Why do advanced trainees use short ROMs? Is there a specific mechanism in the body that contributes to muscle growth with short rom’s after you have acquired a certain amount of muscle?
[quote]jimmyjames66 wrote:
Why do advanced trainees use short ROMs? Is there a specific mechanism in the body that contributes to muscle growth with short rom’s after you have acquired a certain amount of muscle?[/quote]
Not all advanced trainees use short ROMs. maybe a lot of juiced up bodybuilders you’ve seen in videos do.
It’s all about mind-muscle connection.
I gained tons in my shoulder and tris by using a shorter range of motion powerlifting-style bench press.
I think it was because i increased my bench by about 50 lbs but then again, its kinda weird now that i think about it. i mean u would think that a larger rom matters in this situation, but obviously it doesn’t. i say just get stronger and ur gains will come.
[quote]jimmyjames66 wrote:
Why do advanced trainees use short ROMs? Is there a specific mechanism in the body that contributes to muscle growth with short rom’s after you have acquired a certain amount of muscle?[/quote]
Power Factor Training, anyone? muahaha…
Short ROM, or “partial training” can be an effective tool if used correctly.
They are sometimes used to build strength in certain weak points of exercises.
If you’ve worked with heavy partials in your strong ROM, it definitely helps psychologically, too, if you’re going for a 1RM on a given exercise. You’re not as intimidated holding onto a certain weight because, fuck, you’ve held heavier before.
They can also be used to load a target muscle more effectively (e.g., rack lockouts for triceps).
There’s a very interesting thread over at the HST board where one of the members discusses some benefits of partial rep training (amongst many other things)…do a search there for a thread titled ‘Customizing HST’.
[quote]Brendan Ryan wrote:
jimmyjames66 wrote:
Why do advanced trainees use short ROMs? Is there a specific mechanism in the body that contributes to muscle growth with short rom’s after you have acquired a certain amount of muscle?
Not all advanced trainees use short ROMs. maybe a lot of juiced up bodybuilders you’ve seen in videos do.
It’s all about mind-muscle connection.
[/quote]
huh? that makes no sense. some people use shortened ROMs, both newbies and advanced trainees. some people know what they’re doing, some people don’t.
and what are you talking about regarding the ‘mind-muscle connection’? what does that have to do with the OP’s question?
if you know what you’re doing and know how to design a program addressing your current objectives, current strengths, and current opportunities for growth , then you can incorporate shortened ROM exercises properly.
a good use for sortened ROM exercises is to add extra volume to specific muscles involved within exercises without adding the same extra strain to other muscles.
i.e., although doing heavy pin presses in a cage still activates all the muscles you use in standard full-AROM bench pressing, it’s less straining on the pectorals and delts and lats to do this shortened-ROM bench press than to do the full-ROM bench press.
so basically, you get to give some extra volume to your tris without frying your other bench pressing muscles as much as would normally occur with full-ROM bench pressing.
you can also use this technique to give extra emphasis to lagging areas of strength. if you have imbalances in certain muscle groups or in certain sections of a given exercise, extra work for these lagging muscles or for the lagging section of a particular exercise might benefit from some extra volume or direct emphasis.
using shortened-ROM exercises has nothing to do with the level of development of an athlete. advanced and newbie athletes alike can encounter situations where it can be beneficial to incorporate shortened-ROM work.
good luck.