Mixed
Short-term resistance training increases patellar tendon stiffness and Young's modulus, and these mechanical improvements correlate significantly with muscle hypertrophy (physiological cross-sectional area increase) but not with strength gains.
If you want to improve your tendon stiffness and material properties, focus on resistance training that builds muscle mass (hypertrophy), not just maximal strength. This study shows that tendon stiffness improvements are closely tied to how much muscle you grow (PCSA increase) during training, rather than how much weight you can lift. Therefore, hypertrophy-focused resistance training protocols are effective for enhancing tendon mechanical properties.
These data suggest that, following short-term resistance training, changes in tendon mechanical and material properties are more closely related to the overall loading history and that tendon hypertrophy is driven by other mechanisms than those eliciting tendon stiffening.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled trial design with rigorous MRI/ultrasound measurements and statistical correlation analysis.
Source
Training-induced changes in structural and mechanical properties of the patellar tendon are related to muscle hypertrophy but not to strength gains
Olivier Seynnes et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2009
DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00213.2009
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