Stay tight! This is the advice that you will hear from a lot of lifting coaches. Of course, it is good advice because if you relax under a heavy squat or deadlift, you could suffer a disastrous injury or simply miss the lift. While it is true that you must maintain a substantial amount of tightness when lifting, consider that there may also be an element of relaxation within lifting.
There is never such a thing as total relaxation in any sports movement. Total relaxation means no movement at all. Even so, you will see runners who have a relaxed stride or golfers who have a relaxed swing. The opposite is also true as you will see runners who appear to be tight when they run, and golfers who are too tight or rigid when the swing a golf club. The right amount of tension must be applied at the right time in combination with the right amount of relaxation.
Richard Hawthorne is great at the deadlift and squat. He makes the point that successful lifting is based on the proper application of energy flow. He tries to let his body respond to the weight by letting energy and drive build up in his muscles. At the same time, he chooses not to initiate maximum tightness in his muscles before even starting the lift. The different muscles have to sync up with each other at the right time during a lifting motion for optimum lifting to occur. If one body part is too quick or too slow during one part of the lifting motion, the proper form and leverages are lost. Every part of the body must exert the right amount of tension with the right amount of relaxation for a lift to work right. It often takes lots of lifting experience to get the right feel for each exercise.
In the following video, Nsima Inyang (also known as The-natty-professor) stresses the importance of relaxing his face and neck when performing heavy squats. Once again, he is not advocating complete relaxation, nor is he saying that you should not try to keep your back and glutes tight throughout the lift as there must be a high degree of tightness. However, when you tighten up to the point where stretch reflexes no longer activate at the right time and the rhythm of the lift is destroyed, then tightness is interfering with the lift instead of enhancing the lift.
Relaxation And Recovery
Another issue when considering the role of relaxation in lifting is recovery. Instead of psyching yourself up and straining against the weight, consider not psyching yourself up. Be calm and let your body go through a natural process of reflexively responding to the weight in order for the various muscle groups to exert force at the right time and the right place. You may find that this practice allows you to conserve more energy during your workouts and makes it easier to recover.
If you find that maintaining a degree of relaxation doesn’t work when lifting, then throw it out. However, you may find that it helps you lift better and recover better. You’ll never know until you try it out. Best of training to you.