Just starting out

[snehilla70]

Hello everyone,

I'm experienced with exercise and bodybuilding but brand new to Dynamic Tension. After gaining a lot of weight over the past 10 years, I'm going to be starting the program this week and I want to make sure I get off on the right foot. Reading over Lesson One, I notice that he says he wants us to do 10-12 reps of each exercise yet he doesn't specify a minimum number of sets. I'm wondering what others have done when first starting out. I can fully understand the "train, not strain" ideal, yet how many as a minimum should I be doing?

Steve

[emfermi]

Hi Snehilla 70, welcome aboard!

When I started out, I did one set per exercise with high tension (excluding the dipping exerxise for which I did 3 sets). Since you train twice per day, that gave me an excellent workout. Even when I do again the whole course from time to time, I do it as stated. When in the perpetual lesson, if I add an exercise from the 12 week course, I do two sets of that particular exercise.

The above is what works for me. I would advice starting off with one set for one week. During that week, listen to your body and then decide if you want to kick it up to two. I would also advice you to read the final section of lesson 6, which explains in very good detail the "train, don't strain" philosophy.

[Jim]

Hey, Steve, how is your Atlas going? By now you've probably moved up to 2 or 3 sets in the dips. Keep us posted. Feel free to ask questions.
Jim

[Henry Marczak]

Generally I do one set each, I don't focus on doing a load of push-ups but more muscle tensing. When I do something like a bicep curl, I'm not trying to mimic a heavy weight when applying resistance so much but the resistance is to aid muscle tensing focus.