History
After being bullied as a child, Charles Atlas joined the YMCA and began to do numerous exercise routines. He became obsessed with strength. He said that one day he watched a tiger stretching in the zoo and asked himself "How does Mr. Tiger keep in physical condition? Did you ever see a tiger with a barbell?" He concluded that lions and tigers became strong by pitting muscle against muscle. The validity of this story is questionable however and may be nothing more than an entertaining story to help sell his course. There were many other "isometric" courses available at the time and it wasn't until Atlas used the ad with the bully kicking sand in the weakling's face that the sales took off. Some other notable users of this method include Joe DiMaggio, Max Baer, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Robert Ripley and Alan Wells.
Specifically, dynamic tension is a technique very commonly used within martial arts. This refers to the “dynamic tension” literally applied using a person’s movements. Tightening core muscles and applying dynamic tension allows a person to change the tempo of their movement. The reconstruction of such movements gives a person more power and speed. This especially becomes useful in performing or sparring. Taking a deep breath, and exhaling slowly while tightening the muscles, and sometimes even physically shaking the body part, portrays a stronger presence while performing. Following dynamic tension could be a series of quick movements to pick up the pace. Dynamic tension is a technique that is universal and could be used on any movement or any style.
Read more about this topic: Dynamic Tension
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!
There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)