How Training Tendons Makes You Stronger Than Big Guys — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Have you ever noticed some skinny guys
2. 0:01are way stronger than their size? It's
3. 0:04their tendons, and today you'll learn
4. 0:06how to train yours at home without
5. 0:08getting bulky. You've seen them, the
6. 0:10quiet guy who hangs off the bar forever,
7. 0:13the skinny kid who wins every arm
8. 0:15wrestle. Now watch what 20-second holds
9. 0:18did to eight men in 12 [music] weeks.
10. 0:20Tendons, 57% stiffer. Strength, up a
11. 0:24third. Muscle, under 8%. Your muscle is
12. 0:28the engine, your tendon is the tow rope.
13. 0:30>> [music]
14. 0:30>> Big guys build a bigger engine. These
15. 0:33guys built a tighter rope.
16. 0:36Hold number one,
17. 0:37>> [music]
18. 0:38>> the wall hold, and you can do it right
19. 0:40now.
20. 0:41Back flat against a wall, slide down
21. 0:44until your thighs are level, like you're
22. 0:45sitting on an invisible chair. Start a
23. 0:48timer and hold as long as you can. No
24. 0:50sliding up.
25. 0:52>> [music]
26. 0:52>> While you hold, here's what's happening.
27. 0:54Your thigh muscles are pulling hard on
28. 0:56your knee tendons without moving.
29. 0:58>> [music]
30. 0:59>> That's the same kind of hold those eight
31. 1:00men did, and it won't feel like a normal
32. 1:03workout. [music]
33. 1:04No pump, nothing to flex in the mirror,
34. 1:07just a deep, heavy pressure around your
35. 1:10knees.
36. 1:11That's where the tendons are. When
37. 1:12you're done, comment your time.
38. 1:15At the end, I'll tell you what it means
39. 1:17and which [music] hold to start with.
40. 1:19And if you watched our video on why some
41. 1:21skinny guys are stronger than big guys,
42. 1:23this is the part we didn't show you,
43. 1:25[music] how to actually train it. So
44. 1:27here's the training. Four rounds of 20
45. 1:30to 45 seconds [music] with a minute of
46. 1:32rest.
47. 1:33When 45 seconds gets easy, hold a heavy
48. 1:36backpack on your lap or lift one foot.
49. 1:38>> [music]
50. 1:38>> Breathe the whole time. Never hold your
51. 1:41breath. And if your knee hurts, not just
52. 1:44burns, [music]
53. 1:44stop.
54. 1:46But knees aren't what makes skinny guys
55. 1:48fast and springy. [music]
56. 1:49That tendon is lower down.
57. 1:52Hold number [music] two, the heavy calf
58. 1:55hold.
59. 1:56Your Achilles tendon, at the back of
60. 1:57your ankle, is the biggest tendon in
61. 1:59your body.
62. 2:00>> [music]
63. 2:01>> And it works like a spring. Every time
64. 2:03you sprint or jump, it stretches and
65. 2:05snaps back. Now, here's the catch.
66. 2:07[music] In one study, people trained one
67. 2:10leg with light loading and the other leg
68. 2:12with heavy loading.
69. 2:13Same number [music] of reps. After 14
70. 2:16weeks, only the heavy leg's tendon got
71. 2:18stiffer [music] and thicker. The light
72. 2:20leg didn't change at all. So, 50 easy
73. 2:23calf raises? [music]
74. 2:25Your tendon barely notices. Make it
75. 2:27heavy. Stand on one leg on the edge of a
76. 2:30step, rise onto your toes, lower
77. 2:32halfway, and hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
78. 2:36Hold a wall for balance.
79. 2:38Four [music] holds on each leg. When
80. 2:40that's easy, wear a backpack full of
81. 2:42books. Quick one. If you've done
82. 2:44hundreds of calf raises and nothing
83. 2:46changed, hit like so the next guy stops
84. 2:49wasting his time.
85. 2:51But you're probably thinking, "I don't
86. 2:52own anything [music] heavy." You don't
87. 2:54need to. Hold number three turns a door
88. 2:56frame into a weight room.
89. 2:58>> [music]
90. 3:00>> Hold number three. Push something that
91. 3:02won't move.
92. 3:03Stand in a doorway, hands on the frame
93. 3:05at chest height,
94. 3:06>> [music]
95. 3:06>> and push like you're trying to move the
96. 3:08whole wall. Not all out, about seven out
97. 3:11of 10, [music] the same effort as the
98. 3:12study. 20 seconds, then grab the frame
99. 3:15and pull back for 20 more.
100. 3:17Then the big one. Stand on the middle of
101. 3:19a towel, grab both ends, bend your knees
102. 3:22a little, and pull up like you're trying
103. 3:24to lift the floor.
104. 3:25>> [music]
105. 3:25>> Back straight, chest up. The towel won't
106. 3:28move, but every tendon from your hands
107. 3:31to your heels takes the load. A review
108. 3:33of 27 studies found that what matters
109. 3:35most for tendons is how heavy the load
110. 3:38is, not whether you move or hold still.
111. 3:41A door frame doesn't care that you weigh
112. 3:4360 kilos. [music]
113. 3:44Push it at seven out of 10, and that's
114. 3:46heavy. No gym, no protein tub the size
115. 3:49[music] of a toddler. Quick one.
116. 3:52If you're skinny and nobody ever told
117. 3:54you this, [music] subscribe. Every video
118. 3:56here is strength you can build at home.
119. 3:58And the next hold is the one that makes
120. 4:00people ask, "How is that guy so strong?"
121. 4:04Hold number four, the [music] hang.
122. 4:08Grab a bar, arms straight, and just hold
123. 4:10on. Your fingers, forearms, and
124. 4:13shoulders [music] carry your whole body.
125. 4:15That's the strength people feel in your
126. 4:16handshake, in an arm wrestle, or when
127. 4:19you carry every shopping bag in one
128. 4:21[music] trip. No bar at home?
129. 4:23A park bar or a solid tree branch works.
130. 4:26If you can't hold yourself yet, keep
131. 4:28your feet on the ground and let your
132. 4:30hands take as much weight as they can.
133. 4:32Build up to four hangs of 20 to 30
134. 4:34seconds.
135. 4:35>> [music]
136. 4:35>> When that's easy, throw a towel over the
137. 4:37bar and hang from the towel.
138. 4:40Your grip will hate [music] you. And the
139. 4:41guys who hang from two fingers? That's
140. 4:43years away. Your finger tendons need
141. 4:46months to catch up with your muscles, so
142. 4:48build up slowly.
143. 4:49>> [music]
144. 4:49>> Now, here's where almost everyone messes
145. 4:51it up.
146. 4:53You can do all four holds every week and
147. 4:55get nothing if you get one detail wrong.
148. 4:59The rule, hold long and hold heavy.
149. 5:02>> [music]
150. 5:03>> In another study, men trained each leg
151. 5:05with the exact same total [music] work.
152. 5:08One leg did fast one-second squeezes, 50
153. 5:11at a time.
154. 5:12The other leg did 20-second holds. Both
155. 5:15legs got stronger. Both muscles grew the
156. 5:17same. But only the leg [music] that held
157. 5:19for 20 seconds got stiffer tendons.
158. 5:22The quick squeezes did nothing for the
159. 5:24tendon. And remember the calf study?
160. 5:26>> [music]
161. 5:27>> Light did nothing either. So, every hold
162. 5:29follows two rules.
163. 5:31At least 20 seconds. Use a timer,
164. 5:34because 20 [music] seconds feels like a
165. 5:35minute when it's heavy. And hard enough
166. 5:37that the last five seconds are a fight,
167. 5:40about seven out of 10.
168. 5:42Here's why that [music] matters so much
169. 5:43if you're skinny.
170. 5:45In that first study, strength went up by
171. 5:47a third while muscle barely grew. Their
172. 5:50muscles also produced force about a
173. 5:52third faster because a stiff tendon
174. 5:54[music] passes the pull straight to the
175. 5:56bone like a tow rope with no slack.
176. 5:59And on a light body, that strength shows
177. 6:01up everywhere. Every pull-up, every
178. 6:04push-up, [music]
179. 6:05every time you lift your own weight.
180. 6:07Big guys have more body to carry. You
181. 6:10don't. [music] Your tendons don't care
182. 6:12how big you look. That's how skinny guys
183. 6:14get stronger than big guys.
184. 6:17So, here's the whole thing.
185. 6:19Keep it simple. [music] Three or four
186. 6:20days a week, 10 to 15 minutes. The wall
187. 6:24hold, the calf hold, the doorway push
188. 6:27and pull,
189. 6:28and the towel pull, the hang. Four
190. 6:31rounds each, 20 to 45 seconds at seven
191. 6:34out of 10.
192. 6:34>> [music]
193. 6:35>> Keep your normal workouts, too. Push-ups
194. 6:37and squats build the muscle.
195. 6:39These [music] build the tendons. Make a
196. 6:41hold harder only when it feels easy. And
197. 6:44here's what [music] to expect. In the
198. 6:46first few weeks, your holds get longer
199. 6:48fast. That's mostly your nervous system
200. 6:50learning to use the muscle you already
201. 6:52have. Researchers saw the same thing
202. 6:54back in the '70s. Keep going because the
203. 6:57tendon itself changes slower. The
204. 6:59studies in this video measured the big
205. 7:01tendon changes at 12 to 14 weeks. So,
206. 7:04give it 12 [music] weeks before you
207. 7:06judge it. Three safety rules. Breathe
208. 7:08through every hold. Stop if a joint
209. 7:10hurts, not just burns. And if you're
210. 7:13under 18, keep the effort medium and
211. 7:15skip the extra weight.
212. 7:18Now, your wall hold time. Under 30
213. 7:20seconds, the wall hold is your weak
214. 7:22spot. So, do it every session. 30 to 60,
215. 7:26you're about average. So, run the whole
216. 7:27plan. 1 to 2 minutes is solid, so go
217. 7:31straight to one leg in the backpack.
218. 7:33Over 2 minutes, your legs are strong, so
219. 7:35put your effort into the hang and the
220. 7:37towel pull.
221. 7:38>> [music]
222. 7:38>> That's our own simple scale, not a
223. 7:40medical test. Comment your time and the
224. 7:42hold you're starting with. Then test
225. 7:44again in 4 weeks and reply to your own
226. 7:47comment. [music] 12 weeks from now, you
227. 7:49could be the skinny guy someone else
228. 7:50notices.
229. 7:53And training is easier with other guys
230. 7:55doing it, too. That's why we built a
231. 7:56free community on Telegram. The link's
232. 7:59in the description. Train like it's
233. 8:00[music] day one.