[sawmurai]

> It seems like any time I put more load on my body than it experiences through normal day to day life, it just slowly accumulates damage quicker than it can heal.

That is the case if you don't give your body enough resources (food, rest) to recover from training. Your tendon problem reminds me of my own tendons :) They just need more time to recover and adapt and are the first thing to "break". For my wife its the opposite. Never ever has she had any problems with her tendons, but other things in her legs give her regular trouble. The muscle is really the most forgiving part of the machinery.

And it does not matter if others have no problems with the same stuff that you do. People are horribly different and the majority of the result is predetermined by genetics. You can't even out-PED genetics.

Source: We have both been competing in powerlifting on the national level (ok, Switzerland is small and everyone competes on the national level) for a couple of years now