10 Isometric Holds That Will Fix 95% of Your Mobility Problems

The premise of this ten-hold routine is that a flexibility problem is often a strength problem: passive stretching gives temporary access to a range of motion, but the body retreats from a range it cannot control. The routine therefore uses isometric contractions at the end range — actively pushing or pulling while holding a stretched position — to build what the video calls end-range strength. It runs about ten minutes and is prescribed three to five times a week.

What are the ten holds?

What makes these different from ordinary stretching?

Each position adds an intentional contraction rather than passive hanging. In the 90/90 you drive the front shin into the floor; in the deep squat you push the feet into the ground as if standing up without moving; in the plank you pull the elbows toward the toes and the toes toward the elbows. The video puts the target effort at roughly six or seven out of ten, and treats shaking as a sign of recruitment rather than a reason to stop. Modifications are given throughout — a block under the hip in the 90/90, a book under the heels in the squat, bent knees in the hollow hold.

Read the research behind it

Isometric training has a real and specific evidence base, which we cover in isometric and calisthenic training for longevity and, for blood pressure specifically, in isometric exercise and blood pressure. On the stretching argument the video opens with, static versus dynamic stretching: what the science says sets out what the trials actually found, and ankle mobility explains the restriction most people meet in the deep squat hold.