Overcoming Versus Yielding
The joint and muscle are either worked against an immovable force (overcoming isometric) or are held in a static position while opposed by resistance (yielding isometric).
An example of this in the context of the bench press would be that a yielding isometric would be holding the bar at a given place even though it could be pressed higher, and an overcoming would be pressing the bar up into the safety guards of a squat cage that prevent pushing the bar any higher.
The distinction is that in a yielding isometric, one is pressing roughly the exact amount of pressure needed to negate the resistance, neither dropping or lifting it. Whereas in an overcoming, one can be exerting more force and simply unable to move it. The yielding wavers slightly into concentric/eccentric actions due to inexact control, whereas the overcoming is more purely isometric and can involve more variation in the force used since one can press harder without the bar moving.
Read more about this topic: Isometric Exercise
Famous quotes containing the words overcoming and/or yielding:
“Whenever reality reinforces a child’s fantasied dangers, the child will have more difficulty in overcoming them...So, while parents may not regard a spanking as a physical attack or an assault on a child’s body, the child may regard it as such, and experience it as a confirmation of his fears that grown-ups under certain circumstances can really hurt you.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“‘The old order changeth, yielding place to new
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)