Went to the gym yesterday to do some chest work. I have been lifting in the past, what I considered to be fairly heavy dumbbells.
However, before I went last night, I read some informed stuff by posters on T-Nation about range of motion etc. I always thought I was bringing the weights down far enough; how wrong!
I paid real attention to my form last night, and it meant that I was only able to lift about 70% of what I usually push. Some might say it dented my ego, but it only made me smile at the thought that even though I THOUGHT I had been going deep enough in the past, I was nowhere near.
So what if the dumbells are far, far, far smaller than they were last week? For the very first time I really felt my chest doing the work. I never imagined that adding a couple of inches to the range of motion would tax me so hard. There was also the pleasant/unpleasant side-effect that I was able to lift the weights in a more controlled manner, and instead of ending the set in a blur, I can still remember every rep vividly.
And its really thanks to people’s advice and ideas on this forum that I was able to give myself a far more intense workout, and double-check my ego.
It was a revelation to a beginner such as me - I’m sure all of you have been through your fair share in the past. Care to share?
Cheers!
Good for you, it’s about putting on muscle, not impressing people in the gym.
People who are impressed by bad form are newbies themselves. I have a lot more respect for someone going full range with proper form, than someone using more weight with poor form. When I first started working out, I fell for a lot of the shortcuts and recognize them in others.
My first experience with humility in the gym was through Ian King’s workouts. He absolutely thrashes you, and makes you look like a pussy in the process. But I saw some of my best growth from his programs, which in the end is what really matters.
yea ego is a big thing… i hate admitting to it when im not using full rom… ive been gettin pretty bad about this lately on my shoulder and chest dmb exercises… gonna make sure when i do shoulders today that i go all the way down to china town… haha
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.[/quote]
Whats up playa?
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights. That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.
Whats up playa?[/quote]
lol
I was going to write “oh, hi there!” myself, but you basically beat me to it 
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights.
That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.[/quote]
I wonder how many “FULL ROM 4EVER!” -kind of responses you’ll be getting…
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights. That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.[/quote]
Agreed. I don’t always use full range of motion and it depends on the exercise.
Hmm, how many 160 pound (and not stupidly short and/or in contest shape) entities do we have on this forum? I wonder if these ROM police begin their deadlifts with their head tucked inside their ass and their buttcheeks scraping the floor?
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights.
That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.
I wonder how many “FULL ROM 4EVER!” -kind of responses you’ll be getting…
[/quote]
Very true. I suppose as a relative beginner I need to pay a lot of attention and listen to my body. A lot of learning to do, and thanks for the advice - I’ll try and make sure I don’t short change myself by going to the other extreme.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights. That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.
Agreed. I don’t always use full range of motion and it depends on the exercise. [/quote]
In triplicate it’s more about the effective range of motion more so than the full range of motion plenty of vid of the Big Nasty training at Metroflex to attest to this.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.
Whats up playa?[/quote]
haha…i would say “owned”… but then i looked in the mirror. lol
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.
Whats up playa?[/quote]
haha…i would say “owned”… but then i realized i looked at the scale. sigh. everyone and their dog is bigger then me on this site
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
only time my ego takes a bruising is when someone is 50 pounds heavier than me and in the same room.
Whats up playa?[/quote]
you dont count cause youre 6’2
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights. That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.[/quote]
well the OP wasnt even bringing the weights all the way down. i think if youre going to use any chest pressing movement the best ROM is from your nipple line to somewhere before your elbows lock out. basically, lower the weight all the down, then lift it to right before the tricep ROM. besides all thats gonna do is fuck up your elbows.
Guys, you’ve got to go all the way down. Your lifts won’t count for shit and do you want to be small forever? How the fuck do you expect to get stronger? I bet all of you only do quarter squats too.
P.S. I’m joking.
on DB bench ive been finding it good to not go all the way down, like stop two inches before, feels better on my fucked up shoulder.
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
USe a range of motion and form that stresses your prime movers and allows you to progress in load. Forcing yourself to follow a textbook definition of full range of motion will keep you small and lifting light weights. That also doesn;t mean using a 2 inch range of motion to pile on the weight.
Use your judgement. Don;t try to be the pure ego lifter, AT THE SAME TIME don;t try to be the skinny youtube commenting loser moving 80 pound (or 60’s) dumbbells with a 1221 tempo rubbing the DB on his nipples for a full 5 seconds before gently moving it up.[/quote]
i have to go to sleep but “rubbing the DB on his nipples” made me laugh a bit.
There’s a lot to be said for strategic ROM. One of my favorite routines is to do upper 1/3 range, followed by full range, followed by lower 1/3 range.
I think the OP was more talking about showoffs that limit ROM in order to look good in the gym, rather than doing what will actually lead to the most muscle growth.