It's Weird, But It Re-Builds Your Tendons In 30 Days — Transcript

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1. 0:02Squeaky-creaky joints are not just a
2. 0:04normal part of training. And if it keeps
3. 0:06coming back, problem isn't your muscles
4. 0:07or bones, it's your tendons.
5. 0:09>> It's the number one thing that causes
6. 0:11people pain.
7. 0:12>> Today, I'll show you the two biggest
8. 0:13mistakes damaging your tendons and the
9. 0:16exact [music]
10. 0:17exercises proven to rebuild stronger
11. 0:19ones in as little as 30 days. Think of
12. 0:22tendons as the cables that make your
13. 0:23body move. Whether it's lifting your
14. 0:25forearm up during a curl, pulling your
15. 0:27arm across your body during a bench
16. 0:28press, or swinging your elbow when you
17. 0:30hit a tennis ball. But movement isn't
18. 0:32their only job.
19. 0:33>> Imagine that you jump down off of a
20. 0:37couple of stairs and you landed on both
21. 0:38feet. Well, when you land on the ground,
22. 0:40you don't want your muscle to take on
23. 0:42all of the load.
24. 0:43>> That's Coach Q Wiley, a physiotherapist
25. 0:46who spent years studying tendons and
26. 0:48applying this research with professional
27. 0:50athletes.
28. 0:51>> So, tendon can be very protective of
29. 0:53muscle in that it can basically stretch
30. 0:56out quite a bit in a very fast, short
31. 0:58period of time that allows the muscle to
32. 1:00not have to extend as quickly.
33. 1:02>> Which just means your tendons need to be
34. 1:04absurdly strong. And even though lifting
35. 1:06weights is great for building your
36. 1:07muscles,
37. 1:08>> [music]
38. 1:08>> your tendons need a different type of
39. 1:10training.
40. 1:11>> The biggest thing that we're discovering
41. 1:12now and is that tendons don't like what
42. 1:14muscle likes to get stronger.
43. 1:16>> That's Dr. Keith Baar, a professor at UC
44. 1:18Davis whose lab has produced some of the
45. 1:21world's most cited research [music] on
46. 1:22tendon healing and strength.
47. 1:24>> And so, there's a big difference in the
48. 1:26types of loads that we do to optimize
49. 1:28tendon
50. 1:30versus when we're trying to target our
51. 1:31exercise for muscles or our heart.
52. 1:34>> So, if all your training builds up your
53. 1:36muscles faster than your tendons, it
54. 1:38creates a big gap in strength, which
55. 1:40explains why
56. 1:41>> it's the number one thing that causes
57. 1:43people pain. So, I do a lot of work with
58. 1:45professional sports team because 70% of
59. 1:48their injuries are related to the tendon
60. 1:50and it either the tendon or the muscle
61. 1:52that was associated with it not being
62. 1:54perfectly aligned.
63. 1:55>> This is actually why guys who hop on
64. 1:57steroids are usually more likely to get
65. 1:59tendon injuries. Their muscles outgrow
66. 2:01the strength of their tendons. And we
67. 2:03see the same trend in professional
68. 2:05sports. 1990s
69. 2:07baseball where everybody was injecting
70. 2:09himself with anabolic steroids,
71. 2:11they would get big muscles and then they
72. 2:13would tear the the tendon. Their
73. 2:15performance would go up and then bang.
74. 2:17And you know, statisticians can go back
75. 2:19and and determine who is taking steroids
76. 2:22based on their stats because it's that
77. 2:23predictable. But you don't need to be on
78. 2:25the juice for this to happen. And even
79. 2:27if you're not in pain, there are warning
80. 2:28signs that some of your tendons are just
81. 2:30not as strong as they should be.
82. 2:33>> Oh my god, that's loud.
83. 2:35>> Hear that? When a tendon is experiencing
84. 2:38any kind of sensitive thing, it it will
85. 2:41get a little bit fatter. You know, it's
86. 2:43a chubby tendon, if you will. And so now
87. 2:45in the shoulder, particularly, you're
88. 2:47asking that tendon to move and slide
89. 2:49through very, very narrow joint spaces.
90. 2:51And so just a little bit of a fatter
91. 2:53tendon, now you may feel that tendon as
92. 2:56it pops and rolls.
93. 2:57>> Now, clicking alone doesn't always mean
94. 2:59your tendon is weak or damaged. But when
95. 3:02it starts coming with pain, that's a
96. 3:03different story. And one of the worst
97. 3:05things you can do when that happens
98. 3:07>> [music]
99. 3:07>> is rest. The doctor says, "Well, just
100. 3:09rest it."
101. 3:10But a tendon isn't a tendon without
102. 3:12load.
103. 3:13So if you're just resting it, it's never
104. 3:16going to fix itself. Unlike most
105. 3:17injuries, tendons don't respond well to
106. 3:19complete rest. The pain might
107. 3:21temporarily go away because nothing's
108. 3:22stressing it, but the actual problem
109. 3:24isn't being fixed. In fact, the healthy
110. 3:27parts of the tendons start actually
111. 3:28getting weaker while the damaged part
112. 3:30never properly rebuilds. As a result,
113. 3:33>> as soon as you start doing anything
114. 3:34again, the pain is going to come back
115. 3:36cuz you didn't actually fix the problem.
116. 3:37And this only gets worse as you age.
117. 3:39When we're young and healthy and we're
118. 3:40doing all of these activities, those
119. 3:42little injuries never go away unless we
120. 3:45actually fix them. That's why a lot of
121. 3:46people who are super active and are
122. 3:48training really hard, And they'll get
123. 3:50into their 40s and they'll have a lot of
124. 3:52kind of muscular musculoskeletal pain.
125. 3:55>> Okay, so rest doesn't work. But before I
126. 3:57show you what does, the exact exercises
127. 3:59for each joint that can get rid of pain
128. 4:01instantly and rebuild your stronger
129. 4:03tendons in as little as 30 days,
130. 4:05>> [music]
131. 4:05>> you need to understand the two biggest
132. 4:08mistakes causing your tendon problems in
133. 4:10the first place. The first and most
134. 4:11common one is poor load management.
135. 4:14Think back to a time when you suddenly
136. 4:15increase your activity, whether it's
137. 4:17more bench pressing, running, or new
138. 4:19sport.
139. 4:19>> It feels fine at first until after a few
140. 4:21weeks
141. 4:22>> something gives.
142. 4:23>> It's less about being an overuse-related
143. 4:26injury, it's more of an more is just
144. 4:28more.
145. 4:31We can adapt to more, it just takes a
146. 4:32long time. Tendons
147. 4:34take a little bit longer to adapt than
148. 4:36muscle.
149. 4:37>> I actually experienced this myself. I
150. 4:39ran a 60-day experiment where I trained
151. 4:41one half of my body with really heavy
152. 4:43weights for low reps, and the other half
153. 4:46with light weight for high reps. By the
154. 4:47end of it, I got tendinitis on both my
155. 4:50elbow and knee on my heavy side. Now,
156. 4:51it's not because heavy weight is bad,
157. 4:53but just because my body wasn't used to
158. 4:55that type of training.
159. 4:56>> If you're increasing volumes or
160. 4:57intensity by more than probably about
161. 5:0030% that you're potentially running the
162. 5:02risk
163. 5:03>> of injury.
164. 5:03>> So, if you normally do four sets of
165. 5:05bench per week and hop on a new program
166. 5:06that has you doing 10, that's a recipe
167. 5:09for injury. A 30% jump is at most adding
168. 5:11one to two sets per week. And the same
169. 5:13goes with load. If you're coming back
170. 5:15from time off and 100 lb feels easy,
171. 5:17don't jump straight to 150 the next
172. 5:19week. Go closer to 130 and slowly build
173. 5:22from there. And you can also apply this
174. 5:23concept to any exercise or sport you do
175. 5:26outside of the gym, too. But there is
176. 5:27another more subtle mistake that almost
177. 5:30everyone does that damages their
178. 5:31tendons.
179. 5:32>> When we're lifting a lot, what happens,
180. 5:34especially as we're trying to up our
181. 5:36weights, is that we have a tendency to
182. 5:38use more momentum.
183. 5:39>> Momentum is what you use whenever you
184. 5:41bounce the weight off your chest when
185. 5:42pressing, bounce at the bottom of a
186. 5:44squat, or even hit a tennis ball or
187. 5:46swing a golf club. That's the stimulus
188. 5:48that's going to be detrimental to our
189. 5:50connective tissues. We're doing the
190. 5:51things that are actually introducing the
191. 5:54type of load that is hardest on our
192. 5:57tendons.
193. 5:57>> Now, even though Olympic weightlifters
194. 5:59use momentum all the time in their
195. 6:01lifts, their tendons have adapted to it
196. 6:03over time. Yours hasn't. So, as a
197. 6:05general rule of thumb in the gym,
198. 6:07>> [music]
199. 6:07>> if you don't have specific power or
200. 6:09strength goals, control the bottom of
201. 6:11the rep. It'll not only be easier on
202. 6:12your tendons, research also suggests
203. 6:15it'll grow your muscles faster, too.
204. 6:17But, even if you manage your training
205. 6:19perfectly, tendon injuries still happen.
206. 6:22And luckily, there is one type of
207. 6:24exercise proven to be one of the best
208. 6:27ways to heal and build stronger tendons.
209. 6:29>> What our work has shown us is that when
210. 6:31we do isometrics, we maximize the creep
211. 6:35in the tendon,
212. 6:36and we get equal signal for that load
213. 6:39through the whole tendon, including the
214. 6:41scarred area. By 2 weeks, almost
215. 6:43everybody is is like, "Oh, yeah. I I
216. 6:45don't I can do pretty much everything
217. 6:47again."
218. 6:47>> An isometric is any exercise where
219. 6:49you're contracting a muscle without
220. 6:51moving it, like flexing your bicep with
221. 6:52your elbow stuck in 90°.
222. 6:54>> So, the reason that we use isometrics is
223. 6:58because if I pull and hold, what's going
224. 6:59to happen is that's going to cause creep
225. 7:01to the healthy strong parts of the
226. 7:03tendon.
227. 7:04And as they lengthen, the next strongest
228. 7:06part gets load. Then the next strongest,
229. 7:09then the weakest part will get it. So,
230. 7:11if we hold it about 30 seconds, now the
231. 7:13whole tendon gets a signal. Now, we're
232. 7:15going to get collagen synthesis, it's
233. 7:17going to happen in a line fashion, and
234. 7:19we're going to make that tissue
235. 7:20stronger.
236. 7:21>> As for what isometric exercises are
237. 7:23best,
238. 7:24>> whatever motion doesn't feel good,
239. 7:26you're trying to find a way that you can
240. 7:28load that motion very hard, um, or hold
241. 7:32a position. So, for example, if I had a
242. 7:33problem bench pressing, [music] I'm
243. 7:35going to probably use something pretty
244. 7:37similar to a bench press, and just do an
245. 7:39iso hold there, because that's the
246. 7:41motion that's most sensitive, meaning
247. 7:43that I know that that's probably the
248. 7:44motion that that tendon is getting the
249. 7:46most load. Let me show you what this
250. 7:48looks like for each joint using
251. 7:50exercises we actually just added to our
252. 7:52fitness app. Starting with the shoulder.
253. 7:54If chest pressing is what bothers you,
254. 7:56set up a bench press, Smith machine, or
255. 7:58chest press machine with enough weight
256. 8:00so that you can push hard against it
257. 8:01without the weight moving.
258. 8:05Another option too is just using a
259. 8:06lighter weight and holding it halfway
260. 8:08through the rep. And if you're training
261. 8:10at home, you can do the same thing with
262. 8:12a push-up hold or by pushing hard
263. 8:13against the wall. But pick one of these
264. 8:15variations, hold the position for at
265. 8:17least 30 seconds, and repeat that
266. 8:19[music] for a total of three sets.
267. 8:21Whereas if your shoulder mainly hurts
268. 8:23during overhead presses, try these
269. 8:25instead.
270. 8:26And if it hurts during lateral raise
271. 8:28movements, then try these. And before we
272. 8:30move to the elbow, just keep in mind
273. 8:31that while you should feel temporary
274. 8:33pain relief right after you do these
275. 8:35exercises, you might actually feel some
276. 8:37pain as you're doing them. And that's
277. 8:39perfectly fine, as long as the pain is
278. 8:41not more than a three or four out of 10,
279. 8:43and as long as it doesn't feel worse the
280. 8:45next day. If it does, that's a sign you
281. 8:47got to ease back by using less weight or
282. 8:49just not pushing as hard. Now, as for
283. 8:51your elbows, if it's mainly your biceps
284. 8:53that hurt, pick whatever type of curl
285. 8:55bothers you the most and hold the middle
286. 8:58position of it with lighter weight. And
287. 8:59do the same if it hurts during
288. 9:01pull-downs or chin-ups. Whereas for
289. 9:02triceps, [music] do these if it hurts
290. 9:04during push-downs, and these if it hurts
291. 9:06during overhead extensions. As for your
292. 9:08knees, knee extension machine is
293. 9:10probably just the most simple, uh most
294. 9:13accessible. If you didn't have a
295. 9:14machine, getting your toes to be the
296. 9:17only thing that are on the floor and
297. 9:18your back and your bum are now up
298. 9:20against the wall and simply sliding down
299. 9:22the wall with your back and and letting
300. 9:24the knees come forward is also going to
301. 9:25recreate a very similar knee extension
302. 9:28type thing. So here is the full plan to
303. 9:30completely heal and rebuild your tendons
304. 9:33as fast as possible. First, pick one
305. 9:35exercise based on what joint is
306. 9:37bothering you and do three sets of it
307. 9:39twice a day, [music] once in the morning
308. 9:40and once in the evening. Your pain can
309. 9:42go away in as quick as a week or two
310. 9:44just from that. But to then fix the
311. 9:46issue for good, Keith recommends [music]
312. 9:48continuing to do your exercises three to
313. 9:50four times a week for at least four to
314. 9:52eight weeks.
315. 9:53>> If they feel like, "Oh, yeah. Hey, it's
316. 9:55better." and then they stop doing it,
317. 9:57it's just going to come back. So, that's
318. 9:58why the ones who really get rid of the
319. 10:00pain permanently are the ones who can
320. 10:02say, "This is something I want to keep
321. 10:03going with." But again,
322. 10:05>> don't stop there. If you want to keep
323. 10:06your tendons healthy for good and
324. 10:07prevent future injuries, you can spend 5
325. 10:10to 10 minutes after your workouts to do
326. 10:12these exercises or just allocate one day
327. 10:14per week. But if you want a step-by-step
328. 10:16plan that takes care of all that
329. 10:18guesswork for you, we've actually added
330. 10:20these tendon rehab exercises directly
331. 10:22into our app along with joint-friendly
332. 10:24exercise [music] alternatives based on
333. 10:26the specific area that's bothering you.
334. 10:28That way, you can continue training and
335. 10:30continue building muscle while
336. 10:32rebuilding your tendons at the same
337. 10:33time. Now, the app also coaches you on
338. 10:35your diet and you can try 2 weeks
339. 10:37completely free by scanning this QR code
340. 10:40or heading to buildwithscience.com. Give
341. 10:42this video a watch next if you want to
342. 10:43learn the fastest way to put on muscle.
343. 10:46Thanks for watching and I'll see you
344. 10:47next time.