the entire range is thereby strengthened.

Technique fundamental:

Because you’re contracting the muscles very hard, you will ease into the contraction, using only fifty percent of your strength. So, each exercise has a built-in sub-maximal warm up.

Then, for the next 30-seconds, you slowly increase effort to 75%

The final thirty seconds is an all-out effort, or, at least, as hard as you dare—backing off if there are any sharp or “strange” pains in the joints.

The goal of this exercise is to produce deep-level fatigue in the involved muscle structure.

Your body, in its wisdom, will directly send valuable resources and nutrients to the affected muscle structures, because the fatigue is perceived as a threat. In this way, you’re consciously tapping into the body’s survival mechanism.

The beauty of the isometric system—particularly timed static contraction (TSC) is that you can work out even when injured, the system requires minimal equipment, an is ideal for people with arthritis or other joint issues.

Isometrics are extremely time-efficient, with some workouts taking less than thirty minutes!

Additional benefits are improved bone density, elevated metabolism, and hypertrophy.

Another attribute —often overlooked—is improved mind-body connection.

Believe it or don’t, isometrics can give you a legitimate cardio workout; I find myself breathing quite hard.

Isometrics are also effective for lowering high blood pressure; I especially like isometrics for jiujitsu and grappling because the you will learn how to breathe while under tension.

With yielding isometrics, it’s easy to measure what you’re doing, because you have a measurable weight and measurable time.

I like to mix both kinds of isometrics in my workout.

Isometric training also develops mental toughness and concentration; you learn to push yourself physically, using the power of the mind.

I see isometrics as a real boon to people of all ages, but particularly those who have some wear and tear from hard living. I recommend that you check out my video set, Isometric 3-Ways, if you want a tutorial on how to do this thing.

I also have a great table-and-chair workout for elders wishing to regain strength. I am available for personal training for those who want to be supervised, which increases the intensity beyond what a trainee will achieve on their own.

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Steve

 

Using A Metal Water Bottle As An Improvised Weapon Urban Combatives Style

 Lee Morrison showing how to use a metal water bottle as a flexible impact tool by carrying it in a shoulder bag, small pack, or other type of bag.

 

 

Sunday With Blackthorn - Handling Panhandlers and Street Scammers

 This article is from a guy named Phil Elmore. And to get right to the point, Phil is not and never was everybody's cup of tea. Over the years (okay, decades), I have on the one hand  liked some of his material,  but on the other hand  some of the rest of his stuff, well not so much. The article below is an extremely condensed version of an eBook he put out quite a few years back.  

Give it a look, because it's actually well worth reading.

 Article from the Substack website:

 https://philelmore.substack.com/p/panhandling-ploys-and-street-cons

 Panhandling Ploys and Street Cons

Jan 23, 2026

This Substack is free to everyone on Fridays. If you upgrade to a paid subscription, however, you’ll get columns Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These include the Damage Report, “What’s Happening” in current events, the mid-week “This Week in Stupid” feature, and self-defense tips on Thursdays. Upgrade today and never miss an article!

Ever been approached with an “Excuse me, sir? Excuse me, sir?” If you’ve spent any time at all in urban and even suburban environments, you know that LOTS of people approach you with “Excuse me, sir,” and then proceed to give you a song and dance that is almost always a con.

Most of the time, the people conning you just want to beg some money from you. They’re beggars or panhandlers, the typical street people or homeless types. But once in a while, the con game is part of “interviewing you” so they can distract you in order to mug you... which means getting you involved in their lengthy story is a way of distracting you so they can sucker-punch or stab you.

I’ve compiled here, therefore, a few different very common con games that happen on public streets. There are others, but you would be shocked at just how common these are. If you’d like to learn more, I urge you to pick up a copy of Street People Strategies, my book on this topic.

It goes without saying that if you can keep moving when someone approaches you, you should. Either ignore the request for money or state flatly that you have no money (even if this isn’t true). Keep walking away as you do so. Make brief eye contact to show that you are aware of the threat, then focus your attention onward as if you have someplace important to be.

Most of the hard-luck stories beggars tell you are confidence games and nothing more. How can you tell? Most beggars commit the classic error of offering too much information. The more elaborate the song and dance, the more complicated the backstory justifying the begging, the greater the probability that the whole thing is bogus.

Beggar ploys and street-people cons have one thing in common: they are all completely made up. Sure, there are people out there whose hard luck stories are actually true, but they’re much fewer and farther between than many people think.

Too Much Information

This is the big one, the ploy indicator most frequently encountered. Liars and beggars almost always fail to keep things simple. They launch into incredibly involved stories on the theory that the more detail they include, the more plausible the ruse will seem. This is not the case. A good liar keeps things simple because this leaves fewer traps to remember and avoid. A good con artist lets you fill in the details.

A young white man wearing gold chains over a muscle shirt once gave me an elaborate song and dance about needing money to make a phone call because he needed a ride to some outpatient cancer treatment center, an appointment he’d missed previously due to a number of factors (which he supplied). The whole pile of nonsense was obviously an excuse to separate me from my money.

Gas Money

Apparently we are in the grip of a nationwide epidemic of stranded motorists, all of whom just need two or maybe five dollars worth of gas to get them on their ways again. The only cure for this epidemic is the kindness of strangers, it would seem, for this army of stranded motorists is even now wandering the streets, asking passers-by for help. Almost every time you encounter this request, it’s bogus.

Alternatively, you will see this request framed as the desperate need for bus fare. Often the beggar will tell you he is from out of town, and just needs a specific dollar amount in order to get back home again. I once saw a young man offering this story to people on the street. I was told, by someone who works downtown and who sees the young man often, that he is a local who uses this lie to beg. He’s not a stranded out-of-towner at all. He’s been trying to get on that bus for years.

Lunch Money

I recall a study some time back — it might have been in USA Today or some other major media outlet — that speared a popular myth. Most of the “homeless” polled who were carrying signs saying “Will work for food” actually wouldn’t when offered the chance.

Take a good look at the next beggar who asks for money because, he tells you, he’s hungry. He doesn’t look like he’s starving, does he? He looks dirty and unkempt, sure, but is he emaciated? People who are really starving look the part.

A beggar once accosted me citing a specific sum of money and muttering about the specific breakfast he hoped to purchase at the exact establishment he sought to patronize. Ploys are like that — they sometimes come wrapped in each other. This was “Too Much Information” within “Lunch Money.”

Speak Up

I was waiting outside an urban coffee shop that is plagued by aggressive panhandlers (who, when they aren’t begging, sexually harass and intimidate the female college students who frequent the shop) when I last encountered this ploy. A disheveled white male of perhaps middle age wandered up, muttering something I could not hear. I glared at him and he gave me a wide berth as he continued to work the area, accosting everyone entering the shop. Those who did not ignore him stopped and said something like, “What?” or “Pardon?” because he muttered so quietly.

This is a deliberate, calculated decision on such a beggar’s part. Mumbling panhandlers hope to catch you off guard, counting on the cultural reflex that prompts you to ask for clarification when you do not hear what someone says. I’ve fallen for this myself without thinking.

The appropriate response to anyone who accosts you and mumbles is no response at all, though you may choose to observe silently to see if the speaker repeats his or her plea.

Help a Vet

Most of the homeless “veterans” one encounters are veterans of long begging careers and nothing more. Those holding signs proclaiming their veteran status are hoping to cash in on your gratitude to those who fight and die for our country. Some will go so far as to dress themselves in soldier costumes, wearing fatigues or boonie hats as if they’ve just gotten off the first boat from Over There — only to find themselves destitute among spitting hippie ingrates.

Despite the fact that veterans are represented among the homeless population at the same rate they appear in the population at large, the majority of “veteran” beggars are liars who have never served in the U.S. military. Your heart is in the right place, but don’t fall for this one.

The Grace of God

Ours is basically a religious society. Many people will try to invoke religion as a means of gaining trust or allaying fear. Some subtle con artists will wear crosses (which are large enough to be obvious to those whom they accost). Others will work references to God or church into their ploys.

One early morning, while walking from my car to my office, a couple in a battered and fanbelt-squealing Cadillac stopped and gave me an elaborate song and dance about losing or running out of money. They were supposedly desperate to get gas money to get home but, shrewdly, did not directly ask me for funds. Instead they wanted to know where the nearest church could be found (which was their ostensible purpose for stopping me).

The implication was, of course, that they were good Christians who only sought the support of their network of fellow believers. One supposes that, lulled by their evident religious credentials, I as the mark would be inclined simply to give them money to help them on their way.

I didn’t fall for it and neither should you. God doesn’t care if you’ve got gas in your car. That’s your responsibility. Anyone invoking God while implying a need for cash is simply using religion to mask a ploy.

Got the Time?

If you’re obviously wearing a watch, you have two choices when asked for the time. You can be rude and refuse to give it, or you can comply with the request. The problem is that when approached on the street by a stranger or a street person, there is a chance — not a great one, but a real one nonetheless — that someone who asks you for the time is trying to distract you in order to assault you. Think about it. When you look at your watch, you typically look down at your arm, making you an easy target.

If someone you don’t know comes up to you and asks you for the time, you can easily minimize your risk. Step back casually, away from the stranger, preferably blading your body as you do so. Raise your arm rather than lowering your head, keeping that arm well away from your body and between you and the other person. In this way you can read the time while keeping your guard up.

Practice doing this so it looks casual rather than confrontational. There’s no need to drop into your Daniel-san crane stance and fire off a flurry of snap kicks just to tell someone they’re late for an appointment.

Got A Light?

The answer to this question is, no, you don’t have a light. You do not, in fact, smoke, even if you do, if someone you don’t know wanders up to you on the street and asks you this question. (Now, if you’ve got a cigarette dangling from your mouth, it’s going to be harder to deny that you smoke. This scenario assumes that a stranger has approached you and you have given no public indication that you have a source of flame on your person.)

There’s simply no way to light another person’s cigarette for them on the street without incurring an unacceptable level of risk, unless you’re willing to toss someone a lighter or a book of matches. (For you smokers, that’s one option. Pick up a handful of those free books of matches people still give away here and there, or buy a box at the store. Carry a couple in your pocket in addition to your lighter. When someone asks you for a light, you can toss them a book of matches (from a safe, casual distance) and even look generous by adding, “Keep it.”

Picture standing in front of someone, holding your lighter to that person’s cigarette. At least one of your hands — possibly two, if you’re cupping one palm against the wind — is occupied. You’re also giving that stranger a burning cylinder of tobacco with which he can put out your eye, if he’s so inclined. (That’s why cops will tell you to put out your cigarette when they speak with you during a stop or arrest.)

Misplaced Compassion… or Prudent Caution?

I don’t say any of this to disparage street people, although I think a lot of the time we tend to misplace our compassion and refuse to see people as a threat because we don’t want to seem heartless or rude. The fact is, most people who approach you on the street wanting something from you want what they are asking for. They want money, or the time, or a light for their cigarette. The problem is that you don’t get to know when that’s not the case.

Even if only one in a hundred people who approach you on the street means you harm, you need to be on your guard all hundred times, because you don’t get to know ahead of time who the one in one hundred happens to be. The best example was when, in the 1980s, a couple of thugs came up to Dan Rather and said, “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” While Rather was trying to figure out what on Earth they were talking about, they sucker-punched him to mug him. (That became a famous line in an R.E.M. song, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”)

You can see the pattern. People try to distract you, get your brain engaged, or get you to feel sorry for them, and that gives them an opening to take from you. Don’t let them take advantage of you. Take these lessons to heart and recognize the patterns they share. The ploy you hear on the street might be different or might be strangely similar, but it will FEEL like these, and that’s what matters.

David James With Another Edition Of "PAY ATTENTION"

 Certain parts of this demonstration are familiar to me from training with my old instructors, Carl, Ralph, and Clint back in what I will fondly refer to as The New Jersey/New York Close Combat Association. (NJ/NYCCA) 

 

Just Another Saturday Morning In NewYorkistan

 https://nypost.com/2026/04/11/us-news/nyc-cops-shoot-machete-wielding-stabber-at-grand-central-station-halting-weekend-trains/

 

Blog Post Part 2 For 4-11-26 Bill Maher At His Best

 

Welcome To NewYork in The 21st Century

 

How To Go Low (With the Shin Kick)

This technique was a favorite of my old Combatives instructors, Carl, Ralph , and Clint.  Give it a look, see what you think.

 

How Are Delta Force Members Actually Chosen

 

Another Up Close And Personal Method Of Handling Someone When They Get In Your Face From UC Netherlands