Can you really build muscle using dynamic tension?

For those of you who are not familiar with the term “dynamic tension” it is the name of the system of exercises that Charles Atlas gave his course. It became very popular in the 1920s.

However, “dynamic tension” are not isometric exercises as we currently know them.

The idea behind this muscle building system is to use your own body weight or resistance to pit one muscle against another. In some exercises, you tense a particular body part and then move it as if you were performing an exercise with a dumbbell or resistance band. In other words, you want to move your body throughout the entire movement of the exercise.

Dynamic tension uses some isometric, isotonic and isokinetic exercises. The biggest benefit of dynamic tension according to some people is that it is impossible to injure yourself while using this method. For some of the exercises you need two chairs to train. This helps build stamina simply by doing bodyweight exercises.

This is a great muscle building technique and is part of every dynamic tension workout..

For example, in an exercise Charles Atlas refers to as “dips,” you place two chairs about shoulder-width apart, then perform pushups while diving as low as possible between the two chairs. Once he can easily perform this exercise: a third chair is brought into play, on which he places his feet. He would continue to perform pushups between the chairs as if they were normal pushups.

However, let me assure you that they are much more difficult than regular push-ups and you get a great chest pump.

Another great exercise to develop your triceps is to place two chairs about shoulder-width apart. Then you place your palms on the edge of the chair and do a triceps dip.

To strengthen your back, again use two chairs and place a broomstick or barbell on top of the chair and then do a pull-up.

To develop the muscles of the shoulders, nothing beats doing push-ups. To perform this exercise, you need to move closer to the wall, and then push yourself up so that your toes rest against the wall. Then lower until the top of your head touches the ground and then push up.

Perform as many repetitions as possible. You can increase the difficulty by playing with the placement of your hands. The further apart the hands are, the more difficult the exercise becomes.

This is a great exercise for strengthening the shoulders and triceps and was used by many of the strongmen of yore to build upper body strength.

These are just a few examples of some of the best exercises to build muscle using dynamic tension.