Back in 2000, there existed a training method so compelling it was featured on ESPN.
The performance world was in a tizz.
Coaches clammed about it all just making “sense.”
Even Elite FTS buzzed.
It was “in.”
But, now, it’s “out.”
Way out.
Few know of the coach. Less know of the method.
But both Jay Schroeder and Evosport live on.
WHAT STARTED EVOSPORT
Adam Archuleta captivated the world with a 2001 NFL combine performance so impressive, he was later featured on ESPN. But unlike most athletic phenoms, Archuleta was a long shot to go pro. He wasn’t even recruited out of high school.
When it came time to conquer the combine, however, Archuleta was stacked. At a body weight of 211 and a height of 6’1”, he was about as muscular as a guy his size could have been. (Even though he was listed as high as 223 during his career.) He posted a 4.42 forty yard dash, a 39” vertical jump, and 31 reps in the 225 bench press test — a record for defensive backs at the time. This performance propelled him a first round pick in the NFL Draft.
Yet Archuleta’s on-field performance never hit the hype–even after he signed the most lucrative contract for a safety (at the time) with the Washington Redskins–and is known as one of the biggest NFL busts in history. Well, that and marrying Playboy Playmate Jennifer Walcott.
He was the poster boy for Evosport, a training system designed by Jay Schroeder. So when Archuleta flew, Evosport flew. But whether it was his buster career, or Schroeder’s outrageous claims, Evosport crashed as fast as it climbed.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVOSPORT
Before moving on, here’s my disclaimer: I’m no Evosport expert. Jay is secretive with his methods, so it’s hazy. Everything known is passed down ten times from different sources. It’s a frankenstein game of telephone. What I know is a combination of listening to Alex Vasquez and digging through forums since 2008ish. So this is as far as I could motivate myself to shove the spade in the soil.
From the exterior, Evosport is a training method that exploits the explosive potential of an athlete. (I remember Jay once saying that the specific sport doesn’t matter and that all athletes should be treated the same.) All things considered, Jay’s way of doing this is bit erratic and extreme. After all, Archeluta admits being dropped from head height with intent of “catching” himself in a push-up position.
But these shock methods are the ending of the Evosport infrastructure, and aren’t where panties get twisted. That happens on the walls of the ground floor, which are decorated with extreme, long duration isometrics.
ACTIVATION AND EXTREME, LONG DURATION ISOMETRICS
The relationship here, and skeleton of Evosport, is this: the ultimate goal is exploiting explosiveness for sport. Ninety percent of people rush into shock training and plyometrics. But Evosport first builds a foundation with the philosophy being that before you can rapidly produce force, you have to know how to rapidly absorbing force. And before absorption even, you have to use the right muscles for the job.
So a crude look at the framework is this:
- activation
- absorption
- propulsion
Although not explicitly stated, skipping the preliminary stages limits absolute potential. So jumping right into plyometrics (note to self: good pun) isn’t advised. Yaddah yaddah yaddah, bad engine in a fancy car, yaddah yaddah yaddah.
IT STARTS WITH EXTREME LONG DURATION ISOMETRICS
The concept of muscle activation is nothing new. (Although it very well could have been in 2001, as I was nothing but a young buck that watched anime and snacked on frozen pizzas.) But, basically, if the “wrong” muscles are turning on in a given movement, gains will be sub-par. So the first step is getting the “right” muscles to turn on.
But Evosport’s method of activation is a little “more” than today’s idea of doing a few low intensity bodyweight exercises during a warm-up. Evosport focuses on mastering something called extreme isometrics, also known as long duration isometrics (LDISOs).
LDISOs are positions held “isometrically” (and I use quotes because they technically aren’t isometric) with an emphasis on select maximal muscular activation. While there are many facets to Evosport, LDISOs are the most discussed and disputed.
WHAT THE HELL ARE EXTREME LONG DURATION ISOMETRICS?
Jay had seven extreme isometric positions:
- Push-up
- Scapular Pull-up
- Dip
- Lunge
- 1-Legged Squat
- Standing Hamstring
- Curl
As legend goes, Jay’s athletes master all seven positions before advancing to any other training. “Mastering” in this case means holding the extreme isometrics for five consecutive minutes. But whether or not this is fact or faked, no one really knows. People that have seen Jay’s programs report no mention of five minute holds. Just another part of the Evosport mystique.
Despite being described as “isometrics,” these exercises weren’t fully isometric (without movement) because they involve maximally “pulling” into position. (A concept so difficult to grasp, typing this is likely all for naught.)
For instance, in a push-up or dip, the focus isn’t on the chest. It’s on the back because in order to “pull” into a deep push-up position, the shoulder blades need squeezed together. So it’s not about resisting gravity. It’s about pulling into position. Maximally. For five minutes. (Although, doing something for five continuous minutes is hardly maximal, and one of the reasons for panty plica.)
And, let me tell you, five minutes is a long time. Holding a position for thirty seconds is a long time. But five? That’s longer than I spend fixing my hair for weddings.
Here’s an another example of this “pulling,” using the the lunge as an example. The rear leg actively extends into maximal hip extension, while the front leg actively pursues hip flexion. The key word in all of this being active. Extreme isometrics are active exercises that involve maximally pulling into a position.
THE STRUCTURE OF EVOSPORT
Both body position and muscle activation are “learned” through extreme long duration isometrics. LDISOs change how the body functions and how the muscles activate during movement.
Because they are performed “slowly” (little movement), they are ideal for reprogramming activation because your mind can be 100% in the muscles.
Once you can hold the position and muscle recruitment pattern in slow movements, you can then transition them into dynamic contractions, followed by absorption, and finishing with propulsion. This is the structure of Evosport. So even though the crazy shock methods seem erratic, they aren’t haphazard. Instead, they are but one piece in a program with ample progressive elements.
EXTREME ISOMETRICS…OR GARBAGE?
Although Evosport sounds all well and good, the storm cloud hovers above extreme long duration isometrics. Zealots say that LDISOs have zero benefit unless held for a continuous five minutes. (Sorry Mr. Four Minutes And Fifty Nine Seconds. You didn’t quite make it.) Others say that total duration matters most, making five total one minute sets just as effective.
But outside of the minutae, Jay made outrageous claims about extreme isometrics which didn’t help his reputation. For instance, he said he was able to take people weighing 365 pounds down to 160 pounds in less than one year, with no special diet or training outside of the extreme isometrics. This, in addition to listing himself as a ”drug free world champion powerlifter” and “elite sprinter” with no evidence to back up it up, turns people off to Jay and Evosport.
Even with the dust clouds surrounding Jay, I think the overarching methodology of Evosport is rather sound. Jay had some crazy ideas. But he also had some good ones. And while I’m not married to extreme isometrics, but I think they can be beneficial.
OTHER EVOSPORT THEORIES
Jay’s other ideas include:
- Training near daily, to teach the body how to always be “on.” (With a set-up similar to concentrated loading.) He felt that the body should be prepared for anything at anytime — similar to former Bulgarian Olympic weightlifting coach, Ivan Abadajiev. Although Archuleta’s injury laden career might be evidence against this particular ideology.
- Only doing squats as low as proper position and activation could be maintained.
- Training to a 3-7% drop off in performance in attempt predict the resultant supercompensation period. Different repetition ranges were associated with different fatigue levels. This can get complex, but suffice to say, each set was maximal to seek performance drops.
THE TAKE HOME
Before you cream in your jeans about Evosport, know that the world has already survived the isometric explosion. It came. It went. But part of the reason why I think it’s “gone” is because Jay got so much attention and he saw dolla-dolla bills ‘yall. So he kept his methods secret and mystified the hell out of them. Although he lives on today and blabbers on about something he calls the ARPwave (which is once again full of outlandish claims), Jay killed himself.
It’s a shame. Evosport — or what I perceive as Evosport — has more structure than a lot of the methods out there. But it has to be approached with care. Despite crazy assertions with extreme, long duration isometrics, they are nothing more than motor reprogramming tools. And damn good ones at that. Don’t fall trap to the five minute babble, either. The isometric, absorption, and propulsion progression is another gem that shouldn’t be lost.
An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain is a shell of Evosport theories. In fact, diving into LDISOs was how I began to fix my chronic knee pain and develop the infrastructure to the book. But to better apply it to the world, I went about reprogramming in a friendlier way.
+++++
Read Part Two of this series: The Truth About Long Duration Extreme Isometrics.
YOU TELL ME WHAT THE NEXT STEP IS
I’m already started on the second article in this series that will be posted Thursday. It reviews some of the claims and benefits associated specifically with extreme, long duration isometrics.
But I want to know what you think? What do you want to know about Evosport? What do you want to know about LDISOs?
Let me know, and I’ll try to dig up some dirt.
Great article Anthony. My question is about the pulling into the
movement. Wouldnt contracting say, the psoas shut off the glutes? So you could maybe be getting a reciprocal inhibition effect?
Heres an entertaining vid in this vein:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfEdRv7utNA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The ArpWave claims to stimulate
500 muscle contractions a second (i believe). Was Jay
Using the same idea with isometrics which cause rapid muscle contractions for a large
Volume of time?
Domenic, the rear leg is the primary glute driver. The front leg is more of a hip flexor contraction and knee flexion movement.
I can’t say. ARP Wave extends beyond what I knew of. I think Jay’s isometric love came from him seeing it as the foundation for movement. But then it went erratic with his long duration holds. So I’m not sure of his complete rationale outside of he felt five minutes was the “mastery” level.
Interesting… so the rear leg is actively driving into the floor with a glute contraction… weird, never would have thought of that…
Actually, no, not really driving into the floor. More so thinking of doing a bird dog with the leg. So extension. That’s where “pulling” comes into play. This doesn’t happen of course, which is why the big toe are still carries weight.
I gotcha… interesting stuff!
Great post, Anthony! I’ve never heard of Evosport before, but I certainly wouldn’t want to toss out a sound training methodology for reasons unrelated to the effectiveness of the method. The concept of retraining the brain using slow movement is sound and employed by other “schools of thought” like Feldenkrais and Z Health. But I have not seen an attempt to retrain fundamental motor patterns using (a presumably intense) exercise…. Dr. Brent Rushall wrote a while back that “the principle of specificity does not apply to motor learning in fatigued conditions”, ex you do not get better at executing motor patterns in a fatigued state, by executing that pattern until you are fatigued, and continue while fatigued (because the difference between your brain’s intent and what gets executed can become pretty great). But perhaps the “no movement” (relatively isometric) concept of Evosport corrects for this, because any deterioriation in your motor pattern quality is immediately evident (ex you stop being in a straight line)?
The concept of “pulling” into the movement reminds me of the RKC plank (also called the hardstyle plank).
Questions for exploration:
1. Were they designed with the intent of being the sole components of workouts in themselves, or do they “play nice” with other programs? (Ex if you do LDISO’s, are you not supposed to do other weight training/swim/run training on the same day?) If so, what are some ways to add some LDISOs into your existing workouts (ex what do they replace? Power/strength day?)
2. The time under tension question is a big one. How short of a duration can I use, and still be doing LONG holds? Perhaps on a more practical level, should I be trying to increase my max by continually holding to failure?
http://bretcontreras.com/2011/09/the-rkc-plank/
1. In my opinion, LDISOs are nothing more than motor patterning tools and good stretches/warm-ups. I’ll discuss this Thursday. They can be used in other programs. I like them as a cool-down. But it depends on why you’re doing them.
2. I don’t think it’s necessary. Again, this is where confusion sets in. Holding more than a minute, in my opinion doesn’t do much. Two minutes on the higher end if you want to manipulate soft tissue (as a time recommendation from KStar).
Very interesting stuff. I’d like to know of other athletes who have had success with this method. One example doesn’t really do it for me.
Thanks
Thanks for the reply. Your concern is common. I’m not saying the method is gold. Just trying to do a “report” on it. But there are some more mainstream athletes that use it — NFL players and tennis players, mostly, from what I see.
Hmm. I guess this means that those guoshu teachers who made me hold increasingly low horse stances (among other stress positions) for 1-5 minutes had some method to their madness. I’d always sorta figured it was just hazing. At the time, never having heard of isometrics, I’d just thought they were taking a page out of the CIA interrogation playbook. But lemme tell you, I can still drop into a Xingi or Bagua stance at the proverbial drop of a hat. You hold a thing that long, you learn the stuffing out of it.
Yeah, I agree. One of the reasons they are effective. You “learn” things a lot faster.
Excellent report, Anthony! The whole article, I was thinking, “This is a LOT like his ebook!” Lo and behold, you confirmed that it had influence on your work. It was very interesting peering into a fad that has come and gone. A fad like that could take hold of the fitness industry as easily as it did then. I liked the report.
It’s a great thing you were able to take some of its principles and base some good work on it. Muscle activation fascinates me and I’m glad you were able to expand on it through the lens of chronic knee pain.
Not to sound naive, but is working on muscle activation the same as working on the mind-muscle connection?
That said, a post on the mind-muscle connection would be fascinating.
They are different. But not really? Let me try to explain:
Mind-muscle connection is more of making a mental connection during the lift. So you kind of zone out during an exercise and focus on the muscles working.
Muscle activation is “waking up” a muscle so to speak.
To activate, you need a strong mind-muscle connection. But a mind-muscle connection isn’t always associated with solely “activation.”
Ah, okay, I see. Thanks for clearing it up! The “waking up” phrase broke it through for me.
Hi Anthony
Interesting post. I had never heard of Evosport before. Definitely eye opening concept-wise. And yeah, I recognized the association with AGTCKP right away:)
I would be interested in knowing how & why a program should incorporate these.
I’d just to the lunge and push-up iso. Hold for one minute at random times. Finito.
But, of course, incorporating them into more complex movement — the ultimate goal — makes things more complex.
Impressive post! Special props for going against the grain of the fitness dogma. This is exactly what gymnasts do to train new skills. The “isometrics” leads to maximal strength. Coach Sommer who writes Gymnastic Bodies often talks about getting a full contraction. I imagine daily work on it improves CNS signals as well though. (Grease the groove)
Yes and no. The thing with gymnastics exercises is that they get progressively more difficult. Extreme ISOs just rely on more contraction time.
I work with Jay Schroeder and his business partner Denis Thompson and I can tell you these guys are GENIUSES and a pleasure to learn from! Great blog
Thanks for the insight, Mark. And thanks for the compliments. Like I said, I think a lot of great things fell off the map because of a few blunders. It’s a shame.
I know now that they have close to 500 NFL players, over 300 NHL and many, many NBA players on the ARP Wave and EVO and growing like crazy. I know personally (I over see their marketing and expansion) that ARPWave has opened 32 NEW clinics with 32 new Licensees over the past 2 months and will have 100 by end of the year. I am partnering with several NFL Players in opening some on a personal level (Sean Salisbury and I are opening one in Dallas Oct. 1st), as many are ARP/EVO users and they see how the science can help people on a mass level and in the process make them a nice ROI. Based on our expansion, the Licenses we have sold thus far, the business we are generating in Italy. UK, Argentina, Brazil and next Australia this is poised to become a billion dollar company by 2015. We have several Doctors on board and are finalizing a deal with Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Greats in donating treatment to the players. This is getting big fast.
Those with questions should go to Evo and train for a week. They will answer every question you ask. On the internet you get peices and interpretations. It’s the outliers that have the greatest impact on learning about what actually works. Everyone talks about Adam Archuleta. my understanding is that he achieved his goal to play in the NFL. Better yet he got drafted in the first round and won a SuperBowl in his rookie season! BUT did not continue with the EVO training with the same diligence that got him to the NFL after that. My experince with Jay and Charles is that they will answer every question you ask and also get you to think. Jay is aware of so many varriables that he is reluctant to answer in a general way because it may not be what the person actually needs for their situation. The internet is good to get intrigued and get started…but at some point you need to spend the time and money. And instead of opinoins about 5min Iso’s. Do them! master the postions and the time and then compare your stats! Then do an article. that would be a great follow-up! If something works really well would a professional athlete want his competition to know about it? And the only people who told Ray lewis they could get him back for the season.
I DID do them, if this is directed to me.
And it would see Jay is reluctant to answer most questions in ANY way. I know a lot of intelligent people, and they’re at least willing to put themselves out there a bit. I don’t doubt Jay is smart. I personally love his iso progression and thoughts of iso-absorption-propulsion.
But the whole “shrouded in mystery” gig isn’t my thing. I doesn’t resonate with me, so such is life.
Again, not taking anything away from him. No doubt he’s smart. But the way he operates just isn’t my style.
Anthony, did you perform the Iso-extremes for 5 min and for 20 to 40 sessions?
You are correct in stating that lengths of time less than 5 min are beneficial but what I don’t think you see is that 5 min is Jay’s standard that he determined after years of observation and it is what is required to handle the subsequent high load, high velocity, high volume training, whatever that means to Jay Schroeder.
Another thing is that Iso-extremes are not isometrics, Jay has stated this numerous times both in writing and in interviews, they are eccentrics if they are performed properly.
I am with Jason. I once called Jay Schroeder up out of the blue, he didn’t even know me but he talked to me on the phone for 2 hours! I had to end the conversation because I had something to do but he was very open about sharing his ideas and method. I think you may want to reconsider your stance about Jay being secretive. I think this reputation was generated via online hearsay and misunderstanding. When things like hormonal levels, level of over-training, and the velocity of contraction go into training program design, questions like ” how many reps and sets should I do?” seem quite out of context. It will always depend on the individual, and even for an individual it will change and fluctuate depending on the day and/or training session.
I did them for a few weeks — I didn’t count the sessions, but I don’t believe there’d be a magic clicking point.
And just to play devil’s advocate: many people high load, high velocity, high volume training without ISOs and end up just fine.
Jay is secretive. If you have to call the man, he’s secretive in today’s age.
I reached out to Tim Grover, Michael Jordan;s trainer about partnering with me on Jay’s technology. Tim finally got back to me and asked what my system was, without stating Jays name. Tim kept politely asking me what it was, as he was approached all the time. When I mentioned Jay’s name Tim stated, and I quote “Jay Schroeder? Not many people I listen to in the industry, but when Jay speaks, I listen”. Bottom lime, Jay Schroeder has MAYBE…MAYBE 2-3 people in his class when it comes to training the body and achieving peak levels. That’s it. Spending 30 minutes with the guy is like getting a PhD. He is on another level.
Thanks for the reply. Everyone has their own method. Otherwise, Jay’s athletes would be the only ones we see out there. (…And even then, he doesn’t have many out there. Such is the genetic luck of high class athletics.)
Anthony,
With respect how many people have their athletes perform 40 maximal attempts in a bench press, complete most of them, and then do that for a second session in the same day and then do it 3 days in a row. That is what I mean by “high load, high volume, high velocity” training. The reason he wants his athletes to function at this level is because once you can you can perform at your best anytime. There is no “I can only max every 10 days or once a week.” Instead you can max (or work very near it) everyday with respect to load, volume and velocity. That is the goal and that is what iso-extremes help to facilitate. A couple weeks isn’t going to cut it. In my experience it took a few (3 or more) weeks just to get my body to perform the iso-extremes competently. Only after this “break in period” did I start to see the crazy benefits Jay preaches about. I had to learn to do them properly and a lot of the initial work was just that, learning.
The thing is (and no offence to you) what are these crazy benefits? Benching doesn’t make me better at anything but benching — and you too.
Hey Anthony,
it is my belief that when one “masters” iso-extremes they have the effect of balancing agonist/antagonist co-contraction thus returning motor reflexes to a healthy and efficient state.
We all have basic motor reflexes which are developed as we try to lift our head as babies and eventually situp, crawl, and walk (although some cultures to not have the crawl stage). These reflexes we develop by learning to move, and walk are efficient because they are based on the effect of gravity on the body. Simply put we stand erect because standing bent at the waist increases the force and energy the body needs to maintain that position.
What happens though is over time we develop compensation patterns. We sit in chairs thus shortening our hip flexors, or lean on one shoulder or perhaps we had an injury and now we don’t move like we once did, we don’t move efficiently. You can easily observe this phenomena in most of the elderly in the US.
Iso-extremes return the motor system to its original efficient state. So when you perform a bench press the point is not to develop the anterior delts, pecs, and triceps but to develop the entire shoulder girdle. When a bench press to performed properly( or neurologically efficient) it is performed as a rowing movement, not a pressing movement. What I mean by this is that the focus should be on the eccentric phase which should be characterized by a concentric contraction of the antagonist, the rear delts, biceps, lats, and upper back. This prepares the chest, lats, and anterior delts both neurologically and biochemically.
Being able to bench press maximally over and over allows you to stabilize your shoulder girdle maximally over and over, if and only if there is both balance and communication between agonist and antagonist.
Right, I get all of that. I know the rationale behind it all, but that does little for me (and a lot of other athletes).
Where Jay and I branch, as far as ethos is concerned, is that Jay believes one baseline function can handle all athletic demands. But there’s specificity involved. So you can spend all of this time doing benching and whatnot, but I’ll be in my backyard doing flips and practicing.
I’ll be better than you in the long run.
Now, having said that, I think learning how to move from a general standpoint is important. But there’s more than one way to do this. ISOs are effective at this, but there’s more than one philosophy of use.
All movement depends on co-contraction so anything which enhances the efficiency of co-contraction is going to have a carry over to all movement. Even ballistic actions are preceded and ended by co-contraction. The greater the efficiency of co-contraction the greater, force output, velocity, and volume of work and individual can perform.
If you have compensation patterns, which most people in the western world have, your effort practicing and flipping to a certain extent is wasted. It is wasted because you are unable to create maximal force out put, maximal velocity, and perform at a maximal volume.
Take two athletes, all things being similar, one athlete just practices and performs flips as you recommend for 6 months and athlete 2 performs iso-extremes for 3 months and then practices and flips for the remaining 3 months. The athelte that performed the iso-extremes will in all likelyhood out pace the first athlete simply becuse atheltes 2 was not fighting his body, fighting comepsnation patterns.
When you have compensation patterns training is like spinning your wheels but not moving forward and is the real reason most people plateau. When you have compensations your body creates inflammation in response to training because certain muscles are doing a job they are not designed for. These muscles inflame and this inflammation shuts down the motor nervous system actually making it more difficult to activate alpha motor neurons.
When one has mastered iso-extremes this inflammation does not occur, the motor nervous system is not negatively effected and we can now train with greater loads and volumes and thus adapt at a faster rate. Gains are made quicker a lot quicker.
This is what most people do not understand about iso-extremes. You can practice and flip all you want but if you have a compensation or compensations eventually you will hit a wall and stop progressing.
Honestly I have seen people make gains so fast in conjunction with iso -extremes that it make steroids completely useless and obsolete. Athletes using iso-extremes have produced testosterone hormone levels NATURALLY that would have had them test positive if they were tested by a sports governing body. Its all about proper neural communication.
In your hypothetical example – no, I disagree. No trickster I know practices iso extremes, yet there has been no “stalling” from a progress standpoint. The sport advances. Everyone gets better because their body adapts to the movement at hand, as it is unique unto itself.
Again, I think ISOs are useful. But I’ll say it once again: show me the money. Show me an athlete go from zero to hero in a worthwhile period of time. We all don’t have Adam A 10 year plans.
Movement is important. Learning how to move is important. But no matter how “good” you are at it, you still have to spend a considerable time learning sport specific skills. The more skilled your sport is, the less this stuff matters. Adam A made it “out” because football is less skill based than other sports. It’s more physical.
Anthony, I am not saying that an athlete should not practice his sports skills, I am only saying that if he or she performs iso-extremes properly before and during sports specific training they will be able to adapt faster, learn faster, and perform at their best more often. Its as simple as that. Iso-extremes are the same thing as the ARP, they operate on the same principle, the only difference is the ARP can send information a lot faster than with iso-extremes.
It is totally possible to do this with other methods but I have yet to find any as effective and efficient as the ARP and iso-extremes.
One thing you will notice when you are doing iso-extremes properly is that you will dream more often and more vividly. What does dreaming have to do with training? Dreaming is the state in which our brain consolidates memory, when your neurology learns and adapts to the previous days experience. Why do you dream more when performing iso-extremes properly? Because when perform them properly you send massive amounts of information to your CNS.
I think ISOs have their uses, as I mentioned. Just as most other physical training modalities do.