The Secret to Becoming a Super Athlete - Training Tendons & Muscle for Maximum Strength: Resistance Curves & "Tension Range" Part 1
Using "tension ranges" for SUPERIOR strength gains in muscle mass, tendon strength + health and optimize exercise selection for performance
Contents:
Secret of “Gifted” Athletes vs the “Unlucky”
Intro to “Resistance Profiles” & “Tension Range”
“Short” vs “Long” Range Exercises
“Mid-Range” Movements
When to Use Each Type of “Tension Range” + Benefits of Each
How This Changes Training Results Compared to Common Program Design
Why This is SO Important
“Hardware vs Software”
Regenerating from “Catastrophic” Injury
Various Methods to Implement This into Training
Takeaways + Closing Thoughts
NOTE: this is part 1 of a multi part series please read parts two and three onward to get the full picture - all (*especially part 3*) VERY important knowledge to make a true athletic transformation
Secret of “Gifted” Athletes vs “Poor” Athletes
There are many components that go into a “athletic skill set“ but the central element that separates elite athletes from the general population is more than visible qualities, like muscle mass, but truly comes from a foundation of gifted connective tissue strength.
We have spoken about tendons and elasticity & their importance before but I am striving to emphasize this even further so you understand they are their own training factor that requires attention to achieve long-term human athletic potential.
What sets the child in school who runs fast, jumps high, hits hard, and is agile is not magic.
We live in a world governed by the laws of physics and if one is able to move extremely athletically and explosively despite perhaps not even looking “visually impressive”, there *IS* a physical reason.
The reason it appears to be some invisible magic quality is because it actually isn’t visible to us (until we look at an MRI).
Some of us are born more naturally muscular (and this is great) but some of us are born with thicker, stronger, and stiffer connective tissue. (Sometimes you get both!)
You can’t see this when staring at someone face-to-face the way you can muscle mass. However, the unique properties of tendons make them far stronger than muscle tissue when they are loaded and tensed.
Super strong connective tissue is what allows parkour athletes to jump like a cat and land from very high distances/heights without injury.
It is also how high jumpers and sprinters slam their legs into the ground with “beast-like“ force. Animals with much less muscle mass but extremely powerful tendons can move like no human can ever hope to because of those tendon qualities.
This is the secret foundation of elite athletes - A super strong framework of hardware that connects their skeleton together which their muscles or momentum from movement load in order to utilize.
The chances are that those who are powerful elastic athletes “naturally“ and those who seem to be “un-athletic” despite how much muscle mass or “working out” they do comes down to a strength or lack thereof of the tendons and connective tissue in our joints.
See this video below - It’s not big muscles that allow him to do this:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeYqBwDjn-q/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Even for sports that DO demand high amounts of muscle strength, the connective tissue base is still the foundation for them to perform like a physically impressive athletic specimen vs a stereotypically “slow powerlifter”. (Note: connective tissue foundation is also necessary for strength athletes and bodybuilders as well - they need to be able to bear insanely high loads)
If you are training to improve your long-term athletic development as well as foundational health it is imperative that you seek to develop the necessary “human hardware” framework that comprises your body as a primary goal.
This is especially important for those of us who were not born gifted athletes in this area. Where some may only need to practice their skills or perhaps improve their muscular and conditioning fitness to be elite because they were born with the connective tissue frame necessary for elite performance - The rest of us must attempt to match that athletic hardware over time (dedicated training) in order to both compete with elite performances ourselves as well as maintain our athletic longevity for our lifetime.
This IS possible but requires “know how” which has personally taken me a lot of effort to unravel from some experts - who have long passed - to understand completely.
Through a lot of frustrating, painful research & experimentation we have been able to connect the dots on how the worlds most effective Olympic trainers have developed miraculous changes in an athletes ability and are beginning to be able to explain it in simple, well understood terms.
This essay will be extremely important to everyone beyond athletes and fitness enthusiasts to achieve their genetic potential and maintain their health and well-being (as well as their loved ones) throughout their life.
(This would also be extremely powerful if correctly implemented by parents in youth athletes to develop them for lifetime health and possible profitable athletic careers early)
As simple as this secret concept really is - it is poorly understood and applied by many trainers who may be able to develop hypertrophy responses but struggle with athletic connective tissue development.
I also do believe this concept will be a more well understood and big change in approach in the next few years when it comes to physical fitness & athletic training as well as orthopedic health care.
Read further on using “tension ranges” for complete athlete development.
Intro to Resistance Profiles & Tension Ranges
Every exercise possesses something called a “resistance profile”. A “resistance profile” refers to the range of motion the exercises moves through and the level of resistance (i.e. difficulty) at each range within the motion of the exercise. For example, a “bench press” is typically most difficult when the arms are below or approaching 90 degree angles (This range will be different depending on your limb length). This is because in a traditional barbell bench press your skeletal leverages are weakest at that angle.
Note: Some athletes will struggle more in different ranges of a compound exercise despite its resistance profile - some struggle with “lockout” on a bench press. This however is due to weaker muscles contributing to that portion of the lift, *not* because the physics of the resistance profile on a bench press are different. Strong chest/shoulders + weak triceps will = harder lockout on a bench press even though the resistance profile of a bench press is greater near the bottom/middle. A resistance profile describes where the demand of a movement is MOST & LEAST dependent on muscle/joint effort, i.e. strongest & weakest natural leverage.
In short, a resistance profile typically will demonstrate where an exercise is “hardest”. What this means for training is that the muscle, nervous system, and connective tissue (all the things we want to train to get stronger) are mostly challenged at that position relative to other positions in the exercises range of motion.
Consider common exercises you use and where their resistance is greatest & lowest - you will notice most are maximally difficult at the “bottom”. (i.e. squats) However, with good selection/setup this can be manipulated.
This means that at the “peak resistance” on a resistance profile we have the angle that the joint/muscle is being trained the most because that is where the body is challenged to the point of true dependence on overcoming the weight. Strength will be gained the most in the range its challenged. Other portions are “trained” but the difference is substantial. Where this “peak resistance” lies on a range of motion relative to a joint is called the “tension range”.
Tension range will have different implications depending on where it lies on a joint/muscles range of motion. We want to manipulate the tension ranges on different joints using exercise selection/setup in order to improve our muscle size, tendon strength, and orthopedic health as each range will have different effects & qualities.
This makes this concept and its proper utilization invaluable for any trainee from a professional athlete to your grandparents.
Short vs Long Range Exercises
The two most important tension ranges to focus on when learning and beginning to apply these concepts are short & long range.
Before we explain WHY this is so important and powerful you need to understand how to differentiate between these ranges.
Short range refers to an exercise that applies maximal resistance near the full contraction of a muscle (i.e. when a muscle is “shortest”).
Long range refers to an exercise that applies maximal resistance near the most lengthened position of a muscle (i.e. when a muscle is “stretched”).