What is "isometric exercise"?

What is "isometric exercise"?

John Spencer Ellis (Author, TV Show Host, Trainer and CEO, National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association) gives expert video advice on: What is the most common fitness mistake?; What is the difference between fitness and physical activity?; Why is exercise so important? and more...

Isometric simply means that the muscle is contracting but no movement takes place. If I flex my arms but the joint stays in one spot, then that's isometric. Isometric excercise not necessarily a good idea for a lot of people simply because it can raise blood pressure and the interesting thing is your body will only be strong at that one point of flexion or extension. So, if I sit and do this and then I extend my arm out, stretch it further, I am not going to be stronger here if I have been only doing my isometric contractions at this point. Therefore it's not necessarily a good thing. So, isometric is something that is generally not done in traditional exercise programming, with a few exceptions.