The Fastest Way to Fix Your Knees, Elbows, & Shoulders

[00:02] Squeaky-creaky joints are not just a

[00:04] normal part of training. And if it keeps

[00:06] coming back, problem isn't your muscles

[00:07] or bones, it's your tendons.

[00:09] >> It's the number one thing that causes

[00:11] people pain.

[00:12] >> Today, I'll show you the two biggest

[00:13] mistakes damaging your tendons and the

[00:16] exact [music]

[00:17] exercises proven to rebuild stronger

[00:19] ones in as little as 30 days. Think of

[00:22] tendons as the cables that make your

[00:23] body move. Whether it's lifting your

[00:25] forearm up during a curl, pulling your

[00:27] arm across your body during a bench

[00:28] press, or swinging your elbow when you

[00:30] hit a tennis ball. But movement isn't

[00:32] their only job.

[00:33] >> Imagine that you jump down off of a

[00:37] couple of stairs and you landed on both

[00:38] feet. Well, when you land on the ground,

[00:40] you don't want your muscle to take on

[00:42] all of the load.

[00:43] >> That's Coach Q Wiley, a physiotherapist

[00:46] who spent years studying tendons and

[00:48] applying this research with professional

[00:50] athletes.

[00:51] >> So, tendon can be very protective of

[00:53] muscle in that it can basically stretch

[00:56] out quite a bit in a very fast, short

[00:58] period of time that allows the muscle to

[01:00] not have to extend as quickly.

[01:02] >> Which just means your tendons need to be

[01:04] absurdly strong. And even though lifting

[01:06] weights is great for building your

[01:07] muscles,

[01:08] >> [music]

[01:08] >> your tendons need a different type of

[01:10] training.

[01:11] >> The biggest thing that we're discovering

[01:12] now and is that tendons don't like what

[01:14] muscle likes to get stronger.

[01:16] >> That's Dr. Keith Baar, a professor at UC

[01:18] Davis whose lab has produced some of the

[01:21] world's most cited research [music] on

[01:22] tendon healing and strength.

[01:24] >> And so, there's a big difference in the

[01:26] types of loads that we do to optimize

[01:28] tendon

[01:30] versus when we're trying to target our

[01:31] exercise for muscles or our heart.

[01:34] >> So, if all your training builds up your

[01:36] muscles faster than your tendons, it

[01:38] creates a big gap in strength, which

[01:40] explains why

[01:41] >> it's the number one thing that causes

[01:43] people pain. So, I do a lot of work with

[01:45] professional sports team because 70% of

[01:48] their injuries are related to the tendon

[01:50] and it either the tendon or the muscle

[01:52] that was associated with it not being

[01:54] perfectly aligned.

[01:55] >> This is actually why guys who hop on

[01:57] steroids are usually more likely to get

[01:59] tendon injuries. Their muscles outgrow

[02:01] the strength of their tendons. And we

[02:03] see the same trend in professional

[02:05] sports. 1990s

[02:07] baseball where everybody was injecting

[02:09] himself with anabolic steroids,

[02:11] they would get big muscles and then they

[02:13] would tear the the tendon. Their

[02:15] performance would go up and then bang.

[02:17] And you know, statisticians can go back

[02:19] and and determine who is taking steroids

[02:22] based on their stats because it's that

[02:23] predictable. But you don't need to be on

[02:25] the juice for this to happen. And even

[02:27] if you're not in pain, there are warning

[02:28] signs that some of your tendons are just

[02:30] not as strong as they should be.

[02:33] >> Oh my god, that's loud.

[02:35] >> Hear that? When a tendon is experiencing

[02:38] any kind of sensitive thing, it it will

[02:41] get a little bit fatter. You know, it's

[02:43] a chubby tendon, if you will. And so now

[02:45] in the shoulder, particularly, you're

[02:47] asking that tendon to move and slide

[02:49] through very, very narrow joint spaces.

[02:51] And so just a little bit of a fatter

[02:53] tendon, now you may feel that tendon as

[02:56] it pops and rolls.

[02:57] >> Now, clicking alone doesn't always mean

[02:59] your tendon is weak or damaged. But when

[03:02] it starts coming with pain, that's a

[03:03] different story. And one of the worst

[03:05] things you can do when that happens

[03:07] >> [music]

[03:07] >> is rest. The doctor says, "Well, just

[03:09] rest it."

[03:10] But a tendon isn't a tendon without

[03:12] load.

[03:13] So if you're just resting it, it's never

[03:16] going to fix itself. Unlike most

[03:17] injuries, tendons don't respond well to

[03:19] complete rest. The pain might

[03:21] temporarily go away because nothing's

[03:22] stressing it, but the actual problem

[03:24] isn't being fixed. In fact, the healthy

[03:27] parts of the tendons start actually

[03:28] getting weaker while the damaged part

[03:30] never properly rebuilds. As a result,

[03:33] >> as soon as you start doing anything

[03:34] again, the pain is going to come back

[03:36] cuz you didn't actually fix the problem.

[03:37] And this only gets worse as you age.

[03:39] When we're young and healthy and we're

[03:40] doing all of these activities, those

[03:42] little injuries never go away unless we

[03:45] actually fix them. That's why a lot of

[03:46] people who are super active and are

[03:48] training really hard, And they'll get

[03:50] into their 40s and they'll have a lot of

[03:52] kind of muscular musculoskeletal pain.

[03:55] >> Okay, so rest doesn't work. But before I

[03:57] show you what does, the exact exercises

[03:59] for each joint that can get rid of pain

[04:01] instantly and rebuild your stronger

[04:03] tendons in as little as 30 days,

[04:05] >> [music]

[04:05] >> you need to understand the two biggest

[04:08] mistakes causing your tendon problems in

[04:10] the first place. The first and most

[04:11] common one is poor load management.

[04:14] Think back to a time when you suddenly

[04:15] increase your activity, whether it's

[04:17] more bench pressing, running, or new

[04:19] sport.

[04:19] >> It feels fine at first until after a few

[04:21] weeks

[04:22] >> something gives.

[04:23] >> It's less about being an overuse-related

[04:26] injury, it's more of an more is just

[04:28] more.

[04:31] We can adapt to more, it just takes a

[04:32] long time. Tendons

[04:34] take a little bit longer to adapt than

[04:36] muscle.

[04:37] >> I actually experienced this myself. I

[04:39] ran a 60-day experiment where I trained

[04:41] one half of my body with really heavy

[04:43] weights for low reps, and the other half

[04:46] with light weight for high reps. By the

[04:47] end of it, I got tendinitis on both my

[04:50] elbow and knee on my heavy side. Now,

[04:51] it's not because heavy weight is bad,

[04:53] but just because my body wasn't used to

[04:55] that type of training.

[04:56] >> If you're increasing volumes or

[04:57] intensity by more than probably about

[05:00] 30% that you're potentially running the

[05:02] risk

[05:03] >> of injury.

[05:03] >> So, if you normally do four sets of

[05:05] bench per week and hop on a new program

[05:06] that has you doing 10, that's a recipe

[05:09] for injury. A 30% jump is at most adding

[05:11] one to two sets per week. And the same

[05:13] goes with load. If you're coming back

[05:15] from time off and 100 lb feels easy,

[05:17] don't jump straight to 150 the next

[05:19] week. Go closer to 130 and slowly build

[05:22] from there. And you can also apply this

[05:23] concept to any exercise or sport you do

[05:26] outside of the gym, too. But there is

[05:27] another more subtle mistake that almost

[05:30] everyone does that damages their

[05:31] tendons.

[05:32] >> When we're lifting a lot, what happens,

[05:34] especially as we're trying to up our

[05:36] weights, is that we have a tendency to

[05:38] use more momentum.

[05:39] >> Momentum is what you use whenever you

[05:41] bounce the weight off your chest when

[05:42] pressing, bounce at the bottom of a

[05:44] squat, or even hit a tennis ball or

[05:46] swing a golf club. That's the stimulus

[05:48] that's going to be detrimental to our

[05:50] connective tissues. We're doing the

[05:51] things that are actually introducing the

[05:54] type of load that is hardest on our

[05:57] tendons.

[05:57] >> Now, even though Olympic weightlifters

[05:59] use momentum all the time in their

[06:01] lifts, their tendons have adapted to it

[06:03] over time. Yours hasn't. So, as a

[06:05] general rule of thumb in the gym,

[06:07] >> [music]

[06:07] >> if you don't have specific power or

[06:09] strength goals, control the bottom of

[06:11] the rep. It'll not only be easier on

[06:12] your tendons, research also suggests

[06:15] it'll grow your muscles faster, too.

[06:17] But, even if you manage your training

[06:19] perfectly, tendon injuries still happen.

[06:22] And luckily, there is one type of

[06:24] exercise proven to be one of the best

[06:27] ways to heal and build stronger tendons.

[06:29] >> What our work has shown us is that when

[06:31] we do isometrics, we maximize the creep

[06:35] in the tendon,

[06:36] and we get equal signal for that load

[06:39] through the whole tendon, including the

[06:41] scarred area. By 2 weeks, almost

[06:43] everybody is is like, "Oh, yeah. I I

[06:45] don't I can do pretty much everything

[06:47] again."

[06:47] >> An isometric is any exercise where

[06:49] you're contracting a muscle without

[06:51] moving it, like flexing your bicep with

[06:52] your elbow stuck in 90°.

[06:54] >> So, the reason that we use isometrics is

[06:58] because if I pull and hold, what's going

[06:59] to happen is that's going to cause creep

[07:01] to the healthy strong parts of the

[07:03] tendon.

[07:04] And as they lengthen, the next strongest

[07:06] part gets load. Then the next strongest,

[07:09] then the weakest part will get it. So,

[07:11] if we hold it about 30 seconds, now the

[07:13] whole tendon gets a signal. Now, we're

[07:15] going to get collagen synthesis, it's

[07:17] going to happen in a line fashion, and

[07:19] we're going to make that tissue

[07:20] stronger.

[07:21] >> As for what isometric exercises are

[07:23] best,

[07:24] >> whatever motion doesn't feel good,

[07:26] you're trying to find a way that you can

[07:28] load that motion very hard, um, or hold

[07:32] a position. So, for example, if I had a

[07:33] problem bench pressing, [music] I'm

[07:35] going to probably use something pretty

[07:37] similar to a bench press, and just do an

[07:39] iso hold there, because that's the

[07:41] motion that's most sensitive, meaning

[07:43] that I know that that's probably the

[07:44] motion that that tendon is getting the

[07:46] most load. Let me show you what this

[07:48] looks like for each joint using

[07:50] exercises we actually just added to our

[07:52] fitness app. Starting with the shoulder.

[07:54] If chest pressing is what bothers you,

[07:56] set up a bench press, Smith machine, or

[07:58] chest press machine with enough weight

[08:00] so that you can push hard against it

[08:01] without the weight moving.

[08:05] Another option too is just using a

[08:06] lighter weight and holding it halfway

[08:08] through the rep. And if you're training

[08:10] at home, you can do the same thing with

[08:12] a push-up hold or by pushing hard

[08:13] against the wall. But pick one of these

[08:15] variations, hold the position for at

[08:17] least 30 seconds, and repeat that

[08:19] [music] for a total of three sets.

[08:21] Whereas if your shoulder mainly hurts

[08:23] during overhead presses, try these

[08:25] instead.

[08:26] And if it hurts during lateral raise

[08:28] movements, then try these. And before we

[08:30] move to the elbow, just keep in mind

[08:31] that while you should feel temporary

[08:33] pain relief right after you do these

[08:35] exercises, you might actually feel some

[08:37] pain as you're doing them. And that's

[08:39] perfectly fine, as long as the pain is

[08:41] not more than a three or four out of 10,

[08:43] and as long as it doesn't feel worse the

[08:45] next day. If it does, that's a sign you

[08:47] got to ease back by using less weight or

[08:49] just not pushing as hard. Now, as for

[08:51] your elbows, if it's mainly your biceps

[08:53] that hurt, pick whatever type of curl

[08:55] bothers you the most and hold the middle

[08:58] position of it with lighter weight. And

[08:59] do the same if it hurts during

[09:01] pull-downs or chin-ups. Whereas for

[09:02] triceps, [music] do these if it hurts

[09:04] during push-downs, and these if it hurts

[09:06] during overhead extensions. As for your

[09:08] knees, knee extension machine is

[09:10] probably just the most simple, uh most

[09:13] accessible. If you didn't have a

[09:14] machine, getting your toes to be the

[09:17] only thing that are on the floor and

[09:18] your back and your bum are now up

[09:20] against the wall and simply sliding down

[09:22] the wall with your back and and letting

[09:24] the knees come forward is also going to

[09:25] recreate a very similar knee extension

[09:28] type thing. So here is the full plan to

[09:30] completely heal and rebuild your tendons

[09:33] as fast as possible. First, pick one

[09:35] exercise based on what joint is

[09:37] bothering you and do three sets of it

[09:39] twice a day, [music] once in the morning

[09:40] and once in the evening. Your pain can

[09:42] go away in as quick as a week or two

[09:44] just from that. But to then fix the

[09:46] issue for good, Keith recommends [music]

[09:48] continuing to do your exercises three to

[09:50] four times a week for at least four to

[09:52] eight weeks.

[09:53] >> If they feel like, "Oh, yeah. Hey, it's

[09:55] better." and then they stop doing it,

[09:57] it's just going to come back. So, that's

[09:58] why the ones who really get rid of the

[10:00] pain permanently are the ones who can

[10:02] say, "This is something I want to keep

[10:03] going with." But again,

[10:05] >> don't stop there. If you want to keep

[10:06] your tendons healthy for good and

[10:07] prevent future injuries, you can spend 5

[10:10] to 10 minutes after your workouts to do

[10:12] these exercises or just allocate one day

[10:14] per week. But if you want a step-by-step

[10:16] plan that takes care of all that

[10:18] guesswork for you, we've actually added

[10:20] these tendon rehab exercises directly

[10:22] into our app along with joint-friendly

[10:24] exercise [music] alternatives based on

[10:26] the specific area that's bothering you.

[10:28] That way, you can continue training and

[10:30] continue building muscle while

[10:32] rebuilding your tendons at the same

[10:33] time. Now, the app also coaches you on

[10:35] your diet and you can try 2 weeks

[10:37] completely free by scanning this QR code

[10:40] or heading to buildwithscience.com. Give

[10:42] this video a watch next if you want to

[10:43] learn the fastest way to put on muscle.

[10:46] Thanks for watching and I'll see you

[10:47] next time.