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:
“In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)