3 Reasons You Must Train With Full Range Of Motion
Want to know the magic pill for maximising muscle growth, easing joint pain, and minimising the risk of future injury?
It might sound too good to be true, but the secret to achieving this could be simpler than you think.
Spoiler: There is no magic pill.
Range of motion and strength training through its full capacity could be the missing link in your training.
What is ROM?
Definition: Range of motion (ROM) is the degree of movement a joint or body part can make, from full extension to full flexion. It’s a measure of flexibility involving muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, and joints.
To understand what full range of motion looks like, it helps to first know what it doesn’t look like. Nearly every gym has that one member (usually a guy) who loads way too much weight on the bar or grabs the heaviest dumbbells, performs a set of whatever exercise they choose, screams obnoxiously loud, and finishes with 5-6 half reps. That right there—the half-rep part—is an example of poor range of motion.
Poor range of motion is usually caused by lifting loads that are too heavy, ego getting in the way, or simply a lack of education on the importance of full range of motion. That’s what I hope this post helps with.
Benefits of training with full range of motion
Below are three key benefits of full ROM training and what you might be missing out on:
1) Increased muscle strength
Muscle strength is one of the key factors for performance and health. The stronger a muscle is, the more capable it is of producing and resisting force. A stronger muscle also has a lower chance of becoming damaged, reducing the risk of injury.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Scandinavian Journal of Health and Medicine examined 16 studies and found that full ROM training produced significantly greater adaptations in muscle strength compared to partial ROM. This isn’t surprising, as it’s well known that muscles are weakest when fully stretched. Strength training at full ROM requires the muscle to produce force at its weakest point, eventually leading to adaptation and growth.
2) Better movement capacity
The greatest mobility exercise I have seen work with clients and myself involves loading a muscle in all planes of motion through its full range. Having the ability to control load through three planes of motion and produce strength at end range gives our neuron’s the trust that, if we need to reach the end range in everyday life (which happens more often than you think), our body is capable of doing so. This wouldn’t be possible without full range of motion. If we consistently trained through shorter ranges or performed “half reps,” we wouldn’t expose our muscles to their weakest states. This lack of exposure prevents the brain from trusting those end ranges, resulting in a much smaller circle of possible movement capacity.
3) Reducing risk of injury
Training with partial ROM and weights that are too heavy places unnecessary mechanical stress on the joints. It also fails to strengthen the muscle at its full length, missing an opportunity to create adaptations at its weakest point.
Full ROM training, on the other hand, allows you to get greater adaptations while using lower weights. This is a win-win: the reduced load decreases stress on the joints, minimising the risk of overuse injuries, while still delivering the strength benefits of full ROM training mentioned in point 1.