Dynamic tension

[JamesAE]

Alright, this question may seem a bit laughable but is there any true merit to "dynamic tension" or is it, like I suspect, just a bunch of stretches thrown together along with a great advertising campaign?

[Waldo]

Alright, this question may seem a bit laughable but is there any true merit to "dynamic tension" or is it, like I suspect, just a bunch of stretches thrown together along with a great advertising campaign?

Stretches?

Was Dynamic Tension not Charles Atlas' workout regime? It was quite popular prior to the proliferation of gyms, weights, and machines.

One principle that must always be remembered with exercise. People are willing to spend gobs of money to make something easier. Our culture is one where the way to do anything is by buying stuff. Free or mostly free workout styles have mostly died off. There is some resurgent interest in bodyweight exercise as of late, and running without shoes, but most totally free methods of exercise died off following WW2.

[andygates]

Linksauce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_tension and onward.

Somewhere in my Dad's old papers is a complete Charles Atlas mail-order course. I'll have to hunt it out, though to be fair, like all kids, Dad had Super Dad Strength.

[JamesAE]

Stretches?

Was Dynamic Tension not Charles Atlas' workout regime? It was quite popular prior to the proliferation of gyms, weights, and machines.

If you read his program, then it does at first seem like just a bunch of stretches.

Also, if you hunt around on the internet then you can find an interview from a newspaper with Charles Atlas talking about how he used a barbell.

[161803398874989]

Charles Bronson uses Dynamic Tension-like isometrics. Or at least, that's what's in Solitary Fitness.

[JamesAE]

Charles Bronson uses Dynamic Tension-like isometrics. Or at least, that's what's in Solitary Fitness.

Haha. Great book. Admittedly I didn't buy it for the fitness aspect. I first saw the film, then read his first book, then bought Solitary Fitness.