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Whelp, here we are, day one of my efforts to play out the 'Dynamic Tension' exercise system. The purpose of this experiment, aside from 'Get me in shape, confound it!' is to examine the veracity of the claims that he can 'make a man of you' and 'give you a new body'. Plausible? Certainly. Likely? Let's see! We'll start with my stats as they currently stand Age: 27 Height: 6-ish Weight: 230 lbs Measurements: To Be Determined Lesson: 1 (Chest Exercises) Day: 1 --- Lesson quote of the day "The truest SUCCESS is but the development of self." --- Notably in the instructions for the course as a whole, Mr. Atlas states to perform 10-12 reps of each exercise unless otherwise noted. Exercises: 1. Push Ups (Or 'Dips' as he refers to them) Instructions: Perform until tired (Note: NOT until failure, though.) Reps - 20 Notes: The instructions recommend performing these between two chairs (or any other object) about 18 inches apart, and 'dipping' as low as you can between them. I opted instead for regular push ups. If there is a significant difference between the effects of his method vs mine, I am unaware but eager to learn. 2. Chest Stretches Instructions: Cross arms over your chest, swing them outwards to the sides, 'making a supreme effort' to touch both sides of the room Reps - 10 Notes: Felt a nice stretch there honestly, could kind of feel it in my chest, but also my back. 3. Imaginary rope! Instructions: Place hands around an imaginary rope above the head, pull downwards, tensing the chest muscles, keep the hands close and pull down to the knees keeping the body upright. Repeat about 20 times Notes: Did not notice the part about the knees, only pulled to mid-section. Will correct next time. 4. The unbreakable finger Instructions: Interlock the middle fingers of each hand, on level with waist and 'strain as if to pull the arms apart. Still pulling raise the hands high above the head. Make this as powerful as you can without STRAINING. Repeat 'till tired.' Reps - 15 5. Fist bump practice Instructions: Place right fist in the palm of left hand level with the hips, both hands over the left hip with elbow bent. Vigorously push right hand with left. Resisting with the right. Reverse hand positions and repeat Reps - 10 6. Flex those pecs! Instructions: Stand straight up, bare down the shoulders and arms while at the same time contracting the chest muscles. "You can do this exercise frequently throughout the day at any time you think of it." Reps - 10 Notes: Feels kind of odd, but had some zip to it, I suppose. 7. Actual dips For this exercise, it's recommended that you actually use a chair, placing your hands on the armrests of the chair and push yourself up and out, lowering yourself back down slowly and repeating 'several times.' Reps - 15 Notes: As I don't have a chair available with arms I'm willing to risk this with, I instead braced myself on the side of my tub and did regular dips with my legs fully extended. ------ Additional notes: I gave a bare bones explanation of each of the exercise he wanted me to perform in lesson one, in the actual lesson most of the instructions are more verbose and better explained. Also, many of them have an accompanying picture of Charles Atlas demonstrating the exercise in question. Looks pretty cool altogether. My impression of the workout so far is that it's got potential, it asks you to stretch, to tense, and perform some old standby exercises, I was able to work up a light sweat, and increase my heart rate and breathing rate, so clearly it's doing something right. Lesson One focused on the chest and core muscles, he remarks upon and dismisses building up the limbs first, noting that their of little value without a strong trunk. He also implores the student of his method to continue with lesson one throughout the entirety of his use of this routine. --- General Information: The first lesson is, as noted, based on the chest and core and is meant to be combined with the second lesson (dietary) when it comes up. These two are to be carried on until you complete the course and reach 'the perpetual lesson'. I should also note that in the original version of the course, it was suggested that you perform each lesson until receiving the next one in the mail. This originally took about a month, then they sped up delivery... and eventually just delivered all the lesson at once. The version I'm working from recommends, thus, performing each lesson for two weeks before adding new/discarding old. Additionally, it originally was suggested to just combine two lessons at any given time. The edition I'm working form recommends two doing two rotating ones. So, following this system is what I'll be following. "Every two weeks I would like you to two new lessons to Lesson One. Then drop those two lessons and take the next two ones. For example; practice lesson one for two weeks then add lessons two and three. Then drop lesson three and add lessons four and five." So, as of this moment, that's what I'm going to be attempting. It's also recommended that this be performed twice a day, but between two jobs, I may only be able to do once. I'll see what can be managed, though. It actually doesn't take long to perform... I'll give a list of the other lessons in my next update.

So, for a long time I've been what you might call a yo-yo dieter and fitness semi-enthusiast. (I read the stuff now and again, mostly here and 'Real Anime Training') and I'm not sure if this thought goes best here or in one of the other boards but, I lay it before the Nerds who are probably better versed in regard to bodyweight and isometric exercises: Can he live up to his claims? I don't necessarily mean "I can make you look like me!" (Although technically he just claimed 'Give me fifteen minutes (a day), and I'll give you a new body!' or words to that effect.) I've given a sort of casual looking over of his Dynamic Tension system and it seems to include a lot of general health suggestions (Including dietary and espousing the drinking of water and cold showers) in which he attempts to help the readers live healthier. Regadless! The actual exercises appear to be light to moderate calisthenics (Push ups, sit ups, ect are quite important to it) but he also fills it out with a lot of isometic exercises as well, 'pitting muscles against one another' in addition to exercises that involve as little as tensing one's own muscles. Time and again I've flirted with doing this routine just to see what it can achieve in conjunction with a reasonable diet. But, I'm wondering if it could really give any impressive results (especially with a goal primarily oriented towards weight loss with something of an eye for building strength) or if, instead, I should just give myself over to one of the routines here on the site itself. (Or, yet a third option... go full 'One Punch Man' with Saitama's regime.)