I completely stop pulling the levers. instead, I go slowly, I push the levers for a second, then I stop, then push, then stop, rinse and repeat.
it takes longer, sure, but there’s no way that a machine forcefully dying every half a minute can be good for it.

why am I talking about this?

because it shows something.
forcing pressure onto someone, even if they were “built” for it, even if they like doing it, won’t end well.
while it can end with a log split quickly, it can also end with a broken machine.
some low amount of pressure can be good, but everything has a limit before it gets overstressed.