While you want to train your muscles to get stronger you also have to factor in the range of motion (ROM) you will be using in a given exercise or movement. This is very important if you want your training to transfer over into your real life activities. Use full range of motion while performing your exercises or you may be headed for injury. Full range of motion exercises will also have you burn more fat and develop usable strength for daily life activities. Training your body with a smaller or limited range of motion may allow you to use more weight (thus look more impressive), but it will not help you prepare for the many tasks your body will encounter on a daily basis. It will also be downright dangerous for you when you really need them to perform in any full range movement since you may suffer injury while going into a weaker range. This is why I teach clients to use a full range of motion with all their exercises. We do take into account folks who may have limiting ROM factors such as a previous injury, structural discrepancies, or simply that you have not exercised before using a full range of motion. You are then micro-progressed from lighter to heavier loads until you can reach your body’s own natural range of motion safely. The one pet peeve of mine is a client who will try and sacrifice their form for the sake of weight or speed. The client that races through an exercise and tries to lift too much weight, or is determined to reach a repetition number at any cost, will always shorten their form and sacrifice the effects of the exercise. That means they will be wasting effort and time. Do yourself a favor and use full range of motion even if you have to cut back on the weight you use. Your strength will soon increase along the whole range in no time. Now, you will have a body that is prepared for activity no matter in what range you need to perform. Robert Garza is a certified personal trainer and owner of http://www.xpressworkouts.com, a fitness website where you can access numerous fat burning workouts that can be competed in 30 minutes or less. Source: www.ezinearticles.com |