Tension: Not All Pressure Is Progress

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We don’t always notice it at first. 

The jaw that won’t unclench. The breath that stays shallow. The plans piling up. The training that crosses the line from effort into exhaustion. The conversations left unsaid because the space doesn’t feel safe enough to speak. 

Tension shows up in many forms, and most of us are carrying more of it than we realize. 

In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, achieve more, endure more, tension gets misread as strength. We equate pressure with progress. But not all stress builds muscle. Not all silence is resilience. And not all holding on is holding up. 

This week, we’re diving into tension as a double-edged force, one that can shape us or slowly erode us, depending on how we engage with it. 

Through the lens of Tiger Resilience, we’ll explore how tension lives in the body, hijacks the brain, and reshapes our choices, sometimes for growth, sometimes for survival. You’ll learn how to distinguish between eustress (constructive tension) and distress (destructive tension), how physical tension affects performance and recovery, and how emotional tension can silently erode connection, self-trust, and clarity. 

We’ll also walk through: 

• The neuroscience and physiology of tension  
• Real stats on stress, health, and hidden load  
• The Tiger Resilience Lens on tension vs. compression   
• Michael’s breakdown of training stress, recovery, and adaptation  
• A real-world example of someone who’s mastered tension across disciplines  
• A guided journaling prompt to help you spot and shift your own tension patterns  

Because resilience isn’t about holding it all in. 

It’s about learning when to hold, and when to release. 

What Is Tension? 

Tension is the state of being stretched, held, or pulled between opposing forces, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. It can come from pressure we place on ourselves, demands from others, or simply the weight of life when everything feels too much. 

But here’s the truth we often overlook: 

Not all tension is bad. 

Some tension pushes us toward growth. Some keeps us stuck. The difference is whether it serves a purpose, or slowly becomes our default state. 

In the Tiger Resilience framework, we train ourselves to recognize the types of tension we carry, where it shows up across the Four Domains, and how to work with it, not just suppress it. 

✅ Tension Is: 

• A natural byproduct of growth, learning, and change   
• The resistance that builds muscle, discipline, and skill   
• A signal that we’re holding something important (a boundary, a goal, a truth)   
• Eustress: the kind of stress that motivates us, focuses us, and creates resilience   
• Temporary pressure that leads to adaptation   

🚫 Tension Is Not: 

• The same as distress, burnout, or chronic stress   
• A sign of weakness or failure  
• Something to always avoid or escape  
• A permanent state we should normalize  
• An excuse to ignore warning signs in the body, mind, or relationships   

Too often, we associate “tension” only with negativity. 

But growth and stagnation both live in tension, it’s how we respond that determines which one we’re feeding. 

Michael’s Perspective: The Double Edge of Tension 

There’s a certain kind of tension that helps you hit the lift just right. It’s what lets you brace into a heavy front squat without folding, or load up your hamstrings during an RDL and feel the stretch working for you, not against you. When used correctly, tension creates potential. It’s what gives your stride that snap when everything’s firing in sync. 

But tension can also steal that from you, quietly. 

I felt that this past weekend. 

I went into the 800m race ready, trained, expecting to run fast. We’ve been building every piece deliberately, volume, intensity, strength. All signs pointed toward a breakthrough. But when the gun went off, something felt… off. Not bad. Not panic. Just slightly muted. 

That pop I usually have off the first curve wasn’t there. 

I found myself stuck behind a pack through the first 300 meters. Not in a terrible spot, but not where I needed to be. And the longer I stayed there, the harder it became to move. The physical gap grew, but more than that, a subtle mental compression started to build. It wasn’t dramatic. But it was enough to stall momentum. 

And that’s the thing about tension: it’s not always loud. Sometimes it’s just a quiet tightening that clouds your sense of when to go, how to trust your stride, how to respond instead of react. 

By the time I hit the bell lap, the race was slipping away, and I knew it. I closed as best I could and finished fourth, not terrible, but a few seconds off my best. And here’s the kicker: I wasn’t even exhausted afterward. Legs weren’t trashed. Breathing was fine. Which tells me everything I need to know. 

I wasn’t under-recovered. I wasn’t underprepared. I was over-managed internally. That small internal grip, maybe from wanting it too much, actually kept me from opening up when I needed to. 

That’s the paradox of performance. 

We think we need to try harder, but often that extra try is actually contraction, not expansion. It narrows our bandwidth. We lose responsiveness, fluidity, options. 

The best athletes, whether in running, lifting, or life, know how to care deeply without clenching. They can walk the tightrope of tension and trust. 

And that’s not just physical. When you let pressure morph into internal tightness, you don’t just lose speed, you lose vision. You stop seeing openings. You hesitate. You grip. And in a race like the 800, that moment of hesitation is the race. 

That’s why it’s not just about mechanical tension, though that matters. You need enough neural drive to produce force. You need stiffness in the right joints at the right time. But you also need relaxed aggression. That blend of precision and freedom. 

It’s easy to write off a race like this as a mental block or bad tactics. But I know what really happened: I mistimed the type of tension I needed. And that’s the real takeaway. 

Performance isn’t about avoiding tension, it’s about directing it. 

In training, that might mean building strength through deliberate mechanical tension. In racing, it means learning when to hold and when to let go. Because too much of the wrong kind creates internal drag. You don’t even realize it until your body feels fine, but your results don’t match. 

This isn’t about being soft. It’s about being sharp where it counts. 

That’s the work, learning when to lean in, and when to loosen up. 

Because the moment you grip too hard is usually the moment you stop moving forward. 

Didn’t have the pop, but learned where the tension was hiding. 

Bernie's Perspective: 86,400 Seconds of Tension

July 22nd. I’m home from work, the sun’s just starting to dip, and I’m about to head out to my third Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You’d think by now I’d have nerves of steel, but as I pulled up in front of that old VFW hall on the Mattapoisett coastline, I felt tension rise—not just in my stomach, but in places I didn’t even know could get tense. (Seriously, who knew your earlobes could sweat?) 

This was day three of sobriety for me. Three days. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve ever tried to quit something that’s been glued to your life for years, you know it’s like trying to wrestle a grizzly bear with a pool noodle. It was the start of a new chapter—a whole new paradigm, as the fancy folks say, but really, it just felt like I was learning to walk all over again. 

I parked my Jeep in the dirt lot, watching people trickle in and out of the building. (Okay, “trickle” might be generous—there were maybe twenty people in this group, but in my head it looked like a stampede.) I sat there, convinced that every single one of them had it all figured out. They looked so put together, so… normal. I imagined they’d all solved their problems, conquered their demons, and were now just here to collect their gold stars for “Perfect Life Achievement.” 

Meanwhile, I was stuck in my car, paralyzed by the idea of opening the door. My hands were glued to the steering wheel, my mind running a marathon of “what-ifs.” What if they could smell the fear on me? What if they saw right through me? What if—God forbid—they asked me to share? 

The truth is, I’d been wrestling with insecurity and uncertainty long before I ever set foot in that parking lot. My past—those old childhood traumas—still clung to me like a heavy coat in July. Alcohol had become my crutch, my shield against feeling anything too real. But here I was, about to step into the unknown, with nothing but three days of sobriety and a prayer. 

I finally pried myself out of the Jeep and shuffled up to the porch. And that’s when it happened: two guys—Chris and Sean—smiling like they’d just won the lottery, greeted me at the door. “Thanks for being here,” they said, and I almost laughed. (If they only knew how much effort it took to show up!) They told me the newcomer was the greatest asset to the group, which I figured was just AA code for “We need fresh stories.” 

I’d imagined all this tension, all this awkwardness, would be obvious to everyone. But the reality? None of it materialized. I was welcomed, introduced around, and before I knew it, I was standing there saying, “Hi, my name is Bernie. I’m new here, and I think I’m an alcoholic.” (That last part felt like admitting I was a secret agent—except my secret was out and everyone already knew.) 

Let me be honest: admitting my faults, being vulnerable in front of strangers, was a whole new brand of terrifying. For most of my life, I’d been the “pillar of strength.” The guy who never cracked, never cried, never let anyone see the struggle. But here, in this little hall by the sea, I was just a guy trying to keep it together for another 24 hours. 

During the break, one of the members asked how I was doing. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “I’m scared. I feel really vulnerable.” Old corporate Bernie—the “Rock of Gibraltar”—would never have let those words slip. But something about that room, those people, made it okay to drop the armor. 

And here’s the wild thing: that tension I felt? It wasn’t just fear. It was the good kind of stress—the kind that pushes you to grow. (Yes, there’s a name for it: eustress. Sounds like a European vacation, but it’s actually the positive side of stress.) That tension became the fulcrum for my next chapter. It was the pressure that made me stronger, not despite being vulnerable, but because of it. 

July 19th is my sobriety date. I still remember that first night, just trying to survive the next 24 hours—86,400 seconds, but who’s counting? Decades later, I look back and realize that the tension I dreaded was the spark that lit my journey to resilience. It was always there, waiting to be transformed. 

So if you’re feeling that tension—whether it’s about sobriety, a new job, or just facing another Monday—don’t run from it, let it be your teacher. Let it be the pressure that forges something new in you. 

When was the last time you felt real tension? What did it teach you about yourself? Where might that tension be pointing you to grow next? 

Lost in space, found in tension. Just a guy, orbiting his own thoughts, rocking cosmic shades and soaking up the starlight. Proof that even in zero gravity, resilience keeps you grounded. 🚀✨

🧠🩺 The Science of Tension: What Happens in the Brain and Body 

Tension isn't just a feeling, it's a physiological and neurological event. The moment we perceive pressure, demand, or internal conflict, our systems respond across the brain and body. 

🧠 In the Brain 

Tension begins with perception. 

• The amygdala triggers a threat response, signaling the HPA axis to release cortisol and adrenaline.   
• These chemicals sharpen attention but also limit emotional flexibility, reduce memory access, and amplify reactivity.   
• Chronic tension shrinks the hippocampus (memory) and keeps the default mode network overactive, leading to rumination, anxiety, and impaired focus.   
• High mental tension also hijacks executive function, making it harder to plan, reflect, or respond, we react instead.   

Tension in the brain isn’t always bad. When short-lived, it focuses and motivates. But when chronic, it erodes clarity and resilience. 

🩺 In the Body 

Tension in the body can be both performance-enhancing and performance-limiting. 

✅ When balanced and purposeful: 

• Tension creates stability and strength, especially in resistance training and sprint mechanics.   
• That “pop in your step” feeling? That’s neuromuscular readiness, primed elastic energy in muscles and tendons.   
• Controlled tension improves joint alignment, posture, and force output.   

🚫 When excessive or unmanaged: 

• Muscles tighten without full release, especially in the neck, jaw, hips, and shoulders.   
• Breathing becomes shallow, disrupting oxygen delivery and nervous system regulation.   
• Over time, the body enters a chronic sympathetic state (fight/flight), leading to inflammation, lower HRV, and poor recovery.   
• Tension can become protective bracing, where the body is always on guard, even in stillness.   

So tension isn’t the enemy, it’s about how well we regulate and recover from it. In Tiger Resilience, we train not just for activation, but for adaptation, knowing when to hold, when to release, and how to build strength without collapse. 

📊 Stats Worth Knowing 

• 77% of adults report experiencing regular physical symptoms of stress, including muscle tension, jaw clenching, and headaches. (American Psychological Association, 2023)   
• A 2023 Gallup report found that 44% of people globally feel more stressed than the year before, with workplace demands, financial instability, and uncertainty driving baseline tension.   
• In a recent study published in Sleep Health Journal, people with elevated nighttime muscle tension were 3x more likely to report symptoms of burnout, poor concentration, and chronic fatigue.   
• Persistent physical tension has been linked to elevated inflammation, weakened immune function, and increased risk of autoimmune and cardiovascular disease. (NIH, 2022)   
• A review in Frontiers in Psychiatry emphasized that somatic tension, chronic bodily tightness and shallow breathing, is now a core symptom cluster in generalized anxiety and high-functioning stress syndromes.   
• HRV (Heart Rate Variability), one of the most accurate biomarkers for tension, is consistently lower in people under sustained pressure. Low HRV is associated with decreased recovery capacity and a blunted stress response.   
• Among athletes and active individuals, chronic tension is increasingly recognized as a performance liability, leading to higher injury risk, poorer sleep, and decreased neuromuscular efficiency during training.

🐅 Tiger Resilience Lens: Tension vs. Collapse 

Not all pressure is productive, and not all stillness is peace. Tension, when understood and directed, can be a vital form of readiness. But when ignored or mismanaged, it can break you down. 

🧭 The takeaway? Tension becomes resilience only when it’s recognized, directed, and released. Collapse happens when pressure goes unacknowledged or unmanaged. We don’t fear tension, we train it. 

🏋️ Michael’s Training Corner: Mechanical Tension Builds the Signal 

Part 1: What Is Mechanical Tension? 

Mechanical tension is the primary driver of hypertrophy and long-term strength development. It's the force your muscles experience when they’re placed under load, especially when the muscle is lengthened and actively contracting. The longer and more precisely you can maintain this tension, the stronger the adaptive signal to grow and reinforce tissue. 

This isn’t just about lifting heavy. Tension happens when: 

• You control both the concentric and eccentric phases of a lift   
• The muscle is challenged in its stretched position   
• You avoid bouncing, swinging, or locking into passive structures like joints and tendons  

You can lift heavy weights and still avoid true mechanical tension if you’re just moving weight through momentum. Likewise, you can create massive tension with moderate weight if you're locked in through the range of motion. 

Tension is a signal, and your nervous system is listening. 

Part 2: Applying It Right in Training 

Here’s how I program and cue for maximum mechanical tension: 

• Tempo work: Slowing down the eccentric phase (3–4 seconds) forces the muscle to own the movement. I use this across split squats, curls, presses, and hamstring work.   

• Lengthened loading: I favor exercises like dumbbell incline curls, deficit RDLs, and deep heel-elevated goblet squats, they load the muscle in its most vulnerable range, where tension creates the biggest signal.   
• No ego lifting: Mechanical tension drops when form breaks down. If I can’t control the bottom third of a rep, I drop the weight and build back control there.   
• Fatigue vs. failure: I stop when tension breaks down, not just when I’m tired. That’s the difference between adaptation and irritation.   

Tension isn’t just about how much you lift, it’s how much quality strain the target tissue experiences. And if you respect that process, your training will always pay you back. 

This chart shows what actually builds muscle and strength. 

• Mechanical tension (70%) is the force your muscles produce under load, like a slow, controlled rep under good form.   
• Muscle damage (20%) comes from things like eccentric lowering or new exercises, it causes soreness, but too much slows recovery.   
• Metabolic stress (10%) is the “burn” or fatigue from high reps or short rest, but it plays a smaller role than most think.   

Takeaway: It’s not about doing more, it’s about applying the right kind of tension, consistently and intentionally. 

🔦 Real World Spotlight: Dr. Kelly Starrett on Tension with Purpose 

Few have done more to shift the conversation around physical performance and tension than Dr. Kelly Starrett, physical therapist, performance coach, and author of Becoming a Supple Leopard and Built to Move. 

What makes Starrett’s work stand out isn’t just his mobility drills, it’s his message: 

“Tension isn’t the enemy. It’s information.” 

In his approach to mobility, recovery, and strength training, Starrett reframes tension not as something to get rid of, but something to understand, direct, and regulate. He teaches athletes to identify the difference between: 

• Productive tension that supports stable joints, good posture, and strong lifts   
• Destructive tension that signals compensation, poor mechanics, or emotional stress stored in the body   

In fact, Starrett often draws parallels between physical tension and psychological holding patterns, where anxiety or unresolved emotion literally changes your breathing mechanics, posture, and range of motion. 

When your nervous system is overloaded, your body reflects it. 

Tight hips. Clenched jaw. Short breath. It’s not random, it’s the cost of unmanaged tension. 

His insight offers a powerful takeaway for our audience: 

💡 Tension doesn’t always mean stop, sometimes it means pay attention. 

Whether you're lifting a barbell, confronting a conflict, or chasing a personal goal, the key isn’t eliminating tension… it’s learning how to hold it well. 

✍️ Journal Exercise: Holding the Tension Without Breaking 

Tension can feel like the enemy, a tight chest, a racing mind, a body on edge. But not all tension is harmful. Sometimes, it’s your system preparing for change. Other times, it’s a signal you’ve been holding something alone for too long. 

This week’s reflection helps you explore where tension lives in your life, and whether it’s building strength or silently pulling you apart. 

🔍 Part 1: Reflection 

In a quiet space, sit with these prompts. Let the answers rise, no need to rush or fix. 

• Where in my life am I feeling stretched, pulled, or tight, physically or emotionally?  
• Is this tension connected to something meaningful (growth, truth, a boundary)? Or something draining (fear, guilt, avoidance)?  
• What patterns do I notice in how I respond to tension, do I grip tighter, shut down, over-function, lash out?  
• What might this tension be trying to teach me, about myself, my needs, or my limits?  

This isn’t about judging your response. It’s about noticing your default, so you can choose a new one. 

🔧 Part 2: Action 

Try one of the following to explore a new relationship with tension: 

• Train it intentionally: Pick one activity this week (a workout, a conversation, a goal) where you hold tension with purpose, not to control, but to channel.   
• Release what’s not yours: Write down what tensions you’ve been carrying that were never yours to hold, other people’s expectations, roles, guilt. Burn the page.   
• Create a micro-ritual: Before moments you know will bring tension (meetings, workouts, hard talks), pause. Inhale, ground your feet, soften your jaw. Train your nervous system to recognize tension without panic.   

Want to deepen this practice? Pair it with the Tiger Resilience Self-Esteem Journal, designed to help you track your emotions, reframe your self-talk, and build inner strength over time. 

🛒 Awaken the Tiger and Phoenix Self-Esteem Journal 

🔚 Final Thoughts: The Strength to Stay With It 

Tension is not a flaw in your design. It’s a feature of growth. Just like muscle adapts through resistance, your inner world does too, when you learn how to hold what’s hard without collapsing, quitting, or pretending it doesn’t matter. 

Not all pressure is progress. But some pressure, the right kind, at the right time, is what pulls you toward strength, clarity, and deeper alignment. 

When you feel yourself wanting to run from the discomfort, ask: 

Is this tension signaling danger, or development? 

And then, instead of fleeing or forcing, stay. Breathe. Train your ability to hold it with integrity. 

Here's how this week’s lesson threads through our Five Pillars: 

🐅 Purpose 

Tension often shows up where meaning lives. If something didn’t matter, it wouldn’t pull at you. Use tension as a compass, it may be pointing toward your true values or unspoken purpose. 

🧭 Planning 

Build tension into your routines intentionally. Don’t fear discomfort, design for it. Plan workouts, conversations, or projects that stretch you slightly past comfort, but not past your capacity. 

🔁 Practice 

This is where your reps happen. Whether it's physical strength or emotional regulation, your ability to hold tension improves through daily effort, one breath, one lift, one choice at a time. 

🛡 Perseverance 

The urge to collapse is real. But so is your ability to recalibrate. Perseverance isn't pushing harder, it's learning to stay with what matters without burning out. 

🔥 Providence 

Sometimes, tension isn’t something you solve, it’s something you’re meant to transform through. Trust that what you’re being asked to carry right now has the potential to reveal deeper strength and grace you didn’t know you had. 

Tension is real. But so is your resilience.

Stay Resilient

Bernie & Michael

Tiger Resilience 🐅

📚 References  

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Cormie, P., McGuigan, M. R., & Newton, R. U. (2011). Developing maximal neuromuscular power: Part 1—biological basis of maximal power production. Sports Medicine, 41(1), 17–38. https://doi.org/10.2165/11537690-000000000-00000 

Fuchs, E., & Flügge, G. (2003). Chronic social stress: Effects on limbic brain structures. Physiology & Behavior, 79(3), 417–427. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(03)00160-6 

Harvard Health Publishing. (2021). Understanding the stress response. Harvard Medical School. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response 

Kraemer, W. J., & Ratamess, N. A. (2004). Fundamentals of resistance training: Progression and exercise prescription. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(4), 674–688. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.MSS.0000121945.36635.61 

Lazarus, R. S. (1993). From psychological stress to the emotions: A history of changing outlooks. Annual Review of Psychology, 44(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.000245 

McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00041.2006 

Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857–2872. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e840f3 

Schoenfeld, B. J. (2011). Potential mechanisms for a role of metabolic stress in hypertrophic adaptations to resistance training. Sports Medicine, 43(3), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0017-1 

World Health Organization. (2024). Mental health and stress statistics. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response