Quote Originally Posted by sanjuro_ronin View Post
To expand on what IF said above ( to which I agree with pretty much everything):
Dynamic tension ( isokinetic) strength training has its benefits but they pale ( in terms of building pure strength) to weights simply because there is no "standard" way to progressively increase the resistance, which is crucial for building pure strength.
This is even MORE the case in a set liek SW which is far TOO long to build anything BUT muscular endurance

The issue with isokinetic exercise is that you can't quantify the % of muscle strength you are using, in short you are either doing maximum tension or less than max, but you can't know how much less.

Dynamic tension means that you tense the muscles in a given movement and then move THROUGH the range of motion ( as opposed to isometrics where you stay at a specific point in the ROM). Because you are tensing every muscle you can in a conscious manner, you are ( supposedly) doing more work - take the curl for example:
With weights you work the biceps ( primarily) but the triceps get minimal work.
With DT because you are tensing the triceps also, you give them some work as well ( eccentric to the concentric of the curl).
Again the issue is the % of intensity ( and also time under tension).
Studies have shown that max tension can only be held for about 6-8 seconds and after that, you are not using strength but fighting of fatigue ( endurance), so a move the is using max tension will, typically, last about 3-5 seconds ( depending on the person).
I whole dynamic tension set done with max ( or as close to max as we can) should last, at the most ( for strength purposes) about 10-12 min and that is WITH the pauses needed to "release" the tension between exercies.

It should be noted that the Tit sid kune of Hung Kune follows those parameters very well.


Again, if one is using a DT set to build pure strength ( and there are better methods) then one MUST use max tension ( or as close as we can get) in every move being done to develop the strength, outside that what is being developed is muscular endurance ( fighting off fatigue in the muscles).
I'm stealing this explanation. All of it. And there's nothing you can do about it.