Super Athlete Secret: Advanced Tendon Training for SUPREME Power (Tendon Series Part 4.1)
Further manipulating qualities of tension for intermediate to advanced athletes using tempo and range to become freakishly explosive
Content:
Tendon Tension Qualities
Manipulating Speed & Tempo
Special Repetitions
Isometrics
Slow Eccentrics
Fast Eccentrics
Rhythm Sets
Training Standards & Tests
General Strength
Range
Elasticity
Meeting Development Standards
This essay will cover “special repetitions”, “rhythm work“ and using intense weighted reactive exercises to develop elite elasticity - however the capacity to handle and benefit from this training in high doses first comes from establishing baseline standards and foundational work first. At the very least you should be clear on more foundational concepts that have been covered earlier on substack and in the series. This is part 4 & you should be very clear on part 1 through 3 before engaging with this material. Beginning here:
Additionally you should be clear on plyometric work which you can grasp the foundation on in the essays here:
Tendon Training & “Quality of Tension” Progressions
As covered before, tendons and connective tissue trading stimuli our progress through 3 means:
• Length (which we have covered extensively so far in parts one through three)
• Load (which is fairly obvious for any form of strength training)
• Speed (which is the essence of Plyometrics)
The above are called “qualities of tension”. This portion of the series on developing elite athletic tendon dominance will focus on manipulating load and speed in ways we have not prior while advancing our depth of knowledge on the use of length.
This sections below will help you create advanced adaptations in “reactive/elastic“ strength at all angles needed for the activities you seek to specialize in.
With basic foundation established in general strength standards, range standards, and elastic standards (covered below) -> The use of special repetitions and advanced plyometrics will provide another unique stimulus to develop the natural power that the most talented athletes were lucky enough to be born with.
I like to frequently note and remind all of you that your talent in practice is a relevant and if you do not possess something through birth then just be thankful that we have this information here so that you can apply some work and acquire what the gods didn’t throw in your lap.
Truthfully, by earning it yourself, it builds character and Olympus looks favorably on those with grit and persistence.
Manipulating Speed & “Tempo“
One of the most undervalued components in fitness training are the niche values of the manipulation of tempo.
Tempo typically refers to “how“ you perform a repetition in terms of “intention”.
It is essentially a term meant to define the intention you have during the eccentric, isometric, and concentric portions of an exercise.
Often, you will see tempo outlined like this:
(Eccentric/isometric/concentric/pause before next rep)
The variables are annotated with numbers signaling the “seconds” spent in each phase.
An “X” signals that maximum speed and intent is desired.
For example -> a standard tempo might be: 20X1
This translates to a 2 second lowering of the exercise (eccentric), 0 seconds pausing at the bottom (isometric), a maximum explosive lifting of the weight (concentric), and 1 second rest before the next rep.
Another tempo could be: “3211”
3 second eccentric, 2 second pause at the bottom, ~1 second lift (or performing it with one second intention though as the set gets harder it may take slightly longer - interpret it as simply less than absolute maximum intention with speed but high effort) and a 1 second pause before the next rep.
As the series is discussing the strategic use of “tension“ to develop specific muscular strength and connective tissue power, let’s discuss the spectrum of tension with respect to speed & practical benefits of various tempos.
Special Repetitions
By manipulating some of the “qualities of tension“ that are emphasized during the intent and execution of a particular exercise we can create what I call “special repetitions“ to produce unique and specific adaptations to accentuate performance at the joint angles needed for your preferred activity.
Again, as “length” has been previously discussed & will be specified further later, as well as the fact that “load” is a little more straightforward in application - speed is our key variable to play with here.
Slow to Fast = Low to High Tension
As discussed previously, more speed creates more tension because of the higher velocity of muscle contraction and impulse on the tendons. Thus, a gradient of most gentle to most intense *speed* impulse on a tendon in practice can be seen as follows:
Isometric holds (no movement = no speed)
Slow eccentric + slow concentric
Slow eccentrics + pauses (isometrics)
Slow eccentrics + standard/explosive concentric
Standard tempo sets
Fast eccentrics, “drop-catch” & rhythm sets
“True Plyometrics”; Drop/depth jumps, sprints, bounds, hops etc.
There are also exercises and variations of movements that don’t fit perfectly 100% in any of these categories as they can manipulate force curves, remove the eccentric/concentric phases with pins & other equipment, as well as other dynamic exercises such as Olympic pulls that do not respect the same static tempo and “up-down” pattern with consistent tension like traditional hypertrophy movements.
However, through understanding this material you should be armed with the context to dissect some of the nuance in any “outlier” training examples.
Benefits of Specific Tempos
Most of these tempos require in-depth posts of their own - some of which have been covered but others will be covered later in the series.
“True plyometrics” are technically the “fastest“ loaded movement – however, they will be covered in their advanced form in an upcoming post and again, their basics have already been covered in an introductory post here:
I will give some practical information and takeaways for most of the rest of the tempos below:
Isometrics
True Isometric exercises possess no eccentric or concentric motion.
There are two main types of isometrics.