I start by writing on this website, talking about strength, that subject that we are so passionate about and interested in and about which we want to know more and more.
Through two publications I am going to guide you to know the factors on which force depends and its manifestation. Specifically, in this article, we will talk about muscle tension and the types of tension that we find.
We begin this article by defining what force is. It can be seen that there are many definitions of force, but I have chosen this one from Harman (1993) which is the following:
The ability to generate tension under certain conditions defined by the position of the body, the movement in which the force is applied, the type of activation (concentric, eccentric, isometric, plyometric), and the speed of the movement
We know that strength can manifest itself in many ways since in each sporting activity it is used in different ways. This manifestation depends on different factors, among which we find muscle tension.
And what is tension?
This is defined as “the capacity of the crossed bridges to produce force” (Bosco, 1988). Also, the different types of tension that will be generated in the muscles will depend on these factors:
- Type of muscle contraction: Anisometric (concentric and eccentric), isometric, and the combination of these.
- Speed and acceleration at which the contraction occurs.
- The magnitude of stress.
- Initial conditions of tension (if it begins with the previous stretching or not).
Now we are going to talk about the different types of muscle tension that we find, dividing them according to the factors that I have just named (a type of muscle contraction, speed and acceleration, magnitude, and initial conditions).
Types of tension
381 Tonic: It is characterized by manifesting itself in the face of great resistance, by means of an isometric or antisometric contraction.
The duration of the stress is relatively long.
Execution speed is slow or zero.
The force developed is maximum or close to it.
The peak of maximum force is achieved towards the end of the contraction.
The resistances to overcome would be between 85% and 100% of the maximum isometric force.
Example: bench press with 95% of the maximum load.
Hockey-Squat-Jump Explosive Tonic: It is about overcoming a lower resistance than in tonic tension. It is usually started with an isometric component but the contraction is concentric, quickly achieving great speed and the manifestation of force.
The peak of maximum force is achieved towards the end of the contraction.
The speed of execution is faster than in tonic tension.
The resistances to overcome would be between 50 and 80% of the maximum isometric force at the maximum force angle.
Examples: SJ (Squat Jump) or lifting weights very quickly.
FIFA 14 – Real Physical Elastic-Explosive Ball: Occurs with relatively small resistances. It usually begins with a stretch prior to the concentric contraction.
A great speed and manifestation of the force is quickly achieved towards the beginning or middle of the contraction to later decrease the said acceleration, although a speed is preserved as a consequence of the previous acceleration.
Examples: Hitting the ball or performing the CMJ (countermovement jump).
Drop Jump Elastic explosive-reactive: It resembles the elastic-explosive but the stretch prior to the contraction is much greater and abrupt, forcing the participation of the myotatic reflex and seeking a passage from the eccentric to the concentric phase as quickly as possible.
The peak of maximum force is higher, occurs earlier, and lasts less time than in the elastic-explosive.
Plyometrics is based on this type of tension.
As an example, we have the DJ (Drop Jump).
The rest of the types of tension are variants of those named or a mixture of them. So we can talk about the following:
- Phasic: Dynamic work with different measures of muscle strength, producing alternations between contraction and relaxation. They have a greater relationship with endurance.
- Tonic–phasic: Alternation between tonic and phasic.
- Fast acyclical: These are those tensions that are made in the face of little or no opposition. They can be considered as variants of the tonic-explosive.
- Fast cyclical: They are different types of tension that are happening depending on the factors on which they depend.
