Chitat, you are right. I was at his 70th Bday party. He is 72-73 now. Some guys say he is older, but we can stick with his biography. Grumpy Gorilla, tendons make all the difference in the world for strenth. The transfer all that energy from the muscle contraction and make it work. I have been lifting for 35 years, competing for 34. How many skinny deadlifters have you seen put up big iron? The size of the muscle has a lot less to do with strength than people realize. Judo Gene was tested because of his Gorilla strength. They determined he has double tendons. Arm wrestle a competitive tennis player sometime. No technique, no arm size, but they will absolutely surprise you with their grip and arm power. All tendons.
Some people have more tendon fibers, just like muscle fibers. Some people (rarely) have them throughout their whole skeletal system. Some just at their knee joints, ankles, where the condition is found more. When you see extreme displays of strength, Olympic weightlifting, strongman, powerlifting, gymnastics, etc... all these folks have much higher than average tendon strength. Some built by training, most often it is hereditary just like the ability to build 20" arms without steroids. Gene Lebell always had that monster grip. He just grabbed people and pulled them into whatever choke, throw, or finishing move he wanted. Basically he was so much stronger naturally than his opponents, that to him it probably felt like he was rolling with his kid brother.
GrumpyGorilla is correct about the strength or size of a tendon having nothing to do with increasing strength. Tendons do not have the ability to contract, therefore they have nothing to do with generating force. A weaker or smaller tendon may be easier to tear, but the tendon size has nothing to do with contractile force production.
Best in Health and Training, J. R.
Seagal kicks ass in the buffet lines.
ill kill segal at a taco buffet
Seagal will get his ass kicked if he ever shows up to my buffet line..... :-)
Please leave Steven alone. He is the best martial artist of our time and has wonderful hair.
not to meantion how good he smells...mmmmm.... old spice.
GO TIME, seriously how do you think Bruce Lee would do against today's best MMA fighters? I think he would not be as competetive as today's top MMA fighters.
I heard he liked to take the best from diff arts and use that instead of just one pure art, but I think he wouldn't do too well.
I had a friend once tell me that no MMA fighter could beat him because when an MMA fighter tried to shoot on him, he would kick him in the face and knock him out.....LOL. That was funny. How many times have we seen great MMA strikers try to do that effectively? Maybe 5% of the time?
Grumpy Gorilla you are right about the slow and quick twitch fibers. Naturally a weightlifter has more rigid tendons. Both you and JRS Fitness should do a little tendon 101 on a basic google search on tendons, if you are training anybody. This was a thread about Segal, and I just threw my two cents in about him being a phony and Gene LeBell kicking his ass. I have managed and owned a few gyms in my day, and trained people for all kinds of sports. I grew up with people who became world champions in powerlifting, boxing, and wrestling and have trained and worked with athletes based on those experiences. I could copy and paste about 12 different sites on tendons just on a two page google search. You guys might want to take a peek. If you want to go further, I can get you in touch with one of my best buddies, Rickey Dale Crain, or the man himself, Louie Simmons.
As far as armwrestling I trained Trent Meyer who is a multiple world champion at left handed heavyweight, and took 3rd right handed, and has under a 17" arm.
Breznk's arm is about 17" too. Gary Goodridges 21" did not work too well for him.