Relaxing for Optimal Performance

Explaining the "paradox of athletics": the need for light, easy, and relaxed movements.

I recently published 20 Hacks for the 24-Hour Athlete. I wrote more than 20 chapters initially, and the following is a chapter I excluded in the final book. Much of the content has appeared in different forms in previous newsletters.

I hate doing this, but one of my former players, Niko Grek, the MVP from the U17 Polish Championships last year, was diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer last week and has set up a site for donations to help offset the costs of specialists.

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“Relax! Relax!” scream the parents and coaches as a player approaches the free-throw line for a pivotal late-game free throw, completely oblivious to the incongruity of their behaviors and messages. Relaxing, breathing, and even smiling are appropriate behaviors to prepare for stressful situations. Does screaming at players assist with relaxation?

The effects of yelling on performance

20 Hacks for the 24-Hour Athlete offered some tools to assist with relaxation, on and off the court, but why turn toward relaxation in pressure moments when coaches otherwise emphasize effort and work? Rick DeMont, associate head coach for men’s swimming at the University of Arizona, called the need for relaxation “the paradox of athletics” because coaches otherwise stress hard work and effort, contradicting with the need for proper, and timely, relaxation.

Boxing instructors focus on breathing because beginners tend to hold their breath, which increases tension, slowing their movements and hastening fatigue. Your thoughts, feelings, and control should be organized for actions that are coordinated, continuous, smooth, and efficient, and thus pleasant, wrote Moshe Feldenkrais in Awareness through Movement. Otherwise, parts of the body may be used indiscriminately and interfere with the action, as Feldenkrais added. Tension, whether physical or emotional, disrupts coordinated, smooth movements. Boxers exhale as they punch to increase stiffness through their torsos and decrease unnecessary tension.

Elite athletes have a superior ability to relax, both physically and emotionally. Athletes compared to non-athletes emit stronger alpha waves, indicating a restful state, between repetitions or actions (Del Percio et al., 2009; Zimmer, 2010). “An athlete’s brain is like a race car idling in neutral, ready to spring into action,” wrote Carl Zimmer. The speed of relaxation following muscular contraction was nearly 200% faster in top athletes compared to lower-level athletes, according to University of Minnesota strength and conditioning coach Cal Dietz’s Triphasic Training. Dr. Stuart McGill (2023) reported that Russian sports scientist Leonid Medvedev found the muscles of elite weightlifters relax six times faster than the average person. “Skillful simultaneous tension and relaxation of muscles essentially defines the coordination of movement,” (Charniga, 2023).

The first lesson I learned as a personal trainer was to warn clients about white knuckling when lifting heavy weights. White knuckles occur when your hands squeeze too hard around a barbell or dumbbell. You tense your grip and squeeze harder when struggling with the resistance, which tightens your muscles, restricts blood and oxygen flow, and generally makes the lift harder. Exhale like a boxer throwing a punch to push past the sticking point and relax your hands rather than squeezing harder. The same idea holds true with any racquet or stick sport, such as tennis, golf, or baseball. Squeezing a golf club harder and harder disrupts coordination and makes the swing more difficult, reduces accuracy, and creates unnecessary tension. It does not add strength, power, or distance. “Light and easy movements are good ones, as a rule” wrote Feldenkrais.

As an example, clear some space and clench your fists as tight as possible to get your muscles bulging. Next, throw a punch. Now, relax and shake out your arms. Throw a second punch, but wait until the last possible instant to form a fist. Coaches must cultivate the ability to feel muscles relax, not just tell players to relax, and throwing the punch is an effective tool for teaching this differentiation (Charniga, 2023).

Athletes generally feel the difference between the two punches and respond that the second punch feels more powerful, stronger, and faster. You must activate the muscles at the right time in the right order to perform optimally. DeMont said, “Tension is slow, tension is inefficient. You need to be relaxed.” Tension interferes with the movement’s synchronization and timing.

The fist does not do the work in a punch. The fist transmits the force generated by the legs and torso. Waiting to form a fist until the last possible instant is an example of relaxation in movement. “In a well-organized body work done by the large muscles is passed on to its final destination through the bones by weaker muscles, but without losing much of its power on the way,” wrote Feldenkrais. Tensing the muscles prior to throwing a punch affects coordination and performance. A disorganized body leaks power.

Last year, I coached a player whose shoulders were tight; he would raise his shoulders toward his ears. He was tight. Likely a lack of confidence or internal pressure to perform caused the physical tension, but he could not improve “his shot” until he learned to relax and re-established the proper coordination and synchronization. Relying on will power develops an ability to strain and you become accustomed to applying too much force when much less is required. Both ways often achieve their objectives, but one may cause considerable damage (Feldenkrais, 1990). Hard work and effort exacerbate the problem when the remedy is greater relaxation and synchronization. Skilled performance feels easy, not hard.

Clyde Hart, the director of track and field at Baylor University, referred to the way children run (Kolata, 2008). “They throw their heads back….They think the harder they go, the faster they run.” The best athletes have a superior ability to relax the muscles not actively involved in the immediate muscle contractions or co-contractions; they do not inhibit the performance of the prime movers or synergists involved with the movement. “Sprinters are elastic, pulsating athletes. The fastest sprinters are the fastest relaxers, meaning they get their muscles to fire up quickly and then relax quickly,” said Dr. McGill (2023). Fast is relaxed and smooth, not hard and effortful. “The quickest way to improve a sprinter is to teach him or her to relax,” Hart said.

Hart teaches sprinters to concentrate on their eyes. He instructs them to run sleepy eyed. Sprinters are tense when they run with their eyes wide. As their eyes relax, their face relaxes, followed by their jaw. Hart teachers runners to allow the feeling to spread through their shoulders and arms (Kolata, 2008).

Running with sleepy eyes, breathing/exhaling, and easing one’s grip are three physical cues to assist with relaxation. However, muscular and postural habits are connected with emotional disorders, as Feldenkrais wrote in Body and Mature Behavior. Alleviating the physical symptoms of stress or tension, without affecting the mental or emotional stressors, will not relax the athlete entirely, as with my player last season.

Emotional experiences are not just psychological, but physiological experiences, added Chade-Meng Tan in Search Inside Yourself. The physical affects the emotions, and the emotions affect the physical; change requires a plan to affect both. This connection appears in successful performance and disorders. This, I believe, is the reason meditation is common amongst high performers.

Meditation positively changes the structure of your brain in areas affecting emotional regulation. If you learn to control your mind through meditation or other means, you can reduce your tension and stress. “The more we are able to create space between stimulus and reaction, the more control we will have over our emotional lives,” wrote Tan. Controlling your emotional life means controlling your physiological life as well. Meditation has been shown to improve athletic performance, decrease pre-competition stress, and enhance recovery after training.

Playing a game or competing in a sport requires fast, coordinated movements. You must learn to relax to maximize your movements. Movements slow down when you move with tension. The goal is to learn relaxation through movement to increase movement efficiency. Learn to differentiate the feel of relaxed and tense, incorporate breathing routines, and meditate or use another mindfulness technique to decrease physical and emotional stress and tension. You will move more efficiently, leading to quicker, smoother, more coordinated movements.

References

Charniga, Jr., A. (2023). The secret to the weightlifter’s strength: Speed of muscle relaxation.” Sportivnypress.com. January 30.

Del Percio, C., Babiloni, C., Marzano, N., Iacoboni, M., Infarinato, F., Vecchio, F., ... & Eusebi, F. (2009). “Neural efficiency” of athletes’ brain for upright standing: A high-resolution EEG study. Brain Research Bulletin, 79(3-4), 193-200.

Feldenkrais, M. (1990). Awareness through Movement. Harper San Francisco.

Kolata, G. (2008). Before hustling to finish, relaxed is a good way to start. New York Times, October 10.

McGill, S. (2023). An approach to pain-free training for track athletes with Stuart McGill. SimpliFaster. December.

Zimmer, C. (2010). The brain: Why athletes are geniuses. Discover Magazine, April 15.