The importance of joint and tendon health, maintenance and strengthening.
Tendon health is an overlooked and under-focused health development for everyday strength maintenance and movement longevity. The focus is usually on gaining muscle mass and targeting the bigger muscle groups.
Targeting joint and tendon health should be a focus for the complex functionality of biomechanics. One of my hypothesis is that in the long run tendon strengthening will also, actually unlock and delimit muscle growth potential.
Tendons have the capacity to be many times more stronger than muscle. Tendons are not usually targeted because it is assumed or taken for granted that tendons will just strengthen while working out and strengthening muscles. Tendon strength is crucially more important in athletic movement and sports than in just gym work and weight lifting, and the plyometric movements in a sports activity usually help strengthen tendons but a strength-only focus may not incorporated plyometrics into their routine.
The human body is a very smart system. The biomechanics of a running leg is a very complex function. The hip, knee, ankle and feet joints must work together to move properly and efficiently. But the nervous system will also limit the body from “over-clocking” the leg if there are any weak points in the system. The leg is creating a tremendous amount of ground force when running, theoretically it could run harder than the system is able to handle, i.e. the legs run so hard it breaks the ankle. So the nervous system will restrict the leg muscle’s total output and power, if the ankle or knee joints are weak, so it doesn’t cause injury or pain. Also for example, the body will not allow the bicep to output more force than what the elbow or wrist joint can hold together. The weakest points in a movement is usually in the joints.
Building more overall strength in the tendons, the ability to lock the joint in place, producing a rigid and immovable joint while producing force into the ground, preventing energy leakage, will unlock the muscles potentiation, allowing it to engage, fire and activate, recruiting more muscle in the action. Requiring more muscle for the action to produce more explosive power, hence stimulating hypertrophy.
Why strengthening tendons is not usually a high priority. As stated before it’s usually assumed tendons will strengthen as muscles strengthen and tendon pliability isn’t usually a focus outside the need of explosive athleticism in sports. But other reasons are, strengthening tendons is not glamorous. Tendons are “under the hood” strength, it doesn’t build the vanity and aesthetic muscles. But also the objectives, measurable and philosophies aren’t standardized, as in there isn’t a quantifiable approach to how and what is strengthening tendons. I know if I can bench press more weight, my muscles are getting stronger, but how can I target and specifically measure that my tendons are getting stronger. I also think, people don’t necessarily think it’s possible to target tendons to get stronger. Tendons also take longer to strengthen but will also retain its strength longer than muscles.