How To Strengthen Your Tendons 

Key takeaways: - tendons take long to recover and long to adapt - reversing the direction very fast (eccentric to concentric), challenges the tendon - if you lower the weight slowly you will favour the muscle, if you jerk it you will favour the tendon - to recover tendons do a lot of volume with very low weight, increasing blood flow into the area is key (soft tissue work is also good) - progress all of these slowly: weight, range of motion, speed

I am a massage therapist of over thirty years with extensive medical-clinical experience specializing in myo-fascial release and balancing methods (as first presented by Ida Rolf and the Rolf Institute method) and I can tell you that this is the part of training that is not only left out of textbooks, but is denied by much of the medical, sports, fitness and training communities. Good to see it now getting the attention it deserves and props to kneesovertoes as he has brought methods concerning this that I never even knew about.

Unbelievably informative video. Should have millions of views would save a lot of time and money on surgeries and stop the whole physio wormhole.

Biggest takeaway: If I continue down this rabbit hole of ATG I will be able to windmill dunk. Thanks for the great stuff! celebrating a year an two months with ATG.. hopefully becoming certified soon!

I started doing high rep bands after watching Devon’s training. Not only did my elbows thank me but my size of arms and strength jumped up very noticeably. Great video!

Struggled with achilles tendonitis off and on for years. I doesn't take much extra effort to get a flare up for me. Had one bout of plantar faciatis which resolved after an extended period of laying off. Had one bad bout of patellar tendinopathy which resolved very quicky after doing very deep full squats with body weight and also stretching in the squatted position. All this new science on building and strengthening the tendons is really great. I've still got a bad shoulder that needs rehabilitation. For that I'm starting with hanging from a bar and progressing towards chinups and pullups. Big take away for me is allowing lots of extra time for recovery vs muscle training. Also, I'm shifting toward more of a carnivore diet with supplements such as collagen peptides.

I'm watching this first time through, this is absolute gold. I'll be rewatching this a few times and taking notes

I have never heard this comprehensive of an explanation... Great video! Thank You!

Thank you for this and the effort put into it. Much appreciated

Thank you Keegan, I watched several videos on this new channel. Very quality content, easy to understand. It helps me a lot

Fantastic video!! Very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Excellent presentation. Its great when you show videos of the examples you are talking about!

What a wealth of information. Thank you for posting this!

Great video Keegan! Thanks for sharing this valuable knowledge on tendon training. As someone who has experienced tendon issues and am now able to actively manage them, I feel it is massively important for health, function and vibrant longevity.

This is the greatest thing i’ve ever watched

Very understandable and informative thank you so much

Thank you. This gives me hope. I have patellar tendonitis at the enthesis. It started from skiing in waaay too stiff a ski coupled with a forward mounting point that put me in the back seat. I’ve been just riding an ebike since February. It’s getting better. I will start isometrics next week thanks to you.

Excellent content. I am 33 years old and recently started training seriously again using the old school light dumbbell training system along with chest expander work. I will be investing in some bands soon to incorporate these principles and protocols so that I can build strength in power in a wide range. Thank you so much for making this video. This is gold!

Awesome video Keegan, great breakdown, it will help lot of people !

Thanks for sharing your knowledge coach!!

This is extremely helpful, thank you

Amazing lecture. This will continue to educate many for years to come

These are great uni course level videos. Thank you for your work!

keegan you are changing the game man, keep going

Thanks for sharing! Very informative video.

When you take things to the extreme you get closer to the truth...great line on so many levels. Thank you Keegan

Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I'm fortunate and better off for it. 👌

This is probably the best video I have ever seen on tendons. Thank you very much! What exercise similar to the lying banded curls for knee/hamstring issue would you recommend for the ellbow for high reps and to support blood circulation in the area?

This was really good thank you

Really dig your style of presentation much appreciated

I wish videos like this existed 10 years ago. Would have saved me from a lot of despair with my training.

Absolute gold. The missing piece. thank you for sharing

Great video, thank you.

Great Video. Very educational.

Amazing lesson! Thank you so much for this. Saved for future reference.

Amazing and insightful video, great breakdown and showing examples. Thank you.

I've watched this many times. This is still the best video on tendon and overall athletic development because, in layman terms, it's blood centric. Reps, weight, and full range of motion matter far less than localized blood flow.

Well in depth video

Amazing breakdown! Much appreciated

Bro this is good information thanks

love how you mentioned Devon the king himself hahaha love it.

This might Be the most informative 40 or so minutes of strength and conditioning knowledge I've heard in a long time

Very knowledgeable. Great presentation 👏

Love the video! Anything for quadricep tendonitis?

Great stuff!

the memory foam comparison is really good

Best information I’ve heard on RU-vid. This is a true gem. Thanks for your tireless work brother much appreciated!

Keegan, love learning about these concepts and I wanted to ask you a question. I’ve always thought that tendons will always be denser and stronger than muscle tissue and I wanted to ask you a) if that’s correct and b) how come we need to focus on these tendons if that is the case? Thank you for spreading your knowledge man keep up the good work!

very interesting! keep it up

Issue in my heel already getting better with concepts y’all teaching

Ive been injured for 10 months with just small improvements. Its hip based. Ive been doing every thing wrong. Im so confused now. Im trying to take this in. Thanks first time ive seen this channel. Im trying to figger out a plan of attack thanks buddy.

Love from Northern Utah 💪

nice. very important

You're right. That's tensile/tendon strength.

Thanks

So top sprinters can Nordic without practicing it, since the tension on the hams in sprinting (at the top range of the ham) is greater than the Nordic lift, due to the speed of the movement. If that’s the case, what is the benefit of a sprinter doing nordics, if he is already getting a higher tension top-range ham exercise in max speed sprinting? This channel is incredible btw, I’m daydreaming about training myself and others because of it.

Im a tricker and an ex national champion armwrestler so i appreciate the examples used here haha. I trained with devon larratt back in 2018! Really digging the atg system, I've incorporated a few of your exercises into my workouts, i now fight in full contact medieval team fighting (buhurt) and bulletproofing the joints is crucial.

Hi, good video. To recover from an injury/ strengthen the tendon should you do isometrics everyday?

Thanks so much for the great video, I spend many hours a day studying traing videos for my son. I have a quick question about your recommendation on training tendons more then 1 time per day? my son is 12 training many times a day for sports, we train 3 times a day taking Friday and Sunday to rest. I cant tell you how many he does because its not normal, just an example when he was 11 his slap shot was 65mph. What are your thoughts on the 2 times same tendons? in the past I haven't. in advance thanks so much for your time its very important to us. be safe and hope to see more videos in the future.

Keegan man, thanks so much for the content, as always. A few questions.. 1) Is it fair to say that tendons loaded beyond their tension tolerance do one of two things a) protectively inhibit muscle activity or b) get injured. 2) On the same lines, it’s easier for me to understand the role of tendons in the lower extremity, especially the Achilles and patellar. I’m struggling with this in the upper body, say for a boxer or a shot-put athlete. I don’t see any high-force amortization happening in the shoulder girdle tendons for these athletes, only acceleration (arm-wrestling or break dancing examples I can picture). For a boxer or shot-putter, is the goal to train the upper body tendons simply so that they are not overpowered by the muscles and resulting in inhibition or injury? 3) Do you have any recommended resources on amortization? I'd take anything theoretical and/ore practical. 4) On the ‘progress speed’ slide, can you define and/or provide an example 'light reactive speed'? I'm assuming the heavy speed example was the rhythm squat. I hope I’m not being annoying here with these in-depth questions. This content is gold and it keeps me up at night. Thanks for your work brother.

- Tendon length is useful for athleticism. Addressed multiple times including 20:04 (to 21:55) and 27:42 - tendon health can be maintained by high volume, low load work, like the Dutch swim team mentioned here. I guess it's related to circulation

I am really interested in these ideas of tradeoffs. Like in having sprigy tendons or dense tendons. Those who wish to jump high/ be explosive vs those who wish to run ultra marathons. What happens when a person goes from parkour to long distance running. Is it possible to keep the vertical jump without hindering the adaptations to distance? What about going back and forth seasonally between explosive and endurance. Can the body be trained to switch over quickly over time?

Good day, Great video, What are some exercises you would recommend to improve tendon strength and electricity? Also sea moss is a great source of vegan collagen, and 92 mineral and vitamins. Kind regards

Devon Larratt is extremely knowledgeable when it come to tendon strength. Arm wrestling is so much tendon and bone strength. there is a reason why he is almost 50 and he is number 1 in North America.

great content. Can you elaborate on your perspective on lower back disc herniations? To be precise: Stuart McGill would consider jefferson curls and other movements you do as dangerous since they push the disc out of the spine. What is your logic in this matter. Is strengthening tendons supposed to introduce more elasticity in the lower back regions which in turn would offset some tension that would otherwise be inflicted on the disc (just guessing)? I think a video discussing spine flexion under load would be great.

Im glad google suggested this 1. Is facia something that adapts in a similar way to tendons?

Thanks, great video. Regarding supplements, what was the advice? Were you recommending collagen, it wasn't clear in the video? Cheers

Hi, I’ve been thinking of purchasing the ATG Zero program. In the program does it go into the why and how of your methods behind the programming like you have done in this video? I am currently finishing my university degree in Health Fitness and while I would like to reap the rewards physically of the program I would also like to understand the methods behind it as well as this is quite fascinating. By the way, this was a great video, some things flew over my head but very informative.

Really fascinating video! I have a couple of questions, if you don’t mind 1. So creep isn’t actually a bad thing? I was discouraged by some articles from doing full range deficit pushups because they said it would cause creep (thereby weakening the shoulder joint). Should I be concerned about this? 2. What exactly are tendon circles, and how do gymnasts perform them? I’ve tried to find examples online to no avail Thank you for all you do!!!

Can anyone make a suggestion how I can incorporate some tendon work into my routines. I focus mainly on calisthenics with lifting mixed in. My main focuses right now are front lever, muscle ups, handstand pushups, lots of bar and ring work. I'm just not exactly sure what I should or shouldn't be doing. I started adding some more high rep low weight moves but I end up isolating muscles and it's not only time-consuming but not really helpful for me to burn out certain areas the day before I need them for my next intense session. I'm tired and rambling but any suggestions are appreciated

Do you think it is worth it to train the traditional strength movements like deadlift, squat, bench press? Or just work ATG movements

Sir Can you make similar video on legaments strngthening?

hi im really thankfull for this information. you are a great guy. do you know things over bands too? i have a teared AC joint and im trying too heal it myself because all the doctors tell me that its impossible.

Awesome stuff Keegan! Question for you: how would you apply this stuff to upper back? I see a lot in ATG helping lower back tweaks, but even after doing the Back Ability program, I still have a tweak in my thoracic spine, which is especially irritated from deadlifts/rows.

Thoughts on shock wave therapy for treating tendons that have created micro blood vessels and hence nerves....

I'm on dense and had a bit of a break from training. Got back to doing my workouts about 4 weeks ago and I noticed no relative strength or improved athleticism since I started again, just soreness. Last Thursday I started to stretch again every night before bed for about an hour. The differences are tremendous. When I walk I feel like I'm floating and I barely get sore from my usual workouts. Being 35 time is not on my side but maybe if I manage to keep this regime up I'll see great results in a year from now.

When I started boxing and kick boxing I noticed my left hook and left skip kick were so much more springy and snappy. My right side was strong but not like my left side. I noticed 2 long stretch marks where my left peck and left bicep connect. Recently, I suffered a tear in that exact same spot, but on my right side. I should have worked my right like I did with that springy left hook. I was bench pressing so both side were receiving the same weight and stress.

what types of food should i eat for my tendons ligament fascia and bones

Im watching this because of tennis elbow. What sequence length-athletic range progression should I use?

What excersizes / program should someone with tennis & golfers elbow do?

How many sets and reps for tendons then? Both isolation exercises and compound exercises

Saitama's gone undercover to teach us about tendons

Utterly, the most important issues of maintaining fx,...into old age now. The hard part...muscles grow fast...tendons/ligaments take a 5-10x time frame to keep up with muscle hypertrophy. Period.

Is it possible to strengthen your elbow tendons specifically or you should just do the general armwrestling hand preparation?

Do you have a list of sources somewhere? Id like to see what research you’re using to say all these impressive skills (like breakdancing) are mainly a function of tendons.

Keegan which books can you recommend on this topic

So if I understand this correctly, muscular failure is irrelevant for tendon strength? Assuming form, speed, load, and length are the same, 1 set of 20 reps to failure is as effective as 2 sets of 10 reps for tendon strength?

how would you strengthen elbow tendons

I sure wish I had found out about this years ago for my tendons. I am 72 have to see what happens

I've been dealing with golfers elbow tendinitis any advice on how I can rehab it?

So what I understand from the video is that the best way to build tendon strength is through heavy, short bouncy movements.

How does RSI fit into the picture? How does that happen? It seems to fall into high repetition (it's in the name) short range, but something like typing for hours a day is pretty different from the stuff you're recommending. But what are the key factors that differentiate it from what heals tendons?

How many sets pr session and pr week do you do that ryrhmn short range 100kg quarter squat you showed, alongside your regular athletic training or your main sport?

Can someone explain me this in short pls , actually I have got lot of work to do and rarely any time is left free for me , even I have got tendon problem so I too want to strengthen my tendons

Is there a quantized unit structure to the tendon. When you watch videos on muscle they talk about sarcomere. What is the analogous model for the tendon. What feedback does one look for when tuning their training regimen, so they are optimally training tendons & muscles. I have a hard time believing that tendon tissue is isotropic in its mechanical properties. It would make sense that what training is doing is allowing adaptive mechanisms to update the tissue's structure. It seems that for a common man the goal is 1st increasing strength of those structures, and secondarily improve elastic performance. I imagine that this is a multivariate space to explore.

How do i start? Should i start with high reps, isometrics or heavy eccentrics? I have a tendon issue in my forearm.

How does this apply to insertional Achilles tendinopathy where applying length irritates the problem area?

👍💯 There appears to be a trade off between tendon strength and hypertrophy?

Any atg priciples can be applied to tennis elbow?

would a SOLOFLEX Band fitness machine workout tendons?