curious about valve lash setting/check

Have adjusted Chevy hydraulic lifters and we got them to the Bass Circle and would turn them down till you felt tension. I would kind of spin the pushrod back and forth between my fingers and when it would come down and you could feel it start to stop that would be what I would consider my starting point and then crank it down x amount from there...
so there isn't much tension when cranking down to 'x' amount?