Relaxation Provides an Extra Gear
in Your Cache of Athletic Weapons
If we look at how our bodies are designed to move, there are three parts:
1 Concentric: the prime “power” move
2 Isometric: the finish of the concentric movement, as we change direction, and
3 Eccentric: the “reset” movement that gets us in place for the next concentric movement.
Relaxation’s Role in Movement
By body design, relaxation is built into these movements:
1 Concentric contraction pairs with eccentric relaxation.
2 Eccentric contraction pairs with concentric relaxation.
Why is this important? Looking closely,
1 To speed up a concentric contraction, we need a faster eccentric relaxation, and
2 To speed up an eccentric contraction, we need a faster concentric relaxation.
So train to cycle movements faster.
And logically, relaxation helps take the brakes off for a more efficient isometric “turn around” between concentric and eccentric.
Using Charlie Francis’ words, who coached athletes to 35 world records:
“The number one secret to greater speed is relaxation! It allows a faster and more complete shutdown of antagonists, quickening alternation cycles and permitting more force to be delivered in the desired direction with less energy consumption. Relaxation must become second nature in every drill you do and every run you take. You may feel that you aren't generating enough force while relaxed (a perception that gets a lot of sprinters into trouble in big races), but remember, only the net force counts! The net force is the amount of force delivered in the desired direction minus the force generated by the antagonist muscle at the same moment.”
(charliefrancis.com)
Quoting from Cal Dietz’ book Triphasic Training on the subject of relaxation, bearing in mind that many ideas of modern sports performance originated in Russian Olympic circles of prior decades:
“Decades ago, Dr. Matveyev (a Russian scientist) found through his research that the difference between elite athletes and great athletes wasn’t the speed at which they could contract their agonist muscle (concentric) as one would intuitively think. The difference lied instead with the athlete’s ability to relax the antagonist (eccentric). The athlete who could do this more quickly was always the superior athlete.”
And (paraphrased):
“(Superior) Level 5 Russian athletes displayed the fastest relaxation times during movement. Think of Level 5 athletes as Russia’s Michael Jordan and Lebron James.”
So how do we apply this information?
1 Visualizing a sense of full body relaxation during activity to ensure a quality balance between contraction and relaxation.
2 Visualizing antagonistic/eccentric relaxation for specific movements to free up speed, quickness, and help dissolve tightness.
3 Train or “rate code” varying speeds (slow to fast) along the force velocity curve once relaxed, using proportional resistances and speeds, to prepare for any athletic scenario.
The faster you go, the lighter the resistance and visa versa, but as fast as controlled. If you need precision, use a common music metronome to measure speed in movements per minute.
4 Understand that relaxation helps mental clarity, for better learning curves in training and decision making in athletic events.
5 Be assessed by a NASM certified trainer to learn of any muscle imbalances (weak/underactive and tight/overactive muscles) that would affect the contraction/relaxation relationship.
Recommended reading: Bud Winter’s Relax and Win; Cal Dietz’s Triphasic Training, A Systematic Approach to Elite Speed and Explosive Strength Performance
Cal Dietz quote from “Triphasic Trainng reprinted by permission.