What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Today we’re going to talk about partial range of motion versus full range of motion.
Which one is better?
I’m going to tell you right off the bat, guys, you’re going to say, “As a physical
therapist I know Jeff’s answer.
He always wants full range of motion.”
But you’re going to be surprised here because the fact of the matter is, we have to make
one very important distinction right off that bat.
That is, are we talking about a joint, or are we talking about an exercise?
Let me give you an example.
A bench-press.
We know that the full range of motion on a bench-press should look like this.
We should have the bar fully extended out over our chest, we should lower the bar down,
touch the chest, and then push that bar back up overhead to full extension.
That is full range of motion on the bench-press.
However, is that full range of motion for the chest?
The answer is, no.
We know that the chest muscles attach to our arm here, which means it crosses the shoulder
joint, and it can do more than just this.
It can take our arm across our body.
Something I’ve talked about a lot on this channel, which is full adduction.
That is full joint range of motion for the chest, but it’s not being explored here
on full range of motion of an exercise.
Now, there are instances where the two will match up.
Like on a bicep curl.
We take our elbow, we know that it can fully extend, and we know that the elbow can fully
flex.
So, we do that on every repetition of a curl.
So sometimes they overlap, but if you don’t make that distinction you could wind up leaving
a lot on the table, in terms of your training and the effect that you’re after in your
training.
In this case, I will say right off the bat there are some very good applications and
reasons why you should be doing partial range of motion.
Here’s one of those examples.
If I’m training for hypertrophy, I know there’s one thing that can really, really
help me in my pursuit of that.
Especially if I’ve run up against the wall, in terms of progressive overload, or I don’t
want to incur the effects of soreness from eccentric overload.
That is exploring metabolic training.
We know that metabolic training is something that requires a lot of fortitude, number one,
the ability to withstand that burn as I go rep, after rep, after rep.
But we can do that even more effectively when we shorten the range of motion on particular
exercises.
When we take an exercise back like the curl, if I were to drop off most of the range of
motion there, keeping it in the top 30 degrees, what I’ve done is shifted most of the focus
of that exercise into the contracted position.
In here as well, I’ve also created a bit of an inclusion effect.
I’m not allowing that blood to escape that muscle.
I’m in that contracted range and I’m repetitively exploring that range without ever going into
full extension at that joint.
So, I get more of this metabolic buildup.
It becomes a lot harder to resist that burn.
It becomes even more effective if I can resist that burn.
It becomes a great exercise for creating hypertrophy.
We can do it on other exercises as well.
We can do it on a side lateral raise.
I get the elbow up to the side here and I don’t go all the way down.
I keep it to that upper portion.
The same thing could be done here with a crossover, which is great because it’s filling in the
gaps of what was missing, in terms of that joint range of motion for the chest crossing
the shoulder on a bench-press.
But what’s in common with all these is that these are single joint exercises.
The application of this shortened range of motion, or partial range of motion, is great
here when we talk about these single joint exercises because I can really focus on obtaining
that burn and keeping that burn going.
Why wouldn’t we want to do that in other places?
I’ll talk about that in a second, how compound lifts wouldn’t really fit that mode and
why we wouldn’t want to do that.
But I’ll give you another application here.
Anybody ever have to recover from an injury?
Partial range of motion is a godsend for getting through that.
How do we do that?
Well, let’s pretend you can’t get your arm overhead for whatever reason.
Rotator cuff issue.
Labrum issue.
Would you want to forego all overhead activities?
Would you want to never try and lift your arm up overhead until you were fully recovered?
No.
That would be a major mistake.
You could go into a different movement pattern.
You could take a high to low row and what I’m getting is cutting the distance in half
with my overhead needs.
Instead of having to get all the way overhead I could be out here at 45 degrees.
And what’s more important is that I’m rowing down and extending up the front of
me.
I’m getting motion in this joint.
I’m allowing the synovial fluid to bathe this joint to bring blood to the joint, to
enhance, and speed up recovery.
So, we know that employing partial range of motion, in terms of getting back from an injury,
is a crucial aspect of not having to avoid training altogether.
But I mentioned the compound lifts.
I mentioned the full range of motion.
This is where I like to use it.
Why?
Because it’s really important to achieve what we’re trying to achieve, I think, with
the bigger compound lifts.
That is stacking joints and letting them work together.
Take, for example, the squat.
If I were to do a quarter squat is there any real benefit to that?
You should probably know the answer is ‘no’, but why?
That’s what’s more important.
What’s going on here at the ankle in a quarter squat?
Really, nothing.
That’s the problem.
If you want more dorsiflexion, we’re going to have to get down lower.
What about the knee?
Are we getting anywhere near the flexion that we need in our knee to realize our full knee
flexion and range of motion?
No, because we’re not getting down low enough.
And it goes down the chain, guys.
It goes into your hips.
It goes into your thoracic spine.
In order to get this to operate correctly and get those joints to operate together correctly
we need to explore full range of motion.
This is where it’s best.
This is where allowing all those muscles that cross those joints to work together in one,
coordinated effort.
This is what’s functional.
This is what’s necessary.
We want to make sure we do that.
So, when we’re training for strength on these big compound lifts, full range of motion
is where you want to be.
99% of the time because there’s always that 1%.
What is that 1%?
Well, if you get to the point where you’re becoming competitive like a power lifter,
and you’re utilizing the bench-press as one of your examples here, of where you want
to excel, you might use partial range of motion.
Why?
We’ve had one of our very own in this gym here, Casey Mitchell, an incredibly accomplished
power lift who uses his accessory lifts.
Namely, the floor press as a way to enhance his bench-press.
How is that possible?
Because he knows the lockout portion is difficult.
The lockout requires more tricep contribution.
If he feels he’s lacking there and it’s hindering his ability to do the press as a
whole, utilizing partial range of motion floor press is going to help him build up his strength
which will help him carry over when he goes back to the full bench-press.
That’s exactly what he said.
He spends more time on his accessory lifts than he does on his regular compound lifts
because he knows how important they are.
Anyone who would discount this and call themselves a strength coach doesn’t understand it.
They don’t.
We know range of motion and the value of range of motion at a joint and how it contributes
to an exercise.
So, what I’m telling you guys is you need t make sure you have your mind open to both.
Know when you want to use full range of motion.
Know when you might need to explore partial range of motion.
Know that not one of them is exclusively great and the other one bad, or something to avoid.
I hope this video opened your eyes to that.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for programs that understand this and realize that there
is going to be a need for both, putting them together does require a scientific approach,
and that’s what we always try to do on this channel.
That’s why I take all the time to explain it to you guys, so you understand why we do
what we do.
Not just saying ‘do this’.
Those programs are all available at ATHLEANX.com.
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below.
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All right, guys.
I’ll see you again soon.