1Geech has asked for details and I feel an obligation to explain this right turn into doing partials. Okay - that’s not strictly true - I just like to expound and have an inflated sense of self-importance and 1Geech gave me an excuse…
I’ve used them in the past though not to the extreme I’m doing them now - only one or three reps mostly for max effort days when I was doing WSB template. I started doing partials because I’ve been diddling around at 300-350 lbs in the squat for 2+ years and I’m sick of it.
However, Paul Anderson, Steve Justa, bud Jeffries and some others have recommended that aspiring lifters use high rep partials shading to single rep full range movement as a means of progression. I believe there is some merit to this approach and here’s why:
Volume and intensity have something of a complementary relationship and I believe this relationship is explained by physics and the definition “work.” Work is simply a measurement of force moving a mass over a distance irrespective of time.
One can do a great deal of “work” with a light weight, moving it many times insofar as the metabolic capabilities of the involved muscles will allow, or moving a heavy weight a very short distance very many times.
Everyone knows that some repetition exercise must be done in order to condition the muscles to perform a 1 rep max, either as warmup sets or as separate, similar exercises. This is called building work capacity.
The pyramidal nature of increasing weightlifting poundages while reducing reps occurs mostly as a result of neurological and metabolic factors. After all, the structural strength is always there for whatever 1 rep max you can perform at any given time. Presumably, if the proper metabolic cofactors could be fed to the muscle and brain in limitless amounts as needed, the muscles could continue to perform that 1 rep max to the point of boredom.
My thought is that the multiple rep work in partials is training the body to produce the metabolic/neurological cofactors in sufficient amounts to allow you to lift a heavier weight once. Or move the same weight over a longer distance fewer times.
Partials are distance progression. Usually by inches. Each extension of the distance, requires that you perform fewer reps because more “work” is being performed and the cofactors mentioned above are depleted sooner (in terms of reps).
So the progression goes, do X reps at height h, do x-2 reps at height h-2", do x-4 reps at height h-4", and so on. OR work back up to the previous number of reps at the new height before increasing the range of motion. This last is not practical when one is working with weights in excess of 100 pounds of a current max.
In other words, lifting something for a lot of reps in a short range of motion, conditions you to lift that something for slightly fewer reps in a slightly longer range of motion. (This could have been the whole post right here)
Paul Anderson used it to good effect for his squats (reputedly squatted 1200), Bud Jeffries for his 1000lb bottom-up squat and others have used it for deadlifting - Bob Peoples being one (700+ DL at 180 lbs or so), I think.
Multi-rep partials are dull and they are grueling, but they seem to work. I’m keeping full ROM work along with them just to keep the CNS familiar with the pattern. I believe Christian Thibaudeau mentioned something about that.
Okay - that was long.