Effort Levels and Why They’re Important

One of my favorite things to see as a hitting instructor is when an athlete begins to produce far more power then they ever have with very little effort. The look on their face when they hardly swing and yet crush the ball is absolutely priceless. They can hardly believe that for all these years they have been trying much harder and getting much less of a result. As I’ve discussed in the past elevated effort level effect us both mentally and physically as effort comes from doubt or our ego neither of which isn’t a good place to be mentally and physically it creates added muscular tension which doesn’t allow the body to execute the mechanics properly and it slows the athlete down. However most athletes are stuck in the believe that increased effort equals increased speed and power. One way to look at it is increased effort doesn’t give you increased speed but rather it increases your output of energy essentially giving you the sense that your working harder which you interpret as moving faster.

However this increase in effort creates muscle tension throughout the body and while we are increasing the amount of energy expended we are not increasing our speed or efficiency. Bruce Lee describe it best in his book, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, “Before movements can take place, there must be a change of muscular tension on both sides of the joints to be moved. The effectiveness of this muscular teamwork is one of the factors which determine limits of speed, endurance, power, agility, and accuracy in all athletic performances.... When rapid motion takes place, as in running or throwing, the muscles closing the joints shorten and those on the opposite side lengthen to permit the movement. There is still tension on both sides, but on the lengthening side, it is considerably reduced... Any excessive tension in the lengthening muscles acts as a brake and thereby slows and weakens the action.”

Do yourself a favor and lower your effort levels. Begin to think about being more efficient, focusing on the execution of your skill and not trying to muscle through to produce a result.