Tension and relaxation: the other half of strength
One line from the SFG manual captures how I think about training: "Tension is strength and power. Relaxation is speed, endurance, and flexibility."
They're two sides of the same coin. Most people only practice the first one. They get tight, stay tight, and wonder why their swings feel slow and their shoulders feel like bricks. Learning to relax is a skill too, and StrongFirst trains it on purpose.
Grinds and ballistics
StrongFirst splits lifts into two kinds:
Grinds, like the press, squat, deadlift, and get-up. These are done with dynamic tension. You stay tight the whole way.
Ballistics, like the swing, clean, and snatch. These run "tense-loose-tense." Loose while the bell travels, tight for an instant at the hip snap or the catch.
Both matter. The manual frames it with physics: force equals mass times acceleration. You push the "m" with slow lifts and the "a" with quick lifts. A good program does both, and a good lifter can switch between them.
Where tension comes from
The SFB, StrongFirst's bodyweight certification, has principles I use with kettlebells every day. The abs, glutes, and grip are the most powerful "neural generators." Squeeze those three hard and everything else gets stronger.
That's why so many StrongFirst cues come back to the same places:
Grip. "Break" the handle in the deadlift. Crush grip your free hand in the press: "you activate the first trigger and your body becomes one piece."
Glutes. "Crush a walnut" at the top of the deadlift. Cramp them at the top of the swing.
Abs. Power breathing builds what the manual calls a "virtual belt."
Linkage, not leakage
The second SFB principle: transfer force from your torso to your arms through your lats. The phrase I use with clients is straight from the manual: "'Linkage'—not 'leakage.'"
Every lift has places where force can leak. A soft knee in the press. A shoulder that unpacks in the get-up. A loose midsection in the deadlift. When you link everything, the force goes where you want it. When something leaks, you lose strength.
The lat is the big link. In the swing, the hike connects your upper arms to your ribs. In the deadlift, you break the handle to take the slack out of your armpits. In the press, you squeeze strength out of your armpits. Same muscle, same job: connect the arm to the body.
When tension hurts you
Too much tension in the wrong place is a real problem. The manual compares the swing to a punch. A punch that's tense the whole way is slow. So is a swing that's tense the whole way.
The fix in the manual: "do not confuse speed with panic... Do not focus on RPMs." Relax while the bell travels, snap tight at the top, relax again.
In the snatch, if the bell bangs your forearm, the manual says to relax your grip. More tension isn't always the answer.
Fast & loose
This is the practice StrongFirst uses to train the relaxation side. After tension work, you shake off the tension so you can relax and move fast. The manual calls the deadlift "a perfect time to introduce and emphasize the use of the 'fast & loose' drills."
The five drills from the manual:
1. Whip. Stand with your feet wider than your shoulders and turn your torso both ways, letting your relaxed arms lag behind like whips.
2. Muscle to fat. Stand on one leg and shake the quad of the unloaded leg like "meat coming off the bones," then vibrate the whole leg.
3. Heavy hands. Let your arms hang, then vibrate your fingers and shake your wrists until your hands feel large and heavy. Let the vibration travel up your arm.
4. Washing machine. Press your palms together in front of your sternum and move them rapidly left and right. Let the wave rotate your hips.
5. Boxer's bounce. Shrug and drop your shoulders, inhaling on the shrug and passively exhaling as you let go, then bounce loosely.
One note from the manual that applies to all of them: "keep an impassive face and relax the traps." If your face is scrunched, you're not relaxed.
When I use them
Between deadlift sets. Right where the manual introduces them.
Between plank sets. The manual lists this specifically.
In clean rack work. "Don't forget to shake off the tension with 'fast & loose' drills."
Before a heavy pull. Deadlift Dynamite describes a "static stomp," then shaking off the tension "by shadow kickboxing or similar fast and loose movements," then pulling.
Between hard sets in general. The manual says to keep moving, for example by walking or shadow boxing.
Sitting on a bench staring at your phone between sets isn't recovery. Shaking out, walking, and breathing slowly is.
Breathing ties it together
Your breath is the switch. The hiss of power breathing turns tension on. A long, passive exhale, like in the boxer's bounce, turns it off. Rob Lawrence's breathing ladder from the StrongFirst program notes, roughly 10 swings then 5 slow breaths, is a fast & loose drill for your nervous system.
The longer video below is my beginner single-arm swing tutorial. It's a good place to practice tense-loose-tense: tight at the top, loose on the way down.
Cue list
Tension is strength. Relaxation is speed
Grinds: dynamic tension the whole way
Ballistics: tense-loose-tense
Abs, glutes, grip are the neural generators
Lats link the arm to the body: linkage, not leakage
Speed isn't panic
Impassive face, relaxed traps
Shake it off between sets
Keep moving between hard sets
Try it
Next session, after every hard set, do 20-30 seconds of one fast & loose drill instead of sitting down. Rotate through all five. Notice whether your next set feels faster and crisper. For most people it does.
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