Does standing around clenching a muscle group do anything, exercise-wise?

Factual Questions
1

If I’m standing in line at the grocery store, let’s say, and I go “herk” and clench my abs/glutes/etc. and hold for a count of ten, and do five reps of ten (it’s a long line…) does that “count” as far as exercise?

Put another way, does clenching a muscle like that, without actually working against some sort of weight or gravity, tone the muscle in any meaningful way?

I work a sedentary office job chained to a chair in front of a monitor, and while I can’t exactly drop and do fifty crunches, I can do 50-counts of clenched abs. I’m hoping that would actually do something as far as toning, but I don’t understand kinetics and the physics of the human body well enough to tell.

2

The main problem with isometric contractions is that strength is only gained at that joint angle.
The muscle will not gain strength through it’s range of motion.

It is useful as a supplement to regular strength training.

3

Clinching your sphincter muscle makes you a tight ass. :smiley:

Seriously, my wife did kegel exercises to tone up her whoo ha after childbirth. It seemed to help. Especially with some urine leakage issues she had.

4

  1. Doing something is better than nothing with regards to exercise.

  2. Exercise should be two different kinds:

fitness general (heart and circulation and endurance) - cross-country skiing (or machine), rowing (or machine), biking, running, playing volleyball, basketball, soccer etc.

and specific muscle groups: the back to sit up straight; the arms to better lift things; certain problem spots you have.

So if you do muscle reps. every day, and add in jogging/ biking to work 20 min. every other day, or at least a bike excursion on Sunday once a week, that’s better than only doing muscle reps. Though see 1).

  1. working with a weight is good. Starting slow with a little weight is better. Not overdoing it with a big chunk but taking small steps is better.

Don’t underestimate gravity and your own body weight. Two simple exercise to strengthen your leg muscles using gravity:

Sit in a chair (even office chair works, though a sturdy one is better) and lift your legs so they are a straight line horizontally. Hold while you count to 10. Lower and repeat 5 times. Do you feel anything in your muscles? That’s because they got worked out.
Variant: stretch your toes forward so you feel a pull in the calves muscles.

Stand straight either on an even surface or on the brink of a stair step. Lift yourself into standing on tip toes, hold for 5, go down (if standing on a step, go lower until your calves are stretched in the other direction). Go up 10 times, shake for a moment, Repeat 2 times. If you have a slight muscle soreness next day, your muscles were untrained before. :slight_smile:

Add stretching after these exercises.

Fun with walls: Stand a bit less than armlength from the wall and put your hands flat onto it in shoulder height. Let yourself fall towards the wall and use your arms to push you back. 10 rep.s. You just did an easier version of push-ups.

Stand with your back against the wall, legs hip-wide apart and two feet’s length from the wall. Slide down slowly until your knees are bent at 90 angle. It should look like sitting on a chair only without the chair (some people start using a stool and removing it. Hold this position for as long as you can while counting. 20-30 is good for beginners; 40 is good training; 90 is for ballet dancers and similar pros. But don’t overdo it!

You can also use 1.5 l full plastic water bottles as cheap and easy weights. And your own body, as noted.

Generally, there should be dozens of exercises with pictures that you can do in an office chair for stretching, relaxing and clinching your muscles (also because first clinching, then loosening a muscle is good relaxation). Look on the internet (I get a lot of pictures posters from our health insurances, but we have a different model).

  1. Hi Opal!
5

Oh. From the title, I thought you were asking a slightly more interesting question (to me at least). Does just a single exertion, held out, do anything with regards to improving muscles? For example, will just clenching my stomach all the time eventually improve the muscles needed to accomplish that?

6

THANK YOU!! I *knew *there was a word or phrase for what I was trying to describe! runs off to Google

aceplace, I thought about Kegels when I was typing up the OP, but they’re … sort of a special case in this instance. :smiley: And thanks for all the specific position suggestions, constanze.

7

Count to 90? Seriously? When I was a ballet dancer, I used to watch TV in this position.

Alas, I just tried it and the serious burn set in at the count of 45. Still, given the weight differential from then to now, this might not reflect much loss of muscle strength. :wink:

Seriously, thanks to both of you for the reminder that it is possible to sneak some exercise into everything. I used to do deep-knee bends while brushing my teeth, and port-a-bras while standing at the stove. I need to re-develop that habit.

8

You do realize that if she ever finds that you posted this on a public forum, you will be a dead man, right? :smiley:

9

:eek: TMI

I better make sure she never reads this board. Thankfully, she has little interest in the internet except email and news.

10

When I was recovering from my hip resurfacing, one of the exercises my physical therapist had me do was to sit on the edge of a chair, stretch that leg out and clench and release my quads. The explanation was that this was a way to strengthen my quads without bearing weight. I recall that those exercises had an immediate impact on reducing pain in my knees.