Explain Tendon Strength To Me...

[SaveFerris]

So I've seen a lot on tendon strength around the boards, but I don't think I totally understand.

I've seen people say stuff like "thicker, stronger tendons will make up for weaker muscles."

I understand the tendon connects the muscle to the bone, but isn't the muscle the driving force?

How do strong tendons really help overall strength?

[Starkmann]

It is suggested by many people that your muscles can create more force than your tendons can handle and that tendons adapt slower than muscles and thus the limiting factor in your strength.

[Matt Brouse]

You tendons don't actaully contract as muscle tissue will. But all bodily tissues have adaptations to stress in order to "survive." You ligaments, tendons, skin, etc...

[aquilonian]

"cant shoot a cannon out of a canoe" is the old phrase. "stability" is the word. Think of it this way if you were trying to jack up a car, but had the jack supported by sand, although the jack is plenty strong enough to pick up the car it would not pick it up an inch. instead it would sink, beacause it has an unstable base. If on the other hand it was on concrete. then it would be no problem at all to lift the car because it is supported enough. a stronger jack supported by sand would'nt make a difference no matter how much it can lift. but even the tiniest of jacks supported by good solid concrete can lift your car enough to change your tires. your muscles are like the jack, and your connective tissue is like the ground.

hope it helps in understanding

[diesel]

"cant shoot a cannon out of a canoe" is the old phrase. "stability" is the word. Think of it this way if you were trying to jack up a car, but had the jack supported by sand, although the jack is plenty strong enough to pick up the car it would not pick it up an inch. instead it would sink, beacause it has an unstable base. If on the other hand it was on concrete. then it would be no problem at all to lift the car because it is supported enough. a stronger jack supported by sand would'nt make a difference no matter how much it can lift. but even the tiniest of jacks supported by good solid concrete can lift your car enough to change your tires. your muscles are like the jack, and your connective tissue is like the ground.

hope it helps in understanding

awesome analogy.

[Revtor]

and supposedly severe singles and negatives are the key to building tendon/ligament strength. This is just from my memory bank, so any solid info regarding building up tendon or ligament strength would be greatly appreciated!!

~Steve

[carusom1]

"cant shoot a cannon out of a canoe" is the old phrase. "stability" is the word. Think of it this way if you were trying to jack up a car, but had the jack supported by sand, although the jack is plenty strong enough to pick up the car it would not pick it up an inch. instead it would sink, beacause it has an unstable base. If on the other hand it was on concrete. then it would be no problem at all to lift the car because it is supported enough. a stronger jack supported by sand would'nt make a difference no matter how much it can lift. but even the tiniest of jacks supported by good solid concrete can lift your car enough to change your tires. your muscles are like the jack, and your connective tissue is like the ground.

hope it helps in understanding

this is why muscles are useless without bones. bones are the stability.

tendons connect the muscle to the bone

big picture: everything has to be strong

there are ideas on how to improve the strength of the tendons, i.e. overloading isometrics

[Sybersnott]

There is very little muscle in the hand itself, especially in the fingers. That's where your tendons are.

So what moves your fingers to close a gripper? Your tendons, that's what.

Think of it this way: your car is in the sand. Your buddy Jack is in the car and you tell him to get out and push. He does but your car is still stuck. Then you tell him to get under the wheels and act like concrete. He says he's not concrete and he's right about that. Now you tell him....

Oh, never mind...

[WildGorillaMan]

"tendon strength" was a hook used by certain marketers of "Old School" training methods in the 1990's to differentiate their product from the offerings of competing gurus. Claims of building "tendon strength" are akin to the various claims of "spot reduction," muscle-group "isolation" or "targeting" and "massive gains in 6 weeks" that have been bandied about for the past century by someone, somewhere, trying to sell you something.

it was the wise and powerful uber-guru, Dan John, who threw the moneylenders out of the temple of physical culture when he proclaimed "Your body is one piece! Train lifts, not bodyparts!"

[WildGorillaMan]

"tendon strength" was a hook used by certain marketers of "Old School" training methods in the 1990's to differentiate their product from the offerings of competing gurus. Claims of building "tendon strength" are akin to the various claims of "spot reduction," muscle-group "isolation" or "targeting" and "massive gains in 6 weeks" that have been bandied about for the past century by someone, somewhere, trying to sell you something.

it was the wise and powerful uber-guru, Dan John, who threw the moneylenders out of the temple of physical culture when he proclaimed "Your body is one piece! Train lifts, not bodyparts!"

And lo, did he set me free from the chains of my bondage to the shills and the salesmen of the Iron Game, and I set my feet upon the path he laid for me.

[aquilonian]

stop trying to re-invent the wheel!

almost all the muscles that move your hand are in your forearms

also......."Eccentric training never caught on in the Soviet Union, according to Dr. Verkoshansky, because it does not force adaptation in ligaments and tendons -- only speed-strength training (lifting the weight fast -- max effort, accelerating the weight with inertia assisting) can do that."

Quote from "the simplicity of periodicity" Fredrick C. Hatfield, ph.D MSS

infact its a good read. it should be required knowledge.

here

http://drsquat.com/articles/periodicity.html

I wont bother you guys with this anymore. I dont want to start a ruckus here too.

Edited December 20, 2006 by aquilonian

[SShafley]

The adaptation of tendon and ligaments to increasing external loads is very slow.

The first thing that needs to be there is the stimulus. This can be regular training, or heavy partials, or whatever. There is no real evidence that heavy partials improves tendon strength or size any more than regular weight training will, although this has been claimed to be the case as far back as Arthur Saxon.

Over on the Sandow website, here:

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/

You will find Arthur Saxon's books and courses scanned:

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Saxon/saxon.htm

(you'll also find a tremendous amount of other materials available for free there...very interesting stuff, including stuff on hand balancing, grip training, and just a plethora of materials from the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s...also, check out the Maxalding site: http://www.maxalding.co.uk/ )

Most natural trainees shouldn't have too much of a problem with tendon and ligament growth keeping up with their strength levels, however, anabolics users are notoriously prone to improving their muscular strength faster than their connective tissue can keep up, and messing it up.

There is some research that also notes that higher repetitions of movements (we are talking 100s of reps here) will improve the blood flow to the tendons, and thus increase their rate of growth.

So, you've basically got 2 avenues of research to pursue.

1. Heavy, partial movements

2. Extremely high repetition movements

Which are basically at odds with each other, unless you are Steve Justa.

When training hand and wrist strength, it gets a bit more interesting. As Sybersnott stated, the muscles that train your hands are in your forearms, but the tendons that run down your fingers are how those muscles operate the hand, so the hand and wrist is mostly all tendon.

It takes a long time to get thicker tendons in your hands and wrists, and there is also a bit of concurrent bone changes that go on as well. Take some hand and wrist measurements now, and then check back in a few years to see how it's grown. It's slow, but it happens.

Tendon and ligament adaptation takes months to happen. I've always had a problem recommending partial movements for this purpose, because the limited range of motion allows you to make relatively fast gains on partials, and I'd be concerned about neophytes outrunning their connective tissue strength.

[WildGorillaMan]

There is very little muscle in the hand itself, especially in the fingers. That's where your tendons are.

So what moves your fingers to close a gripper? Your tendons, that's what.

Think of it this way: your car is in the sand. Your buddy Jack is in the car and you tell him to get out and push. He does but your car is still stuck. Then you tell him to get under the wheels and act like concrete. He says he's not concrete and he's right about that. Now you tell him....

Oh, never mind...

So, keeping with the analogy, if your car is stuck in the sand, and buddy hooks a tow chain to your car and his truck pulls you out, it's the chain and not the truck moving your car?

Since tendons don't contract, where is the motile force generated?

[superfeemiman]

There is very little muscle in the hand itself, especially in the fingers. That's where your tendons are.

So what moves your fingers to close a gripper? Your tendons, that's what.

Think of it this way: your car is in the sand. Your buddy Jack is in the car and you tell him to get out and push. He does but your car is still stuck. Then you tell him to get under the wheels and act like concrete. He says he's not concrete and he's right about that. Now you tell him....

Oh, never mind...

So, keeping with the analogy, if your car is stuck in the sand, and buddy hooks a tow chain to your car and his truck pulls you out, it's the chain and not the truck moving your car?

Since tendons don't contract, where is the motile force generated?

I thought it was a joke??....