How to Bulletproof Your Body from Pain and Injury: Progressive Overload, Tissue Resiliency, Consistency

This is Andrew today with my thoughts around a common topic:

Do you want to bulletproof your body from injury? How can you?

Well, unfortunately, we can never be immune to injury. However, there is a ton that we can do to help us become less likely to get injured. Doing this work will also help us overcome injury when the inevitable does occur.

This is called increasing tissue resiliency, and it is the key to reducing injuries.

“Use it or Lose it”

The above phrase is very fitting for the body. Our body constantly tries to figure out how to be the most efficient machine possible. 

Whenever we do a specific set of movements, our body will help us become more efficient with that movement by increasing muscle mass, improving bone density, adding tissue to make our ligaments stronger, etc. The result is that we get stronger and are more resilient to injury.

When we DON’T do any movement (sitting and resting for most of the day for weeks, months, or years), our body notices that we aren’t using any of those energy-expending tissues. It decided we could preserve energy by decreasing the density of muscle, bone, tendon, and ligamentous tissue. Why spend resources on tissues that aren’t being used? The result is that our body gets weaker and more prone to injury.

This is why it is very important to move however we can, even in the presence of pain. Moving with some pain and discomfort is to be expected when recovering from an acute or chronic injury. Ensuring we are still moving tells our body that we need to use those joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones and will thus make sure to keep spending energy to preserve them.

How do you make your tissues more resilient to injury when you are overcoming a current injury?

Progressive Overload

The best way to make our tissues more resilient is to start small and work our way up in weights, reps, sets, and intensity over a long period of time.

The term progressive overload refers to making movements and exercises more difficult over months and years, not days and weeks.

By progressing an exercise slowly, we allow our body time to actually make our muscles, bones, ligaments, cartilage, and tendons stronger.

As much as we might want things to occur in 2 business days (Amazon!), our body responds slowly to changes and adaptations.

How We Create Tissue

“Tissue” is a term used to describe everything that we are made of. Our blood, bones, skin, eyes, muscles, and organs are all made of different kinds of tissue. Our tissue responds to the different kinds of forces applied to it.

Amazingly, our body has the capability to not only increase tissue density in an area of the body, it can literally change one kind of tissue into another kind of tissue. 

Cue the ruptured ACL Knee surgery research!

People who have had ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery probably know the recovery is long - usually 6 months of work. However, the process needed to actually heal the knee is usually MUCH longer (2 years!) for people who had their ACL replaced by a tendon (hamstring or patellar). In these individuals, the tendonous tissue will morph and change into ligamentous tissue over a period of 2 years. How?

The forces are different inside the knee where the ligaments are vs. outside the knee where the tendons/muscles are. 

Due to the change in forces that this tissue was receiving, the body slowly changed that tissue into something else.

I am sharing this to demonstrate how long it takes for the body to adapt and change to the forces you apply to it.

Consistency Wins

We must progressively load our tissues from the most basic, unweighted movements all the way up to the most complex, difficult, and heavy movements over a period of years and decades.

Because this process takes so long, people often fail to make their bodies stronger and more resilient. People rely too heavily on “motivation” to help them get what they want. However, motivation is fleeting and unreliable. 

Rather than trying to get “motivated” to make a change, just be consistent. Do 5-10 minutes of work every day for your body, and your body will grow and change over the years. The small amount of effort you put in each day will pay dividends when done for many months and years. 

Not sure where to begin? 

There are many ways to build our bodies up to overcome pain and become resilient to future injuries and pains. We are biased and know that our programs will help guide you on that path to help facilitate tissue growth throughout every joint in your body. All it takes is consistency and you will reap the rewards.

It's never too late to get started on your own journey. Checkout our programs that have helped over 22,000 people worldwide overcome their persistent pain below.