Water to Statue

Learning Switch Between Tension and Relaxation

The value of high levels of strength is well known. We can pull more, carry more, and hang on longer if we build the strength in our bodies. We can do more. Rip say's we're more useful in general. It's true. But getting tight and holding on is only part of the game.

We also have to move out of this position. We might have to move to a very distant hold. We might have to keep doing this “holding and moving stuff” for an hour as we pick our way out a huge cave. Where tension is critical, relaxing quickly after creating tension is equally so. For every gain we make in strength, we must also enhance our ability to relax immediately and recover quickly before the next bout of force.

This yin-yang relationship is sometimes hard to pick out in the gym or on the playing field. We usually just witness the pure power as she sprints and hurdles down the track. As he bends the barbell on his way up out of a squat. As she back flips, and again, and again, before skating away across the ice.

The sprinter delivers somewhere near twenty times her bodyweight through the leg with each stride as she blows out of the blocks. The delivery of force is unbelievably fast, and so is the relaxation. In that split second between the foot driving into the ground and the next time it touches earth, the quads, the muscles of the calf, the glutes, and the hamstrings, all relax, reset, and ready for another application of force.

In martial arts, it's not uncommon to see a fighter display massive force in a punch, breaking bricks or knocking an opponent back several feet. They punch, then relax as quickly as possible to recharge for the next one.

We master force production in our fingers on the hangboard. We strap a bunch of metal to our waists and then slowly apply force to the board through our fingers, wait until the timer beeps and then slowly release. This is awesome, important, and worthwhile. But it isn't all we have to do when it comes to moving up rock.

We need to learn to be ballistic. In kettlebell training, athletes categorize the exercises as either ballistics or grinds. Ballistics involve speed, grinds do not. A slow overhead press is a grind. Like the hangboard example above, it is slow, builds strength, and is worthwhile, but only as a part of an eventual athletic movement. Conversely, the kettlebell swing is a ballistic. using a relatively light weight (usually less than half-bodyweight) the athlete explodes from a hinged hip to a straight-up posture, relaxes briefly as the kettlebell hovers at the deadpoint, and then goes right back into high force movement as the kettlebell arcs back between the legs.

Huge tension, huge relaxation.

This is an essential step in our development as athletes. It is the link that times our hard-built gym strength to performance outside.

Don't just hang, take that strength and apply it on the campus board.

Don't just do pull-ups, but run the Bachar Ladder.

Don't just pull, but explode and relax. Explode. Relax.

The better you get at relaxing, the better your performance will be.