range of motion

[levronefan]

i have a question regarding range of motion for certain exercises. i have seen clips of bodybuilders such as levrone, coleman, cutler, johnnie jackson, dennis james and a few others shorten up the range of motion a little.

bench press, they may touch and to 3/4 reps, or not touch and lockout
db bench, 3/4 reps with the dumbell

leg press, there legs bend 90 degrees and then press back up

shoulder press, chin level then press up

dips- 3/4 reps

squats- parallel then back up

pull ups, 3/4 reps

stiff deads, going down a little past knees then back up
there are a few more exercises that they do this and i know they arent the authority, they do know what they are doing to a certain extent.


my question is perhaps i missing something in my training? should i be shortening the range of motion up allowing me to use a little more weight and get more reps????? currently i do more of an extreme stretching for each of the exercises do the FULL range for all of my exercises.

what is your take on this??

[AzBboy]

Picture yourself benching. You lower it and touch your chest, now the bar is slightly resting on your chest, sparing your muscles from working to the fullest. Now imagine NOT touching the chest. See? Ok, now imagine yourself on a squat rep. You struggle, but finally lockout and your all good. But it's that second BEFORE the lockout that is the hardest part. Try NOT locking out, and going right into another rep. It's constant tension, much more intense.

[Songsangnim]

Picture yourself benching. You lower it and touch your chest, now the bar is slightly resting on your chest, sparing your muscles from working to the fullest. Now imagine NOT touching the chest. See? Ok, now imagine yourself on a squat rep. You struggle, but finally lockout and your all good. But it's that second BEFORE the lockout that is the hardest part. Try NOT locking out, and going right into another rep. It's constant tension, much more intense.

Um,no. The greater the range of motion, the harder it is to move. What those bodybuilders mentioned above are doing are partial reps. While partial reps have their place in training, a full ROM is generally the most beneficial way to train.

As for constant tension that is what you can do with a full ROM. Let's use your example of bench pressing. When the bar touches your chest that is all it should do, TOUCH your chest. You should not rest the bar on it, bounce off it or whatever. At most touching the chest that should take less than a pound off if that, and the difference in tension between touching it and not touching it is NOT important in the least.

.

[MixmasterNash]

It's a bad idea to base one's training on pro bbs, unless you're anywhere close to such a level. They have the time and energy to spend on "focusing" on parts of the ROM for certain motions. (Not to mention some of them are so muscular they have a naturally very limited ROM!)

You might as well use a full rom if you're only training a few hours a week.

[levronefan]

perhaps mixmaster nash cleared it up, they might just have a limited rom because they are so big

[1mmort4l]

Um,no. The greater the range of motion, the harder it is to move. What those bodybuilders mentioned above are doing are partial reps. While partial reps have their place in training, a full ROM is generally the most beneficial way to train.

As for constant tension that is what you can do with a full ROM. Let's use your example of bench pressing. When the bar touches your chest that is all it should do, TOUCH your chest. You should not rest the bar on it, bounce off it or whatever. At most touching the chest that should take less than a pound off if that, and the difference in tension between touching it and not touching it is NOT important in the least.

.

Yep, i agree with Song here..
Not to mention the fact that alot of BB videos that you will see, are the pros "pumping" themselves (by doing less ROM) up for a the camera, or a comp etc..