Should You Always Use Full ROM?

[Jungledoc]

This is on Jason Ferruggia's blog. In it he discusses the situations in which he feels one should not use full ROM. There's a part 2 to come.

http://jasonferruggia.com/should-you-al ... of-motion/

What do you all think?

[Dub]

True. Nothing is black or white, especially in the fitness industry. It's quite obvious to me that for some people full ROM migth be too much of an injury risk. I can't really say that bench doesn't hurt your shoulders. Hell, it hasn't hurt mine, but I know many (some powerlifters) that can't do competive benching anymore because their shoulders are such train wrecks.

And for hypertrophy, many partial ROM exercises can be very beneficial.

[hoosegow]

Rack pulls, boards, etc are designed to limit full ROM.

[JasonJones]

Outside of a single-joint exercise it's almost impossible to define what full ROM even means. Deadlifts are from the floor at the height of 1/2 of the diameter of a 45lb plate because tradition. Squats below parallel on a short legged and long torso'd individual are radically different from a person with legs in different area codes with only six vertebrae like a crazy human spider. As Hoose sagely pointed out, tons of exercises are just versions of other exercises with shorter ROMs.

"Lifting with full ROM" is just one of those soundbytes like "squat like a baby*" or "eat like a caveman*" that sound wise but don't actually hold up under anything more than cursory scrutiny.

_____________
*giant head, way more bones, also gluts frequently supported by poopie pants
*cavemen didn't have broccoli or avocados or bananas, we invented that business son, poor guys didnt even have bacon

[Matt Z]

My general rule of thumb is to use a full ROM whenever possible. Otherwise, go as close as you can comfortably go, and, if possible, work on gradually improving ROM.

Lifts like rack pulls and board presses are obvious exceptions.

[KenDowns]

Deficit deads are extra ROM.

Just sayin.

[Matt Z]

"Deficit deads are extra ROM." - KenDowns

So are Romanian Deadlifts in a sense. By keeping the knees nearly straight, you increase ROM at the hip, even though you stop short of touching the floor.

[hoosegow]

And cambered bar bench