Tim,
You've mentioned that you liked reading The Naked Warrior by Pavel. One chapter in the book is dedicated to talking about how you're supposed to tense your muscles to the max to build max strength. This goes against being relaxed during the nei gong exercises. Is Pavel nuts or is there any truth to his opinion that you have to super tense your muscles while doing body weight exercises? Does anyone follow this method?

Confusing isn't it? I was even more confused after reading a book called "The Naked Warrior".

Robert,
It's very confusing with all these fad books around. I've come to the conclusion that exercise is better than no exercise and that slow is better when lifting weight. Unless Pavel actually does something with his supposed strength I can't really take him seriously.

Different attributes require different types of training.

The methods outlined in "The Naked Warrior" aren't nei gong training. Pavel's book is about building strength with body weight exercises.

It is true that you can't increase muscle strength without resistance, and the science shows tension is the most important element of building strength.

Can you elaborate on "tension" in reference to strength building Tim?
Thanks
Jake

So true!
Strength is equal to the amount of muscle tension you can generate, which is equivalent to force.

To develop strength you need to develop the ability to generate tension. Tension is strength.

Strength improves when a sufficient amount of tension is applied to the muscle fiber and its contractile proteins. The tension required seems to be above two thirds of the muscles maximal force. If you do contractions that require little tension, you won’t gain much strength. That's just pure sports science.

As a combative athlete, often successful physical engagements are a play between relaxation and tension. Learning how to use your breath and learning "selective tension", which can produce great force.

Your average judoka (who doesn't use resistance training)can produce a more forceful throw than an untrained weightlifter because of technical abilities and knowledge of how, where and when to produce muscular tension.
Yet, the judoka's pure muscular strength is not as great as the weightlifter.
However, if all is technically equal, the weightlifter will always have a stronger throw.

Does that make sense?

So, on Craig telling me that Tim teaches relaxing all the way when punching, I'm guessing there is still tension but not consciously produced. Is this right Tim, or have I confused tension with stiffness?

Rangga,

There must always be muscular tension in the body during any movement, or when simply standing upright.

In reference to "relaxing" all the way when punching, my method involves not using any more energy/tension than is necessary to accelerate the fist THROUGH the target; contrary to some teachers, I don't advocate "tensing" or otherwise "tightening" the fist, arm or body further at the moment of impact.

Thanks to Backarcher for the clear description of tension and its relation to strength.