What rep range is good for strengthening the tendons and ligaments? I always hear either partials or higher reps which are basically opposite.
When people are starting out it is generally suggested they tend towards lighter weights… or higher rep ranges.
Tendons and so forth do not have the same direct blood supply and ability to adapt as do muscles. Given them a bit of time to get used to “real work”, especially if you’ve been living fairly sedentary, is a good idea.
There are 2 variables which describe the stress on the tendons : weight and leverage.
So the reason why “high reps” (-> low weight) and “partials” (-> high weight) seem to contradict each other is because in a restricted ROM, you often create advantageous leverage situations, which means less stress on the tendons.
Also, their adaption process is much slower (takes about 3-4x longer than muscular adaption)