Range-of-motion
23 May 2005If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Range-of-motion, ROM, is a very important topic. As you might infer, ROM refers to how far we push or pull poundage in a particular exercise. How long is the rep stroke as a proportion of 100% full and complete extension, or 100% full and complete contraction? Altering the ROM creates different muscular inroads, different physiological effects. ROM is a neglected topic but one always in the forefront of my mind. To my Purposefully Primitive way of cogitating, there are three separate and distinct ROMs.
* The purposefully extended range-of-motion
* The purposefully normal range-of-motion
* The purposefully reduced range-of-motion
I preface each with purposeful because that denotes a conscious act we go into the workout having considered what ROM we will be working with and why. The selection is purposeful. Each ROM need be understood, practiced and rotated on a regularly reoccurring basis. In weight training, for some reason (human nature?) when you show someone three effective progress-inducing alternatives, they ask So which one is the best, the most effective? This is akin to asking, is a screwdriver a better tool than a hammer? Not better, not worse, different.
The purposefully extended range-of-motion: When using the purposefully extended ROM the goal is to push or tug resistance 100% of the potential rep stroke. Or extend the rep stroke past 100% on occasion. Because this ROM is so extreme, very light poundage is handled. Typically I recommend higher reps when using a purposefully extended ROM as this further diminishes poundage-handling capacity. This is a good thing to my way of thinking. By purposefully imposing poundage-diminishing criterion, the chance of injury dramatically decreases. I make the already difficult (extended ROM, high reps) even more difficult by adding pauses at the turnaround where eccentric becomes concentric. I insist the trainee stop for a beat before reversing direction. I purposefully slow the rep speed down.
With all these poundage-impeding constraints, the extended ROM user is able to work at 100% of capacity yet still handle (relatively) paltry poundage. The extended ROM is the absolute best way to learn proper basic lifting technique. By insisting on an exaggerated rep stroke (along with a full and complete lockout) control and technique are ingrained. If a new weight trainee uses the extended ROM exclusively, for say six months to a year, a wonderful technical and strength foundation is laid. Whatever poundage handling ability you develop using the exaggerated ROM pause reps, when you switch to normal or reduced ROM, strength capacity skyrockets. Once the ROM is reduced, once the pauses are eliminated, once the relatively slow rep speed is exchanged for an explosive rep speed, poundage soars. A reduced ROM amplifies poundage-handling ability further still. By laying the foundational base using the extended ROM, everything subsequent, by way of comparison, is a relative stroll in the park.
To further enhance rep stroke length potential, I use dumbbells in as many exercises as possible. Dumbbells invariably result in a stretched start position; whereas a barbell may be perched or rested on the body, dumbbells held in a starting position inevitably stretch downward, providing a growth-inducing pre-stretch. Once the extended ROM mode is mastered, the subsequent reduced ROMs are a relative snap.
Tomorrow: the normal ROMif done properly, mastery of this ROM takes progress to the next level. Wednesday well discuss the obscure and exotic world of purposefully reduced ROM.
Sign of the times: I watched with amusement the musical deification of Alicia Keyes. In a recent video she used a hand model (shades of Zoolander) to execute a particularly swift piano passage. The video transitioned from Ms. Keyes comping away, using elementary block chords, to a tight hand close-up. The hands perform an extraordinarily swift passage. The hands were obviously those of an older, stouter woman. The hand model executed a perfect two-octave double-hand crossover run. The video shifted back to Ms. Keyes earnestly bonking away in lock-hand style. David Bowie did this in the Lets Dance video of the mid-eighties. Bowie mimed playing his strat while Stevie Ray Vaughn did the actual heavy liftingbut at least Bowie had the sense of humor to wear gloves while he played, injecting an element of absurdity to the proceedings. For solace I pulled out my Laura Nyro CDs. I needed a reality check: was I overly critical? Nope. I was reintroduced to how real song writer ingnues walk and talk listening to New York Tenderberry. Then I pulled out my two hour $14.99 Joan Mitchell DVD and confirmed that I wasnt babbling on like an old man lamenting about the good old days.we live in a time of midgets and dwarfs as corporate control of popular music has apparently murdered innovation in its crib. Nowadays the only thing the hardly-photogenic Nyro could hope for would be as a songwriter for Britney or ChristineStevie Nicks would be writing hits for Justin Timberlake. Pathetic.
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