One of the biggest mistakes I see at gyms is people coming in with egos that are bigger than the weights they can lift. For some reason, especially with guys, there is this idea that lifting heavier weights than the person next to them means that they are doing a better workout. What happens? You get Captain Singapore doing super-fast, half rep bench presses because the weight is too heavy to perform the exercise properly. There is also greater potential for injury and form becomes the last priority.
In 90% of cases* if you want to get the most out of your workouts you want to be able to perform the exercises with full range of motion, unless you have significant mobility issues or an injury. Yes, this means doing squats ass to grass and bench presses down to your chest. It will also mean that you may need to make the weight lighter so you can lift the weight during the difficult parts of the exercise. So if you’re currently doing 100kg quarter rep bench presses and you find that you have to drop the weight to 70kg to do full reps, this is OKAY. At least you are doing the reps properly.
So why is full range of motion so important? The short answer: you get better strength gains, you can prevent injuries, you get better muscle growth and you burn more fat.
The problem with incorrectly performing partial reps is that over time you are training your muscles to get strong at one part of the movement, whilst remaining weak at the other part of the movement. There’s no point in being strong at the top quarter range of a squat if you can’t even lift an empty bar from a full squat position. If you want to be strong at a lift, you should be strong throughout the entire range of the lift. Strength imbalances within your muscles are also the cause of many joint injuries because the weaker muscles cannot counter the activity of the stronger muscles on your joints.
Performing full range of motion can also help you grow more muscle and burn more fat because it forces you to recruit more muscle fibres. If you think about it a full range bench press uses more of your pecs than a half range bench press.Recruiting more of your muscles will result in more “complete” training of the muscle which equates to a more developed, fuller look and better hypertrophy of the muscle. Furthermore, because you are recruiting more muscle fibres you will burn more calories during your workout which can help you burn more fat.
As a final note, if you walk into the gym with your ego leading the way the chances are you won’t be training as effectively as you could be. Don’t get me wrong, if you have a massive ego and can squat 200kg ass to grass with great form, then good for you, but you’re the exception, not the rule. For the average gym goer who is looking to lose some fat or put on some muscle then it’s more important to actually do the exercises properly than it is to impress the ah beng next to you by lifting heavy weights with bad form.
Thank you for reading!
Patrick Hammes, ASP Coach
http://trainasp.com.au
*Partial reps can still be beneficial in some programing, but that’s a post for another day.
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