Muscle Tension?

So for a lot of the stretches we are supposed to keep certain muscles tense to perform the stretches but how tense is too tense.  Like I try to keep my quads tense to do pancake work and keep my legs straight but I feel like I can lean more if they are more relaxed. Is it possible to do a pancake with fully flexed quads?

Unless otherwise indicated, the courses are quite liberal in how relaxed your quads can be. 

The only case is the standing legs apart position near the wall where you need to squeeze the legs against the floor. if it is a proper pnf contraction it needs to be maximal or submaximal.

brown.3794 said:

 Is it possible to do a pancake with fully flexed quads?

Sort of. I mean, yes, but it feels kinda different. ore like lifting your feet and so your torso goes forward because you have no support for upper body.  Generally I prefer a little more quad tension in my own stretching, I find it helps prevent me rolling inwards when I get close to my flexibility limits.

Thanks for the replies I think I was getting g confused between trying to relax into a stretch while still using muscle tension to maintain good position.O