For this exercise alone, I want you to imagine your body is a giant circle. The outer part of the circle is broken down into sections or subcategories. These sections will represent your bodies physical/mental tension levels on any given play. A full or complete circle is what we will refer to as your Optimal Tension Level or OTL.
It's imperative that on any given play your OTL is achieved so you are able to maximize your full potential. As we know, there are many different aspects to the Quarterback position which are essential components of success. Combined in an effective manner they can produce beautiful works of art. Alone, depleted, misguided, or lacking in members, they can become a destructive force that works against us and ultimately leads to our demise. This is what we want to avoid at all costs. The following picture represents an athlete who has consciously or subconsciously found a way to incorporate negative tension into his game. By doing so he was unable to achieve his OTL and was never able to fulfill his true potential.
[[What is Positive Tension?]] Positive tension is any essential element or movement which requires energy output or tension exertion. It must have causal influence over achieving your greatest conceived goal. Example: Putting extra energy/tension into your index finger to give your fastball extra movement. The tension placed on the index finger is positive tension which has causal influence over the greatest conceived end goal for that movement (throwing the ball as hard as possible with extra movement.)
[[What is Negative Tension?]] - Negative tension can be defined as a non-essential/ unnecessary element or movement which requires energy output. Generally speaking, this non-essential tension output will manifest itself in various ways. The most obvious being an athlete who exerts some force or strength to begin and or maintain a non-essential position or movement which has no causal effect over your greatest conceived end goal.
Example: Imagine your car breaks down and you have to walk 10 miles to the nearest pay phone. Your greatest conceivable end goal is to get to the pay phone as safely, quickly, and as effectively as possible. It's advantageous to maximize your walking potential, positive tension output, and overall effectiveness by doing things such as maintaining an even stride, keeping forward momentum, and gently swinging your arms down by your side. If however you were to try and walk 10 miles with your hands in the air (a non-essential unnecessary element), you would quickly realize this is not maximizing your effectiveness or ability to reach your GCG (Greatest Conceivable Goal). Not only that, it's actually producing a counter effect by adding negative tension and taking away from your OTL.
[[What is GCG?]] - Your Greatest Conceivable Goal is the most positive outcome that you can imagine for any given movement, action, or play. For example, I break down every play individually for my quarterbacks. This means each play has a different GCG. One time it may be to roll out of the pocket and complete a 15 yard comeback on a rope, another time it may be to loft a fade in the back corner of the end-zone for a touchdown.
[[What is an Essential Element?]] - An essential element would be that which directly contributes to or has causal influence over your GCG.
[[The Key]] - Maintain an optimum tension level throughout the duration of your movement. To do to this you must exclude any negative tension output (tension that when excluded, does not have any causal influence over your greatest conceived end goal/product). This will ensure maximum effectiveness and provide the abundance of positive tension needed for you to achieve premium results.
Have you ever tried to....
1.) Hit a golf ball for distance with your traps flexed
2.) Make a really mean face and try to write a love letter
3.) Take a calm Sunday drive with one hand on the wheel, while clinching
your other hand tightly across your lap
4.) Swim across a pool with your toes curled
5.) Walk up a hill on your heels
6.) Run a 40 yard dash with your hands in the air
These are some very extreme examples, and with the majority
of them, failure can be attributed to poor form. I like to think of poor form in much broader context
which can be discussed in more simplistic/traditional manners. However, when we look at
position specific details under a finely tuned microscope, separated only by
slight variations (sometimes unrecognizable to the untrained eye), we begin to
get into an area of QB philosophy that I call tension output. Another thing we notice is that not only is the negative tension affecting our OTL by its physical implications, but it’s also presenting a noticeable strain by its cerebral effects. Both contribute to lower performance and restrict production. For example, one will find that it's a mental drain to try and curl your toes while swimming, or write a love letter while making an angry face….Why, because you’re sending yourself mixed signals. Your mind already knows what your ultimate goal is, and it begins to work against itself in an unproductive fashion when you begin asserting it in ways that are counter intuitive.
From the moment a movement begins, to the moment where you have no more causal influence over the outcome, you must maintain your OTL. It's important to remember, while you exert positive tension, you are still operating at a maximum level, because that exerted tension is a necessary component of your GCG.
[[Useable Tension]] - This is an important term to understand because it helps us visualize the process. If you tried to break your bench press record while doing leg extensions it wouldn't work. There are many reason why, but the one I want you to focus on is the fact that you are exerting(negative) tension on the leg lifts, so you aren't as effective pushing out maximum (positive) tension for your GCG (breaking your bench press record). Essentially you are draining or wasting positive tension (which could be exerted toward your GCG) on something non-essential. Your body and mind have an abundance of positive tension waiting to be directed or focused into the right areas. If you begin using up your reservoir of useable tension on non-essentials, then you won't be able to maximize your full potential. In the back of your mind always remember that the more useable tension you have for positive output, the greater and more effective your end result will be.
[[Why is OTL important]] - This is very simple, even though some people like to make it more difficult than it actually is. If you have an OTL, then you're able to exert optimal tension toward your GCG (Greatest Conceivable end Goal). In other words, you will have the ability to exert full positive tension, because you have not lost any tension to non-essential areas. This is very important!! It's basically supply and demand. As a Quarterback the demand is high for you to perform at a superhuman level and lead your team to victory. If your supply of positive tension has been depleted, when it comes time for the demand, more than likely your God given ability won't be enough to see you through. That's why fundamentals are very important. For every goal you set out to accomplish in life, big or small, making sure you're at your very best is a vital aspect for success. This includes ensuring that you have not had any wasted tension on that which is not directly influencing your task in a positive way. Every season has a goal, every game has a goal, and every play has a goal. If
your goal is to throw a deep post route, 65 yards down the middle of the field into tight coverage with the game on the line, it's probably best that you didn't waste any of your OTL on having your ball carriage up around your chin during your drop back. Not only will a depleted OTL hurt us and prevent us from performing at our maximum level, negative tension in itself will minimize our effectiveness.
Example: Imagine it's the middle of the 4rd quarter. 3rd and 12. Tight game. You drop back to pass (operating at OTL), but subconsciously, during your drop, you start putting too much pressure on the ball. This negative tension then has a detrimental effect on your form, delivery, release point, mental state, and many other areas. Mentally it has caused you to feel the strain of the situation, and without even knowing it, you have put more pressure on your entire body. You end up throwing a routine curl route into the dirt because your grip was too tight at the end of your release, and now your team has to punt. All because you had an OTL, but lost it when you allowed negative tension to influence your play.
[[So how do we translate this to Quarterbacks?]] - A Quarterback needs to be smooth, relaxed, and fluid in his movements. The same goes for his posture, carriage, throwing form, delivery, ball pressure, follow through, and a whole slew of other things. Coaches want a Quarterback who effortlessly conquers the insurmountable. Not a Quarterback who is stiff, agitated, and tight. Think of yourself as being silky. A Quarterback has to be sleek, peaceful, polished, smooth, and agile. Be natural with your movements, and never, I mean never, allow Negative Tension to creep into your game.
There are many things I teach my students (at PQA) to stay away from when it comes to negative tension. The following is just one of the many things I notice QBs doing which incorporates negative tension and takes way from their OTL.
Extended elbows on your drop. When you drop back you should allow your elbows to hang effortlessly at your side. Don't waste negative tension holding or pushing your elbows outward. Here are some example of Quarterbacks maximizing their OTL by allowing their elbows to hang effortlessly at their side.
Now contrast these pictures to the ones
below, where the Quarterbacks are
exerting negative tension by holding
their elbows outward.
[[Difference between Tension and Energy]] - Essentially it takes energy to exert tension. Likewise, it's my position that you cannot exert energy without some form of tension strain. So let us look at the definitions.
Ten·sion
ˈtenSHən/
noun
noun: tension
- the state of being stretched tight."the parachute keeps the cable under tension as it drops"
- the state of having the muscles stretched tight, especially as causing strain or discomfort."the elimination of neck tension can relieve headaches"
- a strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other.
- mental or emotional strain."a mind that is affected by stress or tension cannot think as clearly"
synonyms: strain, stress, anxiety, pressure; More
worry, apprehensiveness, apprehension, agitation, nerves, nervousness, jumpiness, edginess, restlessness;"the tension was unbearable"- a strained political or social state or relationship.plural noun: tensions"the coup followed months of tension between the military and the government"
synonyms: strained relations, strain; More
"months of tension between the military and the government" - a relationship between ideas or qualities with conflicting demands or implications."the basic tension between freedom and control"
verb
- apply a force to (something).
[en′ərjē]
Etymology: Gk, energia
The capacity to do work or to perform vigorous activity. Energy may occur in the form of heat, light, movement, sound, or radiation. Human energy is usually expressed as muscle contractions and heat production, made possible by the metabolism of food that originally acquired the energy from sunlight. Chemical energy is that released as a result of a chemical reaction, as in the metabolism of food. [[Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. © 2009, Elsevier.]]
We see that energy and tension cannot really be considered mutually exclusive. However, when we talk about tension we are trying to focus our athletes on the act or force being used, rather than the entirety of being able to do work (energy).
If we tell our athlete that he's wasting ENERGY which doesn't contribute to his end goal, it's hard for him to apply a specific change. The word TENSION however is much more visual. It allows the athlete to visualize the specific part of his body which is causing loss of production. It's much more simplistic, and it's easier to tell your mind to release tension on a specific body part, than to think about a specific body part wasting energy during the battle. Inevitably, athletes get tired throughout the duration of their contest, and it's impossible to always operate on a full tank or abundance of energy. For example, it's unrealistic to think a fighter is operating on maximum energy in the 12th round of a title fight...But if we start talking to him about tension levels and point out specific body parts which he can release, we see that the instructions are much clearer and direct. He can then apply them to his fight (and energy storage) much more effectively.
[[How should Qbs think about Tension?]] - Quarterbacks should be smooth and fluid at all times. A quarterback should never be tight, strained, or agitated in his mental state or any of his movements. Think of your body like Rolls Royce. This Rolls Royce has to be well maintained and operate like the precision detailed machine it was designed to be. It's smooth, sleek, luxurious, and makes driving look good. Adding monster truck tires to it so you can drive down Melrose, is a non-essential, which adds negative tension/strain on your vehicle and ultimately ruins the ride and performance. Have your coach talk to you about positive tension and certain elements to stay away from that will create negative tension.
[[Conclusion]]
Everyone wants to harvest their talent in a way that is advantageous to reaching peak performance. Ensuring you have an OTL is an essential component of this process. It's critical that you learn this method and begin to cultivate your natural ability in a way that far surpasses your previous expectations. Training takes years of hard work and dedication, but learning how to maximize your OTL is something that can begin to show immediate results!! I feel obligated to share my knowledge of the quarterback position and help a future generation of signal callers attain their goals. Thank you for reading.
If your good doing it wrong, you can be great doing it right.
Poise is production!!
God Bless -
Chad A. Elliott (Founder/Owner PQA and STP Worldwide)
https://www.facebook.com/Precisionquarterbackacademy
https://www.facebook.com/STPworldwide
Norcalqb07@yahoo.com
If you live in the Stockton or surrounding area, please sign up today for your own PQA private lessons.
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