Tendon Strength

[TheShredder]

Hey here is a topic I haven't read much about. Just wondering what is the best thing to take to strenghten your tendons? Cause while on AAS you gain all the muscle mass and strength and your tendons don't have time to catch up, and that makes then susceptible to injury.

[Manic Behavior]

I'll bump for this cuz whenever I start lifting really heavy, my tendonitis flares up. Try glucosamine/msm/chondroiten. I don't know if these will strenghten tendons, but they always seem to work well for me for tendonitis.

[chicamahomico]

Static hold training like bench and deadlift lockouts and plyometrics rock for strengthening tendons. Whenever I am trying to up my 1rep max I will train the lift at different points in the range of motion( statically ) and do some plyometric assistance exercises.

[swolegreaser]

There's no magic pill you can take to make tendons stronger. Maybe some growth hormone. One of the many benefits GH has to offer is the strength of the tendons/joints.
When you do cycle after cycle there is a great strength increase, and sometimes the tendons don't catch up, there lies problem. When the muscle gets stronger than the tendon thats when there's a risk of a serious injury i.e reputue of any tendons. Thats not a good thing, rehab usually lasts approx. 6-12 months to recover. No matter what, and I know sometimes we all feel like superman while on AS, you have to patiant with the strength increase and not try to the gym around, because if you start doin that without warming up and the tendon is already lagging, your gonna tear a tendon that will leave you in agonizing pain.

If you can, use heat before your workout i.e a hot rag or ben-gay, always do a at least a 20min. cardio warmup, stretch out really well, then if you can on any sore tendons use ice after you are done working out.
If any problems occur on the tendons/joints try some MSM/G/CH, and/or an antiinflammatory like ibuprofen.
My point, do not let your muscle take over your tendons in strength, be patiant with the increase and you will be fine.

[TheShredder]

How Long does it take for the Tendons to catch up to the rapid muscle growth.

[PL456]

Good point, swole..Bottom line guys, tendons have poor blood supply, and they take a lot of time to adjust--when you add gear, as swole said, you get strong too fast. Oh, and dont forget about the heart muscle and circulatory system. It takes time to adjust as well to extra loads being placed on it. The heart will try and pump out the blood to catch up, but the vessels need time to adjust as well. True this is prob not a really pressing, immediate issue, but could be a more moderate to long-term concern if youre really heavy into it.

[swolegreaser]

If your bench is 315 for a max rep, after doing a cycle it will certainly increase with strength. Now after 3 weeks you feel like superman and try 400 and lets say you get it. The next week you might train heaver and heaver, thats when the tendons are like holy shit I can't keep up. So my point like I said be patiant, if you do a cycle and you max out at 345 thats fine, just gradually increase weight as you go, but GRADUALLY not all of a sudden, or else you might not feel it after a year, but before you know it one of the tendons will reputure and you'll be fucked, so be patiant.

[darmadoc]

Having lived the exact scenario swolegreaser just described, I second his recomendations, Gradual is the key word.