one of the most popular, faulty and harmful myths espoused in nearly every muscle building program is that you should use a full range of motion on every exercise in purchase to achieve maximal growth. Supposedly you have to take each movement to the fully stretched position and then finish in the fully “peak” contracted position. If you don’t you will never get huge… or so they say.Without getting all technical and scientific let’s just look at a few real world examples to see if this guidance makes any sense at all.
Starting from the ground up let’s begin with calves. All fat men have big calves. They walk around all day with a lot of weigh on their calves but never once achieve a full stretch or contraction. It’s simply high loads, tension, volume and frequency. The same can be said for a lot of runners and bikers. and when the Olympics start today you will certainly be awestruck by the calf development of the female gymnasts, who do spend a lot of time in the fully contracted position while walking on their toes but no time in the fully stretched position.
And speaking of the Olympics, not only will you notice that numerous 15 year old female gymnasts (with minimal testosterone levels) have calves bigger than the average man but they also have thighs bigger than a lot of men who spend several hours per month on the leg press. Yet, very rarely in their gymnastics training do they achieve a full squat position. There is actually very little, if any, full range of motion training done for their thighs, but they all have completely jacked legs.
Baseball players, rock climbers, mechanics and other manual laborers have huge, muscular forearms. but do you think that development is brought about by these men consciously trying to achieve a full stretch and contraction throughout their game or work day? Of course not.
Powerlifters have huge legs yet only squat to parallel many of the time. Not a full range of motion movement. They also have huge traps which are mostly due to a lot of heavy deadlifts. There is NO range of motion for the traps on a deadlift. They contract, but don’t actively relocation from a full stretch position to the top contraction position.
Not only is the deadlift the best trap building exercise there is, it’s also probably the best overall mass building exercise there is for the entire body. It has been heralded as such because the beginning of time from men like Paul Anderson to Arnold to Ronnie Coleman. but name me one muscle group that is taken through a full range of motion on the deadlift. There is not a one!
So how can some experts espouse the value of full range of motion training while at the same time noting the deadlift as one of the top exercises in any muscle building program? Ditto for the clean, clean and press, snatch, jerk, etc.
Not only is this myth incorrect but it can also be harmful guidance to adhere to. Achieving a full range of motion for the pecs would entail bringing your arms all the way behind your back to start the exercise and then crossing them all the way across your body in the front. first of all, that would destroy your shoulder. second of all, it’s impossible and impractical.
Some men try to really opt for the deep stretch on dumbbell presses and allow their elbows to drop way below the bench. Others drop down into the deepest stretch possible on the dip bars. They have been led to believe that this extreme, loaded pre-stretch is needed for maximal muscle growth. The truth is that they will probably be seeing an orthopedic surgeon long before they get mistaken for Mr. Olympia.
Leg Camiseta Leicester City presses are another exercise where men typically push the stretch position way too far. If you bury your knees in your chest on a leg Camiseta Corinthians Paulista press, like numerous bodybuilders and coaches recommend, and allow your spine to round and your butt to come up off the pad you will certainly have back problems that may afflict you for quite some time.
Not only is going into the fully stretched position not recommended, but a lot of exercises have no tension whatsoever in the fully contracted position, which for that reason makes that recommendation somewhat useless as well. If you want to target your chest and shoulders and not your triceps, many pressing movements ought to actually be done with a partial range of motion; stopping a few inches shy of lockout. A ¾ range of motion there is much more useful than a full range. think Lou Ferrigno doing military presses in Pumping Iron.
There are various other exercises where partial ranges of motion are far much more effective and safer than full range movements. However, covering them all is beyond the scope of this article.
But hopefully by now you realize what a outrageous recommendation this full range of motion nonsense really is and will stop following it blindly without rational thought as soon as possible.
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________________________________________________________________Jason Ferruggia is a world well-known fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including much more than 500 athletes from over 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of articles for various top rated training magazines and sites and has authored four fitness books. He is also the head training adviser for Men’s fitness magazine Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Serbia where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For much more great muscle building information, please visit www.musclegainingsecrets.com