Tendon Loading

Who it’s for

A nagging tendon — Achilles, patellar, elbow — without acute injury.

How it works

Key feature: collagen synthesis saturates after about ten minutes of loading, after which cells stop responding and need a 6–8 hour break. That is why this program uses short sessions twice a day rather than one long workout. Loading is moderate — up to half of max effort, with 10–30 second holds.

Weekly layout

How load increases

Isometrics for pain relief: 5 holds of 45 seconds at roughly 70% effort — in research, this reduced pain from 7 to 0 out of 10 for at least 45 minutes. Then progress to slow heavy loading: it yields the same results as traditional eccentric schemes, but people actually stick with it — 92% adherence vs 78%.

Deload

Not required: loading is inherently below the fatigue threshold.