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Isokinetic - Definition

By , About.com Guide

Updated May 22, 2008

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

Definition: An isokinetic muscle contraction is one in which the muscle contracts and shortens at constant rate of speed. This type of muscle contraction usually requires special, expensive training equipment that increases the load as it senses that the muscle contraction is speeding up.

The benefit of this type of resistance training is that the muscle gains strength evenly all through the entire range of movement and it is one of the fastest ways to increase muscle strength.

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