You’ve never wanted to be “that person” The one who cuts their bench presses short or refuses to squat ass to grass. But new science shows that partial range of motion exercises do have their place in the gym. Case in point: In one Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research study, when men squatted to parallel half of the time and to a quarter-squat the other half, they improved their lower-body strength and power more than those who always went low. Training with partials is also linked to bigger muscles and a bulletproofed body.
Full Versus Partial Reps
Bro-science dictates that the bulk of any workout should be full-range-of-motion exercises. After all, moving as far as anatomically possible during any given exercise–for example, in a biceps curl, taking your elbow from completely straight to bent-to-the-max–leads to the greatest all-over muscle adaptation, per 2017 Brazilian research.
But just because fulls are awesome, it doesn’t mean you should always hit a full range of motion. It’s like compound vs. isolation exercises. Compounds train more muscles, but sometimes, it pays to zero in on a certain muscle or, in this case, range of motion.
To understand why partials are so important, you first have to understand that the weight you’re lifting is never just the number on the plate or dumbbell. Think of that same biceps curl. At the bottom of the exercise, when your elbows are straight, the biceps are carrying very little weight, and the same is true at the top of the exercise, when your hands are right up by your shoulders, Nick Tumminello, C.P.T., National Strength and Conditioning Association 2016 trainer of the year, explains, “You’re not actually overloading the muscle through a lot of the exercise,” he says.
Meanwhile, you’re putting the greatest load on your biceps when your elbows are bent to 90 degrees. It just so happens that’s where your biceps are at a mechanical disadvantage, science speak for having shitty leverage. In gym language, that’s your sticking point. “It’s the bottleneck to performance,” says Justin Kompf, C.S.C.S., who has published research on the physiology of sticking points. “Overcoming it will increase performance and strength through the full range of motion.”
Partial range of motion exercises allow you to individually train both the weakest and strongest links of every lift. The result: you bust through stubborn sticking points and, by actually overloading your muscles through their strongest range of motion, you stand to reap muscle strength, power, and size benefits you can’t otherwise, says Caleb Bazyler, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., assistant professor of sports science at East Tennessee State University.
This works for virtually every strength move–be it compound, isolation, with a free weight, or machine. For example, while you can perform lightly weighted pulses at the bottom of a lunge to strengthen one range of motion, you can perform shallow lunges with a much heavier weight to overload the other. With a rear-delt raise, hanging around at top of the move will quickly humble you, and focusing on the bottom two-thirds of it will let you move more weight.
Meanwhile, pause reps—literally pausing part-way through any exercise—is a great way to zero in on different parts of a lift while still using a full range of motion. It also eliminates your ability to use momentum. Try it: When performing rear-delt raises, pause at the top of the movement before letting the weights lower back to start, Tumminello says. Even harder: Pausing at the top and midway through.
The results of integrating partial range of motion exercises into your routine are far-reaching: In a 2017 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, when guys performed three sets of eight triceps extensions over the course of eight weeks, those who stuck with a partial range of motion exercises gained 75 percent more muscle size than full ROM-ers did. Meanwhile, by honing in on and strengthening any weak ranges of motion, guys can make huge progress toward fending off injury and bulletproofing their bodies, says Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., owner of CORE personal training in Boston. After all, any weakness is an opportunity for injury.
Speaking of injuries, as Gentilcore says, “Complete rest is rarely the answer. And if partial range of motion exercises still allow someone to train—and in a pain-free fashion—the likelihood they’ll recover faster and make a faster return to their pre-injury fitness is pretty darn high.” (Learn how to work around exercise injuries.)
Here’s how to use partial range of motion exercises to make your own gains…
Boost Your Big Lifts with Partial Range of Motion Exercises
To get the most out of compound exercises, you need to both shore up your weakest ROM and take advantage of your strongest one.
Deadlift
Break through your sticking point
First Pull: Load a barbell on the floor and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Push your hips back, grab the bar with an overhand grip, and squeeze your core and lats. From here, extend your hips to start the pull, then pause below your knees for three seconds. Continue to move to stand. Pause, then slowly return to start. Use roughly 20 percent less weight than you would for a full deadlift.
Overload your lift
Rack Pull: In a power rack, load a barbell on the safety bars, set to mid-shin height. Push your hips back, grab the bar with an overhand grip, and squeeze your core and lats. From here, extend your hips and straighten your knees to stand up tall. Pause, then slowly return to start. Use about 10 percent more weight than you would for a full deadlift.
Squat
Break through your sticking point
Pin Press: In a power rack, load a barbell on the pins, set to the middle of your torso. Place the bar on your back and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat until the pins are just above the barbell. From here, drive through your heels to press the barbell up into the pins. Hold for three seconds, then return to start. Use an empty barbell.
Overload your lift
Quarter Squat: Place a loaded barbell on your back and stand with your feet hip-width apart. From here, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat until your legs are a few inches above parallel. Pause, then drive through your heels to return to start. Use about 10 percent more weight than you would for a full squat.
Bench Press
Break through your sticking point
Bottom Press: In a bench press station, load a barbell on the pins, set to mid-forearm height (when lying down on the bench with arms extended overhead). Lie flat on the bench and grab the barbell with a grip just greater than shoulder-width apart. Un-rack the weight. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and bend your elbows together to row the bar until it’s just above your chest. Pause, then press the bar back to the pins. Use an empty barbell
Overload your lift
Board Press: Lie flat on a bench and, with one to five 2X4 boards (or like in the video above, a big foam pad… because who has 2X4s in their gym?) on your chest, grab a loaded barbell with a grip just greater than shoulder-width apart. Un-rack the weight. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and bend your elbows together to row the bar until it just touches the boards. Pause, then press the bar back up to start. Use roughly10 percent more weight than you would for a full bench press, increasing weight as you increase the distance between you and the bar.
Partial Range of Motion Mistakes
Too much overload: Overload partials are a major stress to the body. Cap them at one exercise per workout or 10 percent of your total training, recommends Kompf.
Skipping the sticking point: Sure, it’s a lot sexier to use partials to overload your reps, but if you don’t also hit your weakest range of motion, your strength discrepancies will only grow, meaning your full ROM will suffer.
Ignoring mobility issues: Partials are great for those who are less-than-limber. (Tight hammies? Try rack pulls.) However, they aren’t an excuse to settle for so-so mobility, says Pamela Geisel, M.S., C.S.C.S., C.P.T., a performance specialist at Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery. Mobility issues point to muscle imbalances, and ignoring them could lead to injury down the line. That’s why it’s critical to ID and address the underlying cause of your mobility issues; a physical therapist can help.
RELATED: Flexibility and Mobility Are Not the Same Thing
3 Sets for Full Muscle Growth
These training schemes combine full and partial reps to overload your muscles for the ultimate in hypertrophy.
1/ Extended Sets: Choose a weight that you can move through a full ROM for 8-10 reps. Perform max reps, then, without resting, perform 4-6 additional reps with the same weight, moving though only the easiest third of the exercise. Repeat for all sets.
Benefits: Increasing exercise volume to trigger muscle growth, improving muscular endurance. Simple to implement.
Ideal exercises: Dumbbell biceps curls, triceps extensions
2/ Full-to-Partial Split Sets: For a given exercise, perform 8-10 full ROM reps for the first half of your sets, then partial reps for the second half, with a heavier weight and the same number of reps.
Benefits: Increasing weight, with less focus on the sticking point. Requires knowing your 8-10 RM for each range of motion.
Ideal exercises: Lunges, step ups, rows
3/ Heavy-to-Light Split Sets: For a given exercise, perform 3-5 partial ROM reps for the first half of your sets, then fulls for the second half, with a much lighter weight and up to 15 reps.
Benefits: Increasing max strength in compound lifts.
Ideal exercises: Deadlifts, squats, bench presses, pull ups