What does ‘Joint full range of motion’ mean?
Posted on February 14, 2015Joint full range of motion as it relates to exercise, is when you take your joint through it’s full range of motion while doing an exercise. This means physically moving the joint from one end of it’s movement range to the other. This will help improve your flexibility, posture, as well as help create maximum muscle fiber activation. Examples are doing a push-up until your chest touches the floor and locking your elbows out at the top or doing a pull-up until your chest touches the bar and straightening your arms all the way at the bottom.
Taking your joint through it’s full range of motion improves your flexibility and mobility because it pulls your muscle fibres apart, making them longer. This allows the opposing muscle group to effectively ‘balance’ your body and fully contract, through the opposing motion. For example, often you will see amateur body builders or guys that train for the soul purpose of ‘getting big’ do repetitions of a pull-up in a very ‘short range’. This creates a muscle imbalance. Keeping your chest muscles shortened all the time and not fully using your back muscles (making them weaker relative to the rest of your back) makes it even harder for you to get the bar to your chest. It’s really a self fulfilling prophecy. By allowing your muscles to be longer and more flexible automatically helps improve your posture and it makes your antagonist muscle groups move more synergistically.
The final reason to move your muscles through their full range of motion is maximum muscle activation. Your muscles are made up of a series of fibres and their ability to contract is based on 2 factors the frequency at which the motor units fire and the number of motor units that fire at a given time. When you take your muscle through it’s full range of motion it becomes more efficient at firing through that full range, whereas if you only lift within a limited range your muscles will only get better at firing within that range. If you’re someone that bench presses and you don’t go all the way to your chest try a couple of 4 Rep Max sets with a spotter and go all the way to your chest. You will notice it’s a lot harder. It’s important to go all the way down because your missing prime muscular development opportunity by not doing it – and I know you don’t want to waste your time. For more helpful exercise tips check out our youtube channel.
