I’ve been running a PPL split for years now and I really enjoy the low-volume approach- usually sticking to about 12-15 total sets per session. The thing is, even though my muscles feel totally recovered and ready to go again every 3 or 4 days, my tendons just aren't keeping up with the frequency.
I’m constantly dealing with tennis elbow, tendonitis, or weird knee issues. Whenever I switch over to a standard "bro-split" where I only hit each part once a week, my strength goes up and my joints finally feel okay, but I end up feeling totally flat by the middle of the week.
Has anyone else noticed that their muscles seem to bounce back way faster than their tendons and ligaments when training with higher frequency? I'm curious if this is a common issue or if I just need to adjust something.
man i deal with this exact same thing. my chest and shoulders will feel 100% ready to go but my elbows are literally screaming at me the second i touch a barbell. i think the muscles just recover way faster because they have better blood flow or whatever. honestly the only thing that worked for me was adding more "prehab" stuff like facepulls and high rep curls to get blood into the joints.
literally me lol. i love the frequency of ppl but my knees just cant take the heavy squats twice a week anymore. have u tried a "middle ground" split? maybe like 4-5 days instead of 6? that extra rest day might be all your tendons need to catch up.
its definitely common man - tendons take way longer to adapt than muscle tissue does. if the bro split makes you feel flat maybe try a 4 day upper/lower split? u still hit everything more than once a week but u get way more total recovery time for the joints.
ive noticed that too... strength goes up on the bro split because ur actually recovered for once!! maybe try lowering the intensity on one of your ppl days? like do one heavy day and one "pump" day with higher reps so ur not crushing the joints every single time u step in the gym.
bro the tennis elbow is the worst. i started taking collagen and doing slow eccentrics and it helped a little bit but honestly sometimes u just gotta listen to your body and back off the frequency. getting old sucks if thats what this is haha.
