Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program
Sucks

Really good article on Another Reason Your Muscle
Building Program Sucks by Jason Ferruggia. Good stuff on looking at whether you should achieve a full
range of motion with each form.You can also find
some of his other articles here Increase Muscle Mass Articles. So take
on board his advice and good luck with your training.
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Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program Sucks
Article
Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program Sucks
By Jason Ferruggia
One of the most popular, faulty and dangerous myths espoused in nearly every muscle building program is that you
must use a full range of motion on every exercise in order to achieve maximal growth. Supposedly you have to take
each movement to the fully stretched position and then finish in the fully “peak” contracted position. If you don’t
you will never get huge… or so they say.
Without getting all technical and scientific let’s just look at a few real world examples to see if this advice
makes any sense at all.
Starting from the ground up let’s begin with calves. All fat guys have big calves. They walk around all day with
a lot of weigh on their calves but never once achieve a full stretch or contraction. It’s simply high loads,
tension, volume and frequency. The same can be said for a lot of runners and bikers. And when the Olympics start
today you will surely be awestruck by the calf development of the female gymnasts, who do spend a lot of time in
the fully contracted position while walking on their toes but no time in the fully stretched position.
And speaking of the Olympics, not only will you notice that many 15 year old female gymnasts (with minimal
testosterone levels) have calves bigger than the average guy but they also have thighs bigger than a lot of guys
who spend several hours per month on the leg press. Yet, very rarely in their gymnastics training do they achieve a
full squat position. There is actually very little, if any, full range of motion training done for their thighs,
but they all have completely jacked legs.
Baseball players, rock climbers, mechanics and other manual laborers have huge, muscular forearms. But do you
think that development is brought about by these guys consciously trying to achieve a full stretch and contraction
throughout their game or work day? Of course not.
Powerlifters have huge legs yet only squat to parallel most of the time. Not a full range of motion movement.
They also have huge traps which are mostly due to a lot of heavy deadlifts. There is NO range of motion for the
traps on a deadlift. They contract, but don’t actively move from a full stretch position to the peak contraction
position.
Not only is the deadlift the best trap building exercise there is, it’s also probably the best overall mass
building exercise there is for the entire body. It has been heralded as such since the beginning of time from guys
like Paul Anderson to Arnold to Ronnie Coleman. But name me one muscle group that is taken through a full range of
motion on the deadlift. There is not a one!
So how can some experts espouse the value of full range of motion training while simultaneously listing the
deadlift as one of the top exercises in any muscle building program? Ditto for the clean, clean and press, snatch,
jerk, etc.
Not only is this myth incorrect but it can also be dangerous advice to adhere to. Achieving a full range of
motion for the pecs would entail bringing your arms all the way behind your back to start the exercise and then
crossing them all the way across your body in the front. First of all, that would destroy your shoulder. Second of
all, it’s impossible and impractical.
Some guys try to really go for the deep stretch on dumbbell presses and allow their elbows to drop way below the
bench. Others drop down into the deepest stretch possible on the dip bars. They have been led to believe that this
extreme, loaded pre-stretch is needed for maximal muscle growth. The truth is that they will probably be seeing an
orthopedic surgeon long before they get mistaken for Mr. Olympia.
Leg presses are another exercise where guys commonly push the stretch position way too far. If you bury your
knees in your chest on a leg press, like many bodybuilders and coaches recommend, and allow your spine to round and
your butt to come up off the pad you will surely have back problems that may plague you for quite some time.
Not only is going into the fully stretched position not recommended, but a lot of exercises have no tension
whatsoever in the fully contracted position, which therefore makes that recommendation somewhat useless as well. If
you want to target your chest and shoulders and not your triceps, most pressing movements should actually be done
with a partial range of motion; stopping a few inches shy of lockout. A ¾ range of motion there is more beneficial
than a full range. Think Lou Ferrigno doing military presses in Pumping Iron.
There are numerous other exercises where partial ranges of motion are far more effective and safer than full
range movements. However, covering them all is beyond the scope of this article.
But hopefully by now you realize what a ridiculous recommendation this full range of motion nonsense truly is
and will stop following it blindly without rational thought as soon as possible.
To learn the target range of motion for each and every exercise in your muscle building program and finally
maximize your growth potential, avoid inevitable injuries, and uncover more mind blowing myths that you are
probably following right now, visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com today.
Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as
fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during his 14 years as a professional fitness coach,
including more than 500 athletes from over 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of articles for numerous
top rated training magazines and websites and has authored four fitness books. He is also the head training adviser
for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great
muscle building information, please visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com
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