This post was inspired by visits to a number of normal gyms and watching people train. You know you all do, well personal trainers do it more. It is fascinating to watch the various exercises and techniques on display.
However, there is one frequently occuring technical “error” and that is one of partial range of motion.
Those of you who attend or have attended Bootcamp will testify to the importance the trainers place in full range of motion when executing exercises, particularly the squat. Generally speaking when an exercise is performed to the maximum permissable range of motion the more beneficial it is; more muscles are employed and therefore the greater the gains in strength and work rate.
All too frequently you will see in the gym people doing partial pull ups, bicep curls with too much weight and an arm that never straightens (in fact some times the arm actually doesn’t change at all and all that happens is the hips swing back and forth).
Now before some experts jump in I will say that there are times when partial range of motion is acceptable. It can be used as an advanced weight training technique to focus on a weak part of your lift (i.e. the very top of a bench press) or partials can be used to train with injury where a full range of motion might aggravate the joint. However, by and large partials are simply a sign of poor technique and dare I say it laziness???
If you have made all the effort to get to the gym then execute each exercise with as full a range of motion as possible. If you do a bench press or press up then lower the weight all the way to your chest (or touch your chest on the floor when doing a press up) if you are doing a squat then make sure your butt is at least as low as your knees, if you are doing bicep curls then straighten the arm and fully curl the arm, if you are doing pull-ups then make sure the arms are straight at the bottom and then chin is above the bar.
You may find you use less weight than you did before but you will find improvements come quickly. Quality is far more important than quantity when it comes to exercise technique.
Have a good weekend.
You get the idea.
