The Power of Tension

Back in my college football days, something interesting happened during one of my final seasons.

Like many young athletes, we went through a phase where everyone wanted to arm wrestle.

It became a daily challenge. Between practices, after workouts, in the locker room. Someone was always looking for the next match.

I loved it.

Not because I was the biggest guy.

In fact, quite the opposite.

I was often one of the leaner athletes on the team. 

Yet, somehow, I held my own remarkably well.

Even with personal trainers I later met while working in one of my first commercial gyms, in fact, at that time my nickname was “Flaco,” which simply means “skinny.”

Looking back now, what fascinates me isn’t that I won many of those matches.

It’s why.

Many of the guys I competed against had visibly larger muscles than I did.

Some were considerably stronger on paper.

Yet, more often than not, the toughest opponents weren’t always the biggest ones.

They were usually the leaner athletes.

The ones who knew how to create tension.

Years later, after studying under StrongFirst, that mystery finally made sense.

One of the greatest lessons I learned was that strength isn’t simply about muscle size.

It’s about your ability to recruit your muscles, to generate tension exactly when it’s needed.

One of my greatest influences, Bruce Lee, often emphasized that true power comes from the center of the body.

That idea has stayed with me throughout my career.

It wasn’t until I pursued my StrongFirst certifications that I truly understood what that meant.

During our training, one principle was repeated over and over:

Tension creates strength.

Pavel Tsatsouline, founder of StrongFirst, explains it beautifully in The Naked Warrior:

“Strength is built by tensing the muscles harder, not by exhausting them with countless reps. High resistance is one of the two requirements of high tension. The other is mental focus on contracting the muscles harder. The tension-generating skill is the most important variable in getting stronger, much more important than muscle mass.”

That idea completely changed the way I viewed training.

Strength is not simply a physical quality.

It is also a neurological skill.

The mind tells the body how much force to produce.

The body responds.

The stronger that connection becomes, the greater your potential.

This is why I value the principles taught by StrongFirst so deeply.

Learning to create purposeful tension.

Learning to direct your focus.

Learning to express strength with precision instead of simply relying on effort.

But I believe this lesson reaches far beyond the gym.

When we learn to create tension in the body and direct it toward a movement, we become stronger.

Likewise, when we learn to focus our attention and direct our energy toward a meaningful goal, we become stronger as people.

Our energy is one of our greatest resources.

Where we place our attention determines where our energy flows.

And where our energy flows, progress follows.

That is one of the greatest lessons strength training has taught me.

Master your body.

Master your attention.

Master your energy.

Because true strength is not simply the ability to generate force.

It is the ability to direct that force… physically, mentally, and emotionally toward the life you want to build.

That, to me, is the essence of the Inner Force Method.

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Body Recomposition: Building Strength While Burning Fat

One of the biggest myths in fitness is that you can’t build muscle while losing body fat. Traditionally, we’ve been taught that building muscle requires a calorie surplus, while fat loss requires a calorie deficit. However, with the right combination of nutrition, progressive overload, and intelligent training, body recomposition - building lean muscle while reducing body fat - is absolutely possible.

The key is providing your body with a strong enough stimulus to preserve and build muscle while maintaining a modest calorie deficit. This is where strength training truly shines.

One of my favorite tools for body recomposition is the kettlebell swing.

Unlike many traditional exercises, the swing develops strength, speed, power, endurance, and conditioning simultaneously. It allows you to move heavy weight explosively while accumulating a large amount of quality work in a relatively short period of time. Few exercises can challenge the cardiovascular system while demanding such high levels of muscular tension.

In Simple & Sinister, Pavel Tsatsouline explains that the kettlebell swing—particularly the single-arm swing—is one of the greatest expressions of tension and power. The ability to rapidly generate force and then instantly relax before producing force again is one of the defining characteristics of athletic strength.

Recent research supports this idea.

Studies published through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have shown that single-arm kettlebell swings significantly increase anti-rotational core activation compared with two-handed swings. Because the kettlebell is loaded on only one side of the body, your trunk must resist rotation on every repetition.

Researchers observed that:

• The muscles along the spine work harder to stabilize the upper body.

• The abdominal muscles fire intensely to keep the torso square.

• The core functions as an anti-rotational brake, resisting the twisting force created by the kettlebell.

• Nearly every repetition trains the body to transfer force efficiently while maintaining spinal stability.

In other words, you’re not just training your hips.

You’re training your core, back, shoulders, grip, posture, balance, and coordination, all while building explosive power and improving your conditioning.

For me, that’s what makes the kettlebell swing such a remarkable exercise. It blends strength and athleticism into one simple movement while teaching the body to generate force, create tension, and remain resilient under load.

So whether your goal is to become stronger, leaner, more powerful, or simply move better, don’t underestimate the value of the swing.

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Our upcoming Mobility & Flexibility Gathering is just around the corner, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

This will be a fun and relaxed opportunity to learn more about our bodies, explore our movement potential, and discover how mobility can improve the way we train, move, and feel every day.

More importantly, it will be a chance to connect with others who are on the same journey toward becoming stronger, healthier, and more resilient.

If you know someone who would benefit from learning these movements or who simply wants to move better and feel better, please invite them to join us. The more people we can inspire to take care of themselves, the stronger our community becomes.

Stay connected for the official date and details.