Charels Atlas Dynamic Tension

[Method2Madness]

I recently bought Charel Atlas' book "10 Steps To a Better Body". Charels Atlas desrcibes the execises in this book as dynamic tension exercises, and i was wondering if they were the same techniques that are desrcibed in the book "Dynamic Strength". i have never picked up the book "Dynamic Strength" so i was just wondering if it contained the same type of techniques as "10 Steps To a Better Body"

[daGorilla]

I recently bought Charel Atlas' book "10 Steps To a Better Body". Charels Atlas desrcibes the execises in this book as dynamic tension exercises, and i was wondering if they were the same techniques that are desrcibed in the book "Dynamic Strength". i have never picked up the book "Dynamic Strength" so i was just wondering if it contained the same type of techniques as "10 Steps To a Better Body"

I haven't seen the Charles Atlas book, but I do have a copy of Dynamic Strength.

Basically, it's a collection of weight-free exercises, many of which combine stretching and flexing particular muscle groups simultaneously, if I remember correctly. Many of the exercises are simple things, like pressing your palms together at the center of your chest as hard as you can for multiple sets of 30 seconds (basically flexing your chest as hard as you can). Other exercises are more flexibility oriented. Most of them would complement any strength training or fitness program pretty well.

It's pretty decent stuff -- I wouldn't base a whole fitness regime off of it, but it's got plenty of exercises in it that may be worth mining, depending on your goals.

-dagorilla

[Jaguar Wong]

I believe Tae Bo Master was doing an experiment with the Charles Atlas stuff, but I don't remember if he ever finished it. I know he was in the middle of starting a new job or something and it kind of fell by the wayside, but it's been a while since I've seen that thread.

I was curious about it as well, since there are some dynamic tension exercises in Kung Fu I've been wondering about the effectiveness of (the Ta Mo muscle/tendon change classics), and I wanted to see if Charles Atlas could help TBM with his problem of bullies kicking sand in his face, because he's a 98lbs weakling.

:bully:

[VikingPower]

It's the same stuff. The big problem with it is, while it may tone and even increase muscular size, strength-wise your body won't be used to handling heavier loads. If you can only bench 180, then decide to do a bunch of DT exercises for your chest for a few months, then go and try to bench, say, 200, your body's going to say "Holy #$%^, this is still too heavy!" and fail on you. It's not used to bearing the load, so it's not going to work as well.

[Method2Madness]

ic so they can help sculpt the body but they dont work to well with building strength.

[VikingPower]

ic so they can help sculpt the body but they dont work to well with building strength.

I'm sure they help some with strength, but minimal compared to what you could do with a barbell and some plates, or a pair of dumbbells/kettlebells, or any heavy thing around you.

[Method2Madness]

ic thanks koto

[Moleculo]

Quit blabbin and pump some iron.

[G.R. Bug]

I recently bought Charel Atlas' book "10 Steps To a Better Body". Charels Atlas desrcibes the execises in this book as dynamic tension exercises, and i was wondering if they were the same techniques that are desrcibed in the book "Dynamic Strength". i have never picked up the book "Dynamic Strength" so i was just wondering if it contained the same type of techniques as "10 Steps To a Better Body"

I assume you're talking about Harry Wong's "Dynamic Strength," the little paperback published by Unique Publications. I used to have a copy, and I agree with daGorilla's ssessment.

One consumer note -- this book had a hell of a lot of extraneous material (stretching and calesthenics, mostly), and the actual dynamic-tension exercises probably accounted for no more than 30 or 40 pages, and maybe 8 or 10 exercises. Not impressive from a bang-for-your-buck standpoint.