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Shorten the range only when the joint asks, not to look stronger

Shorten the range only when the joint asks, not to look stronger

A known coaching idea, in our own words. We do not invent quotes and put a celebrity’s name on them.

The question in “Shorten the range only when the joint asks, not to look stronger” is why a shorter squat or a shorter press often shows a heavier bar. The useful answer is that the shorter bar is not a stronger lifter. Shorten the range when the joint will not give the long one. Do not shorten it so the plates look bigger.

A long comfortable range is the default. Comfortable means the back stays long, the knee tracks, and nothing sharp appears in the joint. It does not mean “as deep as a photograph”. If the joint stops you, the stop is the range for today. If only the ego stops you, the range was fine and the load was the thing to cut.

What the range comparisons found

Schoenfeld and Grgic reviewed range of motion and muscle growth in 2020 (PubMed 32030125). The finding we keep is the plain one: across the trials they could compare, a longer comfortable range generally beat a short one for hypertrophy. Partials are not banned. They have a place when the joint will not allow the long range, and when the partial is the range you can still own. They are not a costume for a heavier load.

Bloomquist and colleagues, in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2013, put the comparison on the squat. Seventeen men trained for 12 weeks. One group squatted to about 120 degrees of knee flexion, the other stopped near 60 degrees. The deep group improved the one-repetition maximum in both the deep and the shallow squat by roughly 20 percent. The shallow group improved its own shallow squat by about 36 percent and the deep squat by about 9 percent. Front-thigh muscle cross-section rose more with the deep squat, on the order of 4 to 7 percent ahead of the shallow group, and the squat jump rose more there too, about 15 percent. Patellar-tendon cross-section did not differ. The shallow squat mostly taught the shallow squat. The deep squat transferred.

The 2009 ACSM progression stand treats a controlled full range as the ordinary way to load a lift. The load goes up when the reps are already there, not when the range was cut so the same reps look heavier. A shorter range the joint demanded is not the same decision as a shorter range the log demanded.

A long comfortable range beside a short range kept only for the joint
Shorten the range for the joint, not for the look of the bar.

Three ways to choose the range

Option What you do What it rests on Where it fails
Long range you can own Go as far as the position stays clean, then add reps before load Schoenfeld and Grgic: longer range generally beat short range for size; Bloomquist: deep squat transferred Forcing depth that the joint will not give turns the “long” range into a different, worse lift
Short range the joint asked for Stop where the pinch, the pinch in the shoulder, or the rounding back begins Partials are the leftover when the long range is not available If the joint is quiet and you still cut the range, you are in the next row
Short range so the bar looks heavy Quarter squat or half press with more plates The shallow group in Bloomquist did get better at the shallow test It transfers poorly to the long range, and the size gain was the smaller one

The first row is the ordinary session. The second is the exception, and it should be written down as an exception. The third is how a log lies.

What to do instead, and when the idea fails

Pick the range on an easy warm-up, not on the work set. If that depth is calm, the work sets use it and a load that still reaches it. If the last reps shorten, the set is over. Do not “save” it by cutting depth and calling it the same exercise. Next time the rep comes back before the plate. Range and load are one decision.

The idea fails when pain is the signal and you keep the long range anyway. A pinch in the shoulder, a knee that stabs, or a back that rounds to buy depth is the joint asking. Shorten, or change the exercise. It fails in rehabilitation and when a clinician has already set a limit: this note is not that plan. It also fails when every set is a partial and the long range you could do never appears. Specificity is not a reason to avoid the range you can train.

Two published plans already use this stop. Glutes without dumping the work into the lower back shortens the hinge when the back wants to fold. Press, row and squat takes the squat only as deep as the back stays unrounded. The bodyweight chest steps change the height of the hands rather than pretending a sagging rep is a full one.

Sources