Selective Tension

Selective Tension and Graceful Body Movement

by Jarlo Ilano, M.P.T.,C.S.T.

The concept of Selective Tension is one of my favorite “big ideas” in the system of Circular Strength Training®. As in many profound concepts, the idea itself is simple in definition, but requires intensive practice for its proper execution.

Selective tension, as is implied in the name itself, is about the incremental gradations between the most minimal tension you can have, and the maximal tension you can generate. By thinking of the extremes of tension, we understand innately the impracticality of their usage. To have maximal tension implies no movement as we are hard as stone, braced and shelled up, with our power going nowhere, but instead canceling itself out. We become trapped in our tension. There is no proportion in this force. Instead, it is akin to holding onto our maximal deadlift weight for dear life at the top of the repetition. There is simply no where to go but crashing down to the ground.

The converse occurs with minimal tension, it would appear that here we are at our most mobile. A leaf on the wind so to speak. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen that there is no movement here as well. That is, no intentional movement. In a minimal tension framework, we become subject to the whims of outside forces. Our attempt to “go with the flow” is too extreme, and like that leaf on the wind, our movements are not merely influenced by external forces, but instead are entirely directed by them. There is no absorption and retranslation of this force. We are simply buffeted and tossed around, subjugated to the capriciousness of outside influences.

With the above in mind, it becomes easier to see that we can only really use Selective Tension, as we choose to move in a manner that fits our goal at hand. The myth is that anything else other than selective tension occurs. The difficulty is in the execution of the appropriate selective tension for the task at hand. Therein lays the utility and beauty of Daily Personal Practice. It is in our personal practice that we explore of the nature of Selective Tension and go beyond the knowledge of its definition, “Tension specific to the degree required to accomplish the task”, and towards owning the concept and becoming its embodiment as we work toward our particular movement goals. It is in the multitude of incremental gradations that we find the appropriate level of Selective Tension, because at any given moment, the correct amount of tension shifts. The ability to swiftly adapt to the varying needs of tension is what separates true Flow, from being a step behind.