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Nov 7

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Full-range of motion exercises are critical for strength and performance gains, but partial-range of motion lifts also have an essential time and place. In general, full-range of motion lifts will lead to greater strength and hypertrophy gains, while partial-range exercises are great for overcoming plateaus and sports-specific training. Also partial-range training isn’t as “functional” for the recreational trainee. For more advanced lifters, partial-range training can allow you to work on a sticking point in the lift, and isometric pauses in an advantageous position can help you overcome plateaus. A new study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning provides further guidance for programming range of motion.

The study used men with no resistance training experience and split them into a control group, a partial-range group, and a full-range group. The participants trained twice a week for ten weeks using a periodized program that increased weight and decreased reps every two weeks. The exercise performed was the preacher curl and the full-range group performed curls from 0° to 130° , whereas the partial-range group did the curls from 50°  to 100° . Researchers tested 1 RM for the full range to measure strength gains, and measured muscle thickness to test for hypertrophy, before and after the ten weeks.

 

Both the full- and partial-range groups increased strength at the full-range 1RM test, and the full-range group increased significantly more with an average 25.7 percent gain in flexion strength. The partial-range group increased strength by 16 percent over starting values, an improvement that was considered “small.” Hypertrophy was significant for both training groups, and increase in muscle size was slightly greater for the full-range training group than the partial-range group (full-range increased muscle size by 9.52 percent compared to 7.37 percent increase in the partial-range group).

 

For untrained individuals or those whose main goal is functional strength in everyday life, researchers conclude full-range training is superior. They note that the 50°  to 100° training angle is the mid-range, which allows more muscle fiber cross-bridges to be made than if the partial-range had been near the beginning or end of the full range of motion. More cross-bridging allowed greater muscle stimulus leading to almost comparable hypertrophy in the partial-range group as the full-range group.

Another variable that should be noted is that this was a single joint exercise, meaning that it may not apply to multijoint lifts such as the bench or squat because at any given joint angle, some muscles may be producing the maximal force due to optimal cross-bridging, while others are exerting less than peak force, resulting in distinct hypertrophy gains.

 

As I’ve written about in previous tips, full-range squatting for transfer to athletic performance is essential because full squats will develop the vastus medialis muscle (VMO). If you want to run fast and jump high, you need to train that muscle effectively because the stronger your VMOs are, the less time it takes you to switch from the eccentric to the concentric phases of both sprinting and jumping forms of exercises. This translates into spending less time on the ground when you perform those sporting tasks.

 

Another benefit of full squats is that they provide more stretch for the hip rotators and adductors than half-squats, helping athletes dramatically in sporting tasks like cutting or turning. Recreational trainees will also benefit from full-range flexibility since flexibility is often a limiting factor in exercise technique.

Vladimir Zatsiorsky, one of the leading strength coaches ever, notes in “Science and Practice of Strength Training” that naturally you have to program based on what types of movements are required of an athlete or trainee. For example, in the case of squatting, he suggests elite volleyball players can benefit from semisquats because they almost never jump for height from a deep squatting position. Rather, they use a quick countermovement jump when going to spike the ball. Also, training a partial squat will allow volleyball players to lift more weight because it allows peak effort to be applied when the individual is strongest—when maximal number of muscle fiber cross-bridges are being made. In comparison, a ski jumper will need maximal full-range squatting strength and flexibility because of the need to perform takeoffs from a deep squat position. To read more about when and how to use partial-range lift, check out my article Powerful Results with Partial Training.

 

References:

Ronei, P., Gomes, N., et al. Effect of Range of Motion on Muscle Strength and Thickness. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. October 2011. Published Ahead of Print.

 

Zatsiorsky, V. Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaigne, IL: Human Kinetics. 1995.
 

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