It’s most certainly summer for many of you, summer days get longer and longer, nights out with the buddies become more frequent… The only thing missing in all of this is that full pump in the muscles during your workouts, right?

Training always focuses on our body’s motor development in each exercise, meaning that muscular/articular performance has a tendency to increase with training. Many people try out several variations, like the differences in range of motion to determine what the most efficient one is for the development of a certain muscle.

Should you primarily partial ranges of motion during a workout?

Probably not…

Today we know that full range of motion works/recruits more muscle fibers than partial range of motion. Even though partial ranges allow greater load, a full range ends up having greater benefits. So, full range of motion should be included in any exercise for better performance, but it might not be the answer you’re looking for. Bear with us.

Let’s imagine that you’re performing a flat bench press, there are certain portions of the movement where you feel greater resistance or difficulty, right? This is where partial movements can come into play.

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Using a partial range during some exercises to hit a certain portion of the muscle can be the secret to overcome weaknesses. Especially in portions of the movement where you’re weaker or less efficient in terms of muscular-articular motion.

So, the solution always comes back to science, finding the best tools for each task:

• A full range of motion leads to better results, both in strength and in muscular development. It should be included in any exercise.
• Partial ranges are good tools to work weak points in certain portions of the muscle.

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15320644

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22027847