The Differences Between Muscle and Soft Tissue
You start working out.
You see progress, you’re motivated, everything seems to get going swell. Then, your knees start hurting, and your hips, and your back, and now working out becomes a chore, and is actually subtracting from your life as opposed to adding to it.
So let’s fix that.
It basically comes down to being strong, AND being safe.
When we work out, our muscles are stressed, they adapt, get stronger, etc… That’s a pretty well known phenomena.
What most people know less about, is how this stress effects your “soft tissue”. This is the tissue around the muscle like tendons and ligaments that help provide stability to your muscles.
What we have to understand is that muscle adapts faster than soft tissue.
When we don't take this into account and the strength of our tissue falls behind, we get aches and pains like tendonitis because it is not strong enough to provide the stability your muscles need.
We all know that aches and pains are a natural byproduct of working hard, but there is a reality where you can be pain free.
The most effective place to start, is “Slow down, fast up.”
Meaning the negative portion of each exercise should be slower than the work you do.
For example, in a squat, bench, or deadlift, you should be literally slower on the way down, and faster on the way up.
The same applies to Curls, to pull-ups, to pushups, Lunges, Step-ups, etc…
If you cannot control you body slowly down, you either need more technical work on how you move, or you are doing too much weight.
Our soft tissue loves “time under tension”.
The longer you spend doing an exercise, the more your tendons will like you. Slow it down, spend more “time” performing an exercise regardless of weight or reps.
There is a reason why jumping up and slowly lowering yourself in a pull-up is so good for building strength. Pull-ups are hard as hell, so working the system in a healthy way that challenges you without unnecessary stress will always be best.
Most of us aren’t getting paid to work out.
Time is the key. Help your body help you.