Today have 3 simple tips to increase tendon strength! We’ll show you how to safely stress them over time, so can avoid avoidable whoopsies when you are doing something you enjoy.
 

Tendons and ligaments are both types of connective tissue in the body. Ligaments connect bones to bones, and tendons connect muscles to bones.

You have approximately 900 ligaments, and they’re designed to stabilise & support joints – a well-known ligament is the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) in the knee which is one of the ligaments that attaches the tibia to the femur.

 

But today we’re focusing on tendons. Depending on your size & muscle mass, you have approximately 4,000 of them in your body! As your muscles contract, it is actually the tendon which causes your bones to move, safely transmitting the force generated by muscles as well as acting as shock absorbers from sudden or intense movements. This makes them a crucial part of, basically, a complicated pulley system. They are incredibly strong and stiff, mess up a tendon and it’s a BIG DEAL.

 

Firstly, instead of reading this blog you need to see a doctor immediately if you’ve hurt yourself and have any of these symptoms:

 

·       You felt or heard a snap or pop

·       Severe pain

·       Rapid or immediate bruising

·       Sudden, noticeable weakness

·       Inability to move/use the area involved

·       Inability to bear weight

·       Deformity of the area

However, if you’ve had recurring joint pain then today we’ll show you what you can do to add more strength & resilience to your tendons, preventing injuries and prolonging your athletic abilities!

  

Tendons are mostly made up of collagen, with a small percentage of elastin, making them very strong and resistant to tearing, but not very flexible. They have a more limited blood supply than muscles, so when they get damaged it takes them far longer to heal, and can cause permanent damage.

 

They also take much longer to strengthen, you can see structural changes in your muscles after only 8 days of training, but it takes around 2 months to start making changes to a tendon.
 

Tendon injuries are called Strains or Tendonitis, they’re very common injuries especially following repetitive motions like you’d find in sports. When your joints don’t move well, your tendons can rub on or receive pressure from areas they shouldn’t and become inflamed, causing that horrible burning pain. Rest often only provides temporary relief, as the root cause can only be fixed by retraining your movement.

Make Your Tendons Stronger

Tendon strength is increased in various ways such as increasing its stiffness, size, density and even length, all of which increase their ability to disperse, generate, absorb and cope with more force.

 

But the most important thing to remember when strengthening your tendons is to take it slowly (remember it takes about 2 months to even start making changes?), trying to strengthen them too quickly can, ironically, result in injury! 

 

So slowly start adding in these 3 simple tips to increase tendon strength into your training!

 

Taking your joints through their full ranges first ensures that both the muscle is being stretched and the tendon is being challenged. You want to make use of tempo, going slow and pausing at points throughout a movement especially the end position.

 

Here’s a couple of common examples:

A major cause of Bicep Tendonitis a lack of elbow extension combined with external shoulder rotation – meaning you keep your elbows bent and shoulders rounded! And therefore, your bicep is constantly tight. This video covers how to gently elongate & strengthen the straight arm position with a small fractional plate:

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You can ultimately progress this strength by getting proficient with gymnastics rings!

 

Like the bicep & elbow, when the knee isn’t fully “opened” by deeply bending it, your knee joint can become stiff, inflamed, or suffers from poor movement. Deep Split Squats hits this movement pattern, plus ankle & hip flexion which can help your Achilles tendon & hips too! Use control, a slow tempo and pauses. Over time you can move your front foot on the floor, increase the weight you use – even use a barbell or two dumbbells!

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They are just a no-brainer to add to your training, even if you don’t currently have knee issues.

 

Once you have controlled ranges of motion, you can then start to implement exercises that provide a little bit of chaos. A happy benefit is that stability & balance exercises also build reactive core stability and help to make you a better mover with more body awareness.

 

I want to really drive this point home:

IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH SINGLE LEG BALANCE AND YOU’RE TRYING TO RUN, SPRINT OR JUMP YOU ARE SERIOUSLY AT RISK OF WRECKING YOURSELF!

 

Single leg balance should be easy, and luckily simply by practicing standing on leg will improve your balance! This exercise shows the next step once you can balance on the floor. It lengthens your Achilles tendon while also working on balance & stability which will help build up your end range tolerance:

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Once you have it nailed, you want to progress onto loading single leg exercises, such as Single Leg Deadlifts or Shrimp Squats with kettlebells.

 

When it comes to the upper body, you want to be focused on both pressing and pulling with slow tempos. A nice example is the Bottom Up Press, which deliberately creates a wobbly object to press, forcing your wrist, elbow & shoulder to work harder!

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If you have access to gymnastics rings (or can find a place to hang them at home) they are both fun and effective way of building upper body stability!

Check out this video on where to start with them:

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Once you have built up full range strength and added stability then it is time to start introducing plyometrics! Jumping and landing drills, hops and things that require you to move fast with coordination. You can do these for both upper and lower body – like in our Coordination & Plyo workout in Stability Builder.

 

These things should be taken seriously and practiced so that you’re able to do anything you want with confidence and a reduced risk of injury.
 

Can random accidents still happen? Always. But the best injury is the one that didn’t happen because you were properly prepared.
 

All the exercises covered in this blog are 100% worth devoting time to, especially if you have been feeling like your training has plateaued or your recovery just isn’t as it used to be!