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Exercises

Isometric exercises: 12 holds that build real strength

Published October 29, 2026

The best isometric exercises are the wall sit and Copenhagen plank for your legs, the plank, side plank and hollow hold for your trunk, the dead hang, handstand hold and L-sit for your shoulders and grip, and loaded carries like the farmer's walk, where your whole body holds still under weight. Do 2 to 4 holds of 20 to 60 seconds each, end every hold a few seconds before your position breaks, and make it harder each week with more time, a longer lever or a heavier weight.

  1. Wall Sit Quads
  2. Plank Abs
  3. Side Plank Abs
  4. Plate Hollow Hold Abs
  5. Dead Hang Forearms
  6. Copenhagen Plank Adductors, Abs
  7. Farmer's Walk Forearms, Traps, Shoulders
  8. Handstand Hold Shoulders

Leg holds

Your legs carry the most muscle, so they tolerate the longest and hardest holds. The wall sit loads the front of your thighs at the depth you choose, and the Copenhagen plank works the inner thighs, which most leg routines skip.

Quads, static squat

Wall Sit

Quads

It is the simplest leg isometric there is: you pick the knee angle, hold it, and get a clear number to beat next time. Sliding a few inches lower makes the same hold much harder without any equipment.

How to do it

  1. Lean your back on a wall with your feet roughly two feet out from it.
  2. Slide down until your thighs are close to parallel with the floor.
  3. Keep your knees over your ankles and press your back into the wall.
  4. Hold the position for the target time, then slide back up.

Cues

  • Thighs level
  • Press the heels
  • Back flat on the wall

Common mistakes

  • Feet too close: the knees end up past the toes.
  • Resting hands on the thighs: keep them off your legs.

Swap for: Bodyweight Squat, Cossack Squat

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Adductors and obliques, side hold

Copenhagen Plank

Adductors, Abs

It loads the inner thighs and the side of the trunk at once, a combination few other holds reach. Resting the knee instead of the ankle on the bench gives you an easier lever to start with.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your side next to a flat bench or sturdy chair, propped on your bottom forearm with the elbow under your shoulder.
  2. Lay your straight top leg on the seat so the inside of your foot and ankle rest on it; tuck the bottom leg under it or let it rest on the floor.
  3. Press the top foot down into the seat and raise your hips until your body runs in one line from head to feet.
  4. Hold for the set's time or lower and raise your hips for reps, then turn over and do the other side.

Cues

  • Push the seat away with your top foot
  • Hips stacked, not rolled back
  • Breathe while you hold

Common mistakes

  • Starting with the foot on the seat before you can hold a side plank: rest your knee there instead until 30-second holds feel solid.
  • Hips drifting backward so the plank turns into a pike: keep your hips in line with your shoulders.

Swap for: Band Hip Adduction, Cossack Squat, Balance Board Lateral Squat

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Trunk holds

These four teach your trunk to stay rigid while gravity tries to bend it. Start with the plank and side plank, then move to the long-lever plank and the hollow hold once a minute feels easy.

Abs, anti-extension hold

Plank

Abs

The plank is the base trunk hold that every harder version builds on. When you can hold it for a minute with your ribs down and glutes tight, you are ready for the long-lever plank and hollow hold.

How to do it

  1. Set your forearms under your shoulders and your feet behind you, body in a straight line.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and pull your ribs down toward your hips.
  3. Hold, breathing normally, without letting your hips sag or rise.
  4. For the harder version, reach one arm forward and lift the opposite foot, hold, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Ribs down
  • Glutes tight
  • Straight line

Common mistakes

  • Hips sagging toward the floor: that hangs on your lower back.
  • Holding for minutes at an easy level: make it harder instead.

Swap for: Long Lever Plank, Plank Shoulder Tap

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Obliques, lateral hold

Side Plank

Abs

It trains the side of your trunk that stops you bending sideways, and it tells you right away if one side is weaker. Time both sides and give the weaker one the first set.

How to do it

  1. Lie on one side with your elbow under your shoulder and your legs stacked.
  2. Lift your hips until your body is straight from head to feet.
  3. Hold, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Hips high
  • Stacked feet
  • Elbow under shoulder

Common mistakes

  • Letting the hips drop toward the floor as the hold goes on.
  • Rolling the chest forward or back.

Swap for: Dumbbell Side Plank, Copenhagen Plank

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Abs, long-lever plank

Long Lever Plank

Abs

Moving your elbows a few inches forward turns a plank you can hold for a minute into one that ends in 20 to 30 seconds. It is how you keep a plank hard without stacking weight on your back.

How to do it

  1. Get into a forearm plank, then shift your elbows forward until they sit a few inches in front of your eyes.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and tuck your tailbone slightly so your lower back flattens.
  3. Hold your body in a single line, head to heels.
  4. End the hold when your hips begin to sag, rest, and go again.

Cues

  • Glutes tight, ribs down
  • Elbows forward, not wide
  • Short, hard holds

Common mistakes

  • Raising your hips to take the strain off: keep the line and hold for less time.
  • Holding your breath: breathe short and steady through the hold.

Swap for: Plank, Plate Hollow Hold, Ab Wheel Rollout

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Abs, hollow body hold

Plate Hollow Hold

Abs

The hollow hold is the trunk position gymnasts use for nearly every skill. Holding a plate above your chest adds load you can raise in small steps, which a bodyweight plank cannot offer.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up holding a light plate with straight arms above your chest.
  2. Press your lower back into the floor.
  3. Lift your shoulders and straight legs, pushing the plate up over your chest.
  4. Hold the shape without letting your back lift.

Cues

  • Back flat
  • Long and tight
  • Breathe shallow

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back peel up.
  • Starting with legs too low: raise them to make it easier.

Swap for: Dead Bug, Landmine Hollow Hold

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Shoulder, arm and grip holds

Holding your bodyweight on straight arms builds grip, shoulder and triceps strength that carries over to pull-ups, dips and overhead pressing. All three need a bar, a wall or two sturdy chairs.

Grip and lats, hanging hold

Dead Hang

Forearms

Grip strength is often what ends a heavy row or deadlift set, and a dead hang trains it with your full bodyweight. Work up to 60 seconds, then add a weight vest or hang from one arm at a time with the other assisting.

How to do it

  1. Grip a pull-up bar overhand with your hands about shoulder width.
  2. Lift your feet and let your body hang with straight arms.
  3. Breathe slowly and let your shoulders rise toward your ears, then step down.

Cues

  • Relaxed, straight arms
  • Slow breathing

Common mistakes

  • Swinging or kicking: hang still so the stretch reaches the lats.

Swap for: Straight-Arm Pulldown, Pull-Up, Arm Circles

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Shoulders and triceps, overhead hold

Handstand Hold

Shoulders

It puts your full bodyweight overhead on locked arms, the same position as the top of a press. Against a wall you can hold it without the balance skill a freestanding handstand needs.

How to do it

  1. Place your hands about a hand's length from a wall, shoulder width apart.
  2. Kick one leg up, then the other, until your heels rest on the wall.
  3. Push the floor away so your shoulders reach up toward your ears and you are one straight line from hands to heels.
  4. Hold, then step down one leg at a time.

Cues

  • Push the floor away
  • Squeeze glutes
  • Look at the floor between hands

Common mistakes

  • Sinking into the shoulders instead of pushing tall.
  • Arching the lower back to stay on the wall.

Swap for: Pike Push-Up, Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead Carry

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Abs and hip flexors, support hold

L-Sit Hold

Abs

Your arms press down while your abs and hip flexors hold your legs straight out, so one hold trains your shoulders, triceps and trunk together. Tucked knees make it doable on day one.

How to do it

  1. Set a hand on each parallette, low dip bar or sturdy chair, arms straight.
  2. Push down hard through your hands so your shoulders drop and your body lifts.
  3. Raise your straight legs in front of you so your body makes an L, and hold.
  4. Lower your feet and rest when your legs start to drop.

Cues

  • Push the floor away
  • Knees locked, toes pointed
  • Tuck one knee to start

Common mistakes

  • Shrugging your shoulders: press down until your neck looks long.
  • Holding past the point your legs fall: short, clean holds build it faster.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Dragon Flag, Jackknife

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Loaded carries

A carry is an isometric hold for your grip, shoulders and trunk while your legs walk. It is the easiest way to keep adding load to an isometric, because the dumbbells can keep getting heavier long after a bodyweight hold tops out.

Grip, traps and trunk, loaded carry

Farmer's Walk

Forearms, Traps, Shoulders

Two heavy dumbbells turn grip, upper back and trunk into a hold that can take far more weight than any bodyweight position. Add 5 pounds per hand whenever you finish the target time with a firm grip.

How to do it

  1. Pick up two heavy dumbbells with your back flat.
  2. Stand tall with your ribs down and walk with short, quick steps.
  3. Set the weights down with a flat back when the time or distance is up.

Cues

  • Ribs down
  • Crush the handles
  • Quick steps

Common mistakes

  • Letting the shoulders round forward.
  • Walking so slowly the dumbbells start to swing.

Swap for: Dumbbell Suitcase Carry, Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead Carry

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Obliques, one-sided carry

Dumbbell Suitcase Carry

Abs, Quads

With the weight on one side only, your trunk has to hold you upright against a pull to the side. It is a side plank done standing, with a load you can increase every week.

How to do it

  1. Pick up one heavy dumbbell and stand tall with it at your side.
  2. Walk with short, steady steps without leaning toward or away from it.
  3. Set it down, switch hands and walk back.

Cues

  • Shoulders level
  • Tall walk
  • Grip hard

Common mistakes

  • Leaning away from the weight to balance it.
  • Picking a dumbbell so light that nothing has to work.

Swap for: Farmer's Walk, Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead Carry

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Shoulders and trunk, overhead carry

Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead Carry

Shoulders, Abs

Holding a dumbbell locked out overhead while you walk builds the shoulder stability that a press needs at the top. Use a lighter weight than your suitcase carry and stop when the elbow starts to bend.

How to do it

  1. Press one dumbbell overhead and lock your elbow with the biceps near your ear.
  2. Walk forward slowly, keeping the weight stacked over your shoulder.
  3. Lower it to your shoulder, switch hands and walk back.

Cues

  • Arm locked
  • Ribs down
  • Weight over the shoulder

Common mistakes

  • Leaning back to hold the weight up.
  • Letting the dumbbell drift in front of your head.

Swap for: Plate Overhead Carry, Dumbbell Suitcase Carry

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Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in.

Session 1

No equipment, three short sessions at home

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets30 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You are new to strength work or coming back to it, you train at home, and you have a wall, a floor and a sturdy chair.

Four holds cover your legs, inner thighs, front and sides of the trunk: three rounds of the wall sit and plank plus two per side of the side plank and Copenhagen plank make 14 holds per session, about 20 minutes. Three sessions a week is enough repetition to add time to every hold almost weekly.

Full-body holds
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Wall SitSeconds per hold. 3 × 30–60 2 90 s
PlankSeconds per hold. 3 × 20–45 2 1 min
Side PlankSeconds per side. 2 × 15–30 2 1 min
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. Knee on the chair to start. 2 × 10–25 2 1 min
How to run it
Run this session on three days with a rest day after each, such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hold each position until you feel you have a few seconds left, then stop, rather than shaking through the last seconds.
How to progress
Log the seconds you hold. When every set reaches the top of the range with a few seconds still in reserve, make the position harder: sit lower on the wall, put the ankle instead of the knee on the chair, or move your elbows forward in the plank.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Holds added to the end of your lifting days

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets14 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Pull-Up Bar, Barbells

You already lift two or more times a week in a gym and want stronger grip, trunk and shoulder stability without another training day.

Ten minutes after your main lifts is enough, because these holds carry heavy weights and your lifts already work the same muscles. Each finisher is 7 hard sets, 14 a week, split so grip work and trunk work alternate between days.

Finisher A: Grip and trunk
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Farmer's WalkSeconds of walking. Heaviest pair you can hold tall. 3 × 30–45 2 90 s
Dead HangSeconds per hold. 2 × 30–60 1 90 s
Long Lever PlankSeconds per hold. 2 × 20–40 2 1 min

Open Finisher A: Grip and trunk in the session builder

Finisher B: Sides and overhead
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Dumbbell Suitcase CarrySteps per hand. 3 × 20–40 2 1 min
Dumbbell Single-Arm Overhead CarrySteps per arm. 2 × 20–30 2 1 min
Plate Hollow HoldSeconds per hold. 2 × 20–40 2 1 min

Open Finisher B: Sides and overhead in the session builder

How to run it
Add Finisher A to the end of one lifting day and Finisher B to another. If a heavy deadlift or row day already wrecked your grip, put the dead hang on the other day.
How to progress
For the carries, add 5 pounds per hand once every set reaches the top of the range with your posture still tall. For the holds, add 5 seconds per set until you reach the top of the range, then move to the harder version or a heavier plate.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Building toward a handstand, L-sit and long hang

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Pull-Up Bar

You train with bodyweight, you have a pull-up bar and a wall, and you want the static strength that calisthenics skills are built on.

Skill holds respond to fresh practice, so each day opens with its hardest hold and keeps the sets short of shaking. Day 1 has 9 sets and Day 2 has 9, about 25 minutes each, with the handstand and L-sit each getting a day where they come first.

Day 1: Overhead and trunk
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Handstand HoldSeconds per hold. Back to the wall. 4 × 15–40 2 2 min
Plate Hollow HoldSeconds per hold. No plate to start. 3 × 20–40 2 1 min
Side PlankSeconds per side. 2 × 30–60 2 1 min

Open Day 1: Overhead and trunk in the session builder

Day 2: Support and hang
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
L-Sit HoldSeconds per hold. Tuck the knees until straight legs hold 10 s. 4 × 10–30 2 2 min
Dead HangSeconds per hold. 3 × 30–60 1 90 s
Wall SitSeconds per hold. Thighs level with the floor. 2 × 30–60 2 90 s

Open Day 2: Support and hang in the session builder

How to run it
Do Day 1 and Day 2 on non-consecutive days, and keep each hold short of the point where your form slips. A sloppy 40-second handstand teaches less than a clean 20-second one.
How to progress
Add 5 seconds per set when all sets reach the top of the range cleanly. Then make the position harder: hands closer to the wall in the handstand, one leg straight in the L-sit, or a weight vest for the dead hang.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

Is an isometric workout good for building strength?

Yes, at the positions you train. Holding a wall sit or a dead hang makes those muscles stronger, mostly at and near the angle you hold. That is why the plans on this page mix angles and use holds alongside full-range lifts rather than replacing them.

How long should you hold an isometric exercise?

20 to 60 seconds per hold works for most people, for 2 to 4 sets. Stop each hold a few seconds before your position breaks. When 60 seconds is easy, make the position harder rather than holding longer.

Do isometric exercises build muscle?

They can when the holds are hard, close to the point where you could not hold any longer. Heavy carries and long-lever holds build more than an easy plank. For the most muscle, use them with exercises that move through a full range.

What is the difference between isometric and isotonic exercise?

In an isometric exercise the muscle works without the joint moving, like a wall sit. In an isotonic exercise the joint moves through a range, like a squat. Most strength programs use mostly isotonic lifts and add holds for grip, trunk and specific angles.

Can isometric exercises help bone density?

Bone responds to load, and the heavier the load the stronger the signal. Of the holds here, the farmer's walk and suitcase carry put the most weight through your skeleton. Pair them with lifting and walking or jumping if bone density is your main reason for training.

Can I do isometric exercises every day?

Easy holds, yes. Hard holds taken close to your limit need a day off between sessions, the same as any strength work. The home plan uses three days a week for that reason.