Strength Lies In The
Tendons
Images
portrayed in the “muscle” magazines and on the internet frequently expose us to
heavily muscled bodybuilders. I think exposure of this type misleads many
athletes to believe big muscles equal great strength. If you are only
interested in the cosmetic benefits of resistance training then don’t bother
reading any further. On the other hand, if you are a strength athlete let me
assure you acquiring great strength is not confined to building big (steroid
like) muscles.
During my school years I participated in several arm
wrestling events that were school sanctioned and some that weren’t. I had been strength
training since I was 13 years old and was always attracted to strength sports.
I will always remember my first experience in arm wrestling. I was challenged
by a guy one day when I was in high school. He was an older bodybuilder who had
huge arms. He had heard that I had done some strength training and since he was
an experienced arm wrestler wanted to show me a thing or two. At the time I was
certainly not an arm wrestler. I was impressed by the size of his arms knowing
that my arms were not nearly as big. I didn’t see how I could beat this man but
my pride wouldn’t let me back down. Turned out I won easily. I have always believed
that the way I trained allowed me to be stronger than he was. I went on in my
college years to defeat many (heavily muscled) arm wrestlers. I didn’t tell
that story so you would know what a great arm wrestler I was. Fact is I lost
several times to stronger quicker guys who had better technique. The point is I
learned a long time ago that it doesn’t matter how big your muscles are if your
tendons aren’t strong as well.
The value of strong tendons has been known by
strength athletes for many, many years. Back in 1924 strongman Alexander Zass
wrote “strength lies in the tendons” when he was explaining the difference in
training methods between physical culturist and strongmen. He stated he “aimed
first to develop the underlying connective tissues rather than the superficial
muscles”. When speaking of his own training he said “I developed tendon
strength”.
Why are tendons so important? Well, the tendon
connects the ends of the muscle to the bone. In simple terms the tendons must
grow along with muscle tissue for us to gain great strength. At the very least
the tendon has to be as strong as the muscle.
It has been proven that tendon tissue will strengthen
when a heavy progressive weight training regimen is applied with very heavy
partial movements. Short range movements such as rack pulls and lockouts will promote
tendon strength. These partial (approximately 5 inch range of motion or less)
movements should be done with 110% to 150% of your maximum full range of motion
for any given exercise. Obviously, this kind of training is very stressful and
should be carefully done under the guidance of a trained professional over a
time period which allows recovery and growth to take place.
If I could
tell adult powerlifters and strength athletes’ one thing about gaining strength
it would be don’t worry as much about the size of your muscles. Concentrate on
building tendon strength. As already stated, muscle size doesn’t necessarily
translate into great strength. Zass wrote “a large biceps is no more a criterion
of strength than a swollen abdomen is of digestion”. Don’t worry; strength
training (which includes tendon building) will produce ample size in the muscle
also.
Keith
Payne CPT, YFS
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