Guys, we could have been getting things unsuitable this whole time.
“Use full range of motion” has been a vital a part of perfecting exercise form without end. The thought process is that with a view to get the complete advantages of an exercise, this full range of motion would maximize the stress placed within the muscle which might equate to greater strength gains.
In actual fact, that is so ingrained in our heads that if someone doesn’t, you’ll be able to make sure they’ll be met with “half repper” or “I count 0 reps!” Well, this will not be true. In actual fact, there’s evidence that implies “half reps” could actually be getting a greater workout than those using full reps!
The Three Muscle Contractions
To know why partial reps may be awesome for muscle growth, we want to grasp the three several types of muscle contractions.
Your muscle is definitely composed of various different muscle fibers which might be packed together to generate force together. Each certainly one of these fibers consists of long strands of contractile units referred to as the sarcomere. Inside each sarcomere, there exist myofilaments that include thick filaments called myosin and thin filaments called actin.
These filaments lay on opposite sides of every sarcomere in order that they overlap one another. Now, imagine you’ve this setup multiplied by 1000’s, which is how muscle fiber looks.
When activated, these filaments can pull on one another, bringing the ends of the sarcomere closer and closer together. Ultimately, this and is referred to as concentric contraction (our first sort of contraction). On the bicep, this happens when the elbow flexes, while on the quadricep, it occurs during knee extension.
One other possibility is the filaments could . It will allow a muscle to hold a force yet not move; think in regards to the wall sit or a pause bench press (contraction #2).
Finally, the third muscle contraction! This happens when the filaments let go of one another and slide back to the ; this is named the eccentric contraction. Through the bicep curl, the arm is lower, and the elbow extends; during a leg extension, the leg comes down, and the knee flexes.
Because it seems, studies show that the eccentric contraction is capable of exert more force and is most accountable for muscle growth and increases in strength on account of the greater amount of tension.¹
Stretch Mediated Hypertrophy
At the identical time, we want to grasp one other phenomenon referred to as stretch-mediated hypertrophy.
Stretch-mediated hypertrophy refers to recent observations by which a muscle experiences greater muscle growth when it’s performed in a stretched position. For instance, deep chest flys which stretch out your pectorals, or chest muscles.
When a muscle is stretched, it creates , which triggers growth signals contained in the muscle cells. Stretching also prompts , that are mainly muscle stem cells. These cells multiply and fuse with existing muscle fibers, helping repair and grow muscles.
An important thing to be mindful is that when the muscle is in its lengthened state, it provides more stimuli for muscle growth. In theory, training a muscle on this lengthened state should produce more muscle growth.
The Research
Knowing the above, testing the idea can be pretty obvious. Have different groups of individuals perform an exercise yet only use different parts of the repetition. And this is strictly what researchers began to do.
So in a study from 2021, researchers had two groups of trainees. One group performed the underside portion of bicep curls (fully prolonged to 90-degrees) while the opposite only performed the highest portion (90-degrees to totally flexed).
At the top of the 5-week training program, the bottom-only portion group saw muscle growth of 8.9%, while the underside group only saw a rise of three.4%. That is 2.6x more growth!²
It’s possible you’ll be pondering, “Sure, but what about using the complete range of motion?”
Well, an identical finding was present in a study from 2022 using leg extensions! Nevertheless, on this study, the researchers also included a gaggle using full range of motion. Still, the !
To be clear, those only performing the lower portion group saw more growth than those performing the entire range of motion! As well as, all groups saw similar increases in strength.³
Applying To Your Program
Before you begin doing half-reps to your entire workout, we must always consider another variables.
The primary is that muscle growth is not the only variable we have to be concerned about. You furthermore may need to think about things like muscle strength, the fundamental function of a muscle, and the health of your tendons and ligaments.
While the study above did show similar strength increases, we want to think about those were done with isolations, and findings could also be different using compound lifts.
Secondly, there are other options to make use of. One thing we like is to perform an exercise with full range of motion until nearly failure. You might then perform the last reps only using the lower portion. Or, perform with a full range of motion after which a drop set with the lower portion. You get the concept.
The opposite option is to make use of this information to your exercise selections. If we all know that the lengthened position ends in greater muscle growth, you might use exercises that stretch the muscle before hitting your compound lifts.
Research has shown that using lying leg curls as an alternative of seated leg curls is best for hamstring development because the lying position stretches the muscle more.⁴ As well as, overhead triceps extensions have been found to be superior to triceps pushdown for tricep growth.⁵
Being more specific along with your exercise selection could also get you the rise in growth while still using full range of motion.
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