How to Really Strengthen Your Tendons | The 70% Rule

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you know how to build muscle strength

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but how do you build tendon strength

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today we're going to expose some of the

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common mistakes that people make when

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trying to build tendon strength the real

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solution is almost too simple to believe

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yet almost no one does it right but

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first let me show you the proof that

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this method actually works across many

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studies we see that there's something

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called a loading threshold for truly

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building Tenon strength that means that

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light exercises stretches and other

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techniques below this threshold just

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don't improve Tenon strength exercises

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Above This threshold can build Tenon

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strength that threshold is 70% of

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Maximum muscle contraction strength okay

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but what does that mean well this varies

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by exercise and position but here's the

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general principle you need to choose

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exercises and positions that allow you

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to create a really strong muscle

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contraction at least 70% of the force

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that that muscle is capable of producing

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now you might be saying okay great but

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what exercises do that well today we're

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going to cover five of my favorites for

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commonly injured tenants for each of

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these exercises the protocol that I

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recommend for building Tenon strength is

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three sets of 30 seconds with a

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challenging isometric muscle contraction

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meaning a static hold in that position

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for 30 seconds after you complete that

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30se second challenging hold rest for 90

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seconds and then repeat so three sets

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total 30 seconds that's we're going to

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use for each exercise this takes a

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advantage of something called creep

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where a muscle slowly shortens during

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that muscle contraction and the Tenon

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slowly lengthens or loses tension this

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slow tendon lengthening underload is a

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great stimulus for collagen synthesis

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okay now that we understand why let's

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dive into the five exercises exercise

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number one is a single leg calf raise

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isometric and I think this is a really

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important exercise for everyone athletes

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Runners older adults people who want to

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have a strong calf and not have Achilles

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T in pain but I very often see this

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exercise done incorrectly or done in a

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way that doesn't actually stimulate the

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Achilles tenant enough to actually get

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stronger the way that I recommend doing

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this exercise is with one foot placed on

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a box and the back foot down on the

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ground this is going to do a couple

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different things number one is it's

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going to stabilize you while holding a

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barbell so that way you can put a lot of

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weight through the back foot this is

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particularly important for really strong

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athletes because strong athletes often

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need hundreds of pounds on their back to

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really adequately stimulate the tendon

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and get to that 70% loading threshold

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for example when I tested Lily it took

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her 220 lbs to get to that 70% Mark so

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the main reason that we're doing the

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calf raise this way is because we can

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get much more load through the Achilles

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Tenon than with doing something like a

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single leg calf raise holding a dumbbell

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or a seated calf raise where it's just

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harder to get to enough load for this to

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be effective here are some cues to make

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sure that you get the most out of this

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exercise set up the barbell with a truly

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challenging load you want to build up to

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this over time appropriately but do

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understand that Achilles Tenon ruptures

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occur with fast movements not slow

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controlled isometric contraction so it

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is safe to progress yourself to a strong

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muscle contraction here place a box

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slightly in front of the bar to

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stabilize the front foot on start on

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your weaker side and keep the foot on

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the ground place a bar on your back just

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like you would for a back squat and hold

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a tall posture hold a position where

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your heel is slightly off the ground to

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activate your calf muscles importantly

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keep your knee straight allowing the

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knee to bend just a little bit can

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decrease the load through the Achilles

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tendon so be sure to keep an eye out for

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this common compensation once you find

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the right position hold that strong

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muscle contraction for 30 seconds and

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repeat three times I recommend that

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athletes and Runners do this exercise

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three times per week all right moving on

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to exercise number two we have a leg

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extension overcome isometric this

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movement is great for targeting the

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patellar tendon in the front of the knee

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athletes who have a history of Jumper

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knee or patellar tendon pain will

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benefit from consistently loading and

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strengthening that patellar tenant this

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is really common in football basketball

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volleyball and soccer players when an

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athlete has patellar tendon pain from

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jumping and squatting I like to perform

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this exercise at the start of their

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training session to help reduce that

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pain level here are some cues to think

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about set up the leg extension machine

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not all the way out straight not all the

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way bent to 90° but about halfway in

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between at that 45° or so of knee

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flexion start on the weaker side place

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the weight stack all the way to the

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bottom so that way when you kick out

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into the machine it won't move no matter

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how hard you kick with one leg and then

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the last step is just getting a strong

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muscle contraction about 70% of your

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maximum potential Force production and

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then holding that for 30 seconds I like

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to coach this ramping up for about 2

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seconds and then holding that steady

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contraction about 70% of your maximum

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for the rest of the 30 seconds again

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this is a really great way to build

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patellar Tenon strength all right I know

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right now moving on to number three

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which is one of my favorites and this is

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the hamstring long lever bridge this is

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a movement that helps Target the

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proximal hamstring tendons this is

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particularly valuable for athletes with

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a history of hamstring strengths this

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can be done daily or prior to each

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training session remember that

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isometrics don't cause as much fatigue

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as full range of motion exercises so

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these can be incorporated before your

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training session after your training

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session or even on your off days I just

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like to say find a way to get it done

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three times per week okay here are some

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cues for doing this exercise correctly

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what you want to do is Bridge up into a

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glute Bridge position and then you want

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to walk your heels out away from your

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butt we want the knees to be bent about

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45° meaning the knee angle if we're

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looking from the side would be about

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135° if you're doing this correctly then

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you're going to feel your hamstrings

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more than the glutes in this position if

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you were to bend your knees all the way

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to 90° then you would feel more of your

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glutes working so to really Target that

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proximal hamstring we want to drive the

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heels straight down into the ground and

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importantly maintain alignment between

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the knees hips rib cage and shoulders

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hold this position for 30 seconds and

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repeat three times if you're able to do

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this double leg long lever glute Bridge

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successfully for 30 seconds three times

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then you can progress to a single leg

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long lever Bridge same exact position in

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Q's just with one heel driving down to

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the ground instead of two so use the

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long lever bridge to build strong

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hamstring tendons all right moving on to

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exercise number four we have the open

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can overcoming isometric this is

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specific to the bicep tendon the bicep

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tenant on the front of the shoulder is a

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common area of injury if you are an

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athlete you're working with has pain in

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the front of the shoulders with dips

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bench press or reaching behind their

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back then this may be a good movement to

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train here are some cues stand near a

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wall and bring the arm forward about 30°

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in front of the body rotate your arm so

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that way your thumb is facing upward now

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push into the wall with about 70% of

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your maximum potential Force it's okay

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if this is a little bit painful to the

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sensitive area but I just like to keep

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the pain level below a 4 out of 10 also

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make sure that that pain level is

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returning to Baseline after 24 hours if

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this exercise or any of these tenant

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exercises are elevating your pain level

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for more than 24 hours then you want to

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dial back and push a little bit less

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overall this exercise has done against

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the wall or holding a dumbbell can be a

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really good stimulus to build the

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strength back in that bicep tendon all

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right and the last tendon that we're

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going to address is the extensor tendons

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in the elbow that is responsible for

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tennis elbow it's pretty common to get

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pain in the elbow from sport motions in

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order to address this pain I like to

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find a long item and work on a motion

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that's called supination so if we think

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about our goal here our goal is to get

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the muscles that attach to those tenons

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to work really hard around 70% of their

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maximum Force production also we want to

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be able to hold that strong muscle

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contraction for 30 seconds of tension so

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that way that tendon can slowly lengthen

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and start to stimulate collagen

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synthesis and heal in order to do this

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you're going to have to search around

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your house for a long item that can

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provide torque for a superation motion

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something like a bat or a golf club or a

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broom can work then you're going to want

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to stabilize your forearm and slowly

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supinate until you can get that strong

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muscle contraction adjust your grip up

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or down with the item that you're using

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using in order to get that 70%

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contraction strength you can either hold

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one position for example about a 45°

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angle for all 30 seconds or you can

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slowly move between a few different

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positions pausing for 10 seconds in each

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position this is going to do a much

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better job at stimulating that tendon to

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heal than any number of icing and

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stretching and mobilizations and other

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passive things you might have seen okay

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so to summarize if you have a Tenon that

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you want to strengthen find the exercise

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that allows you to get a really strong

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muscle contraction and make that Tenon

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work hard for 30 seconds as that Tenon

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slowly lengthens during that strong

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muscle contraction it's going to be a

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great stimulus for collagen synthesis

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make sure you're doing this consistently

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three times a week and often for at

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least 4 to8 weeks to really see the best

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results from this some other things that

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can help with Tenon healing as well

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include getting enough vitamin C

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especially in the morning adequate

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protein intake and maybe even taking a

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collagen specific supplement and

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temporarily dialing back any irritating

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movements so I hope this video was

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helpful for you if it was smash that

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like button subscribe so don't miss any

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future videos and I'll catch you the

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next one thanks

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