Training the Full Muscle
One of my biggest pet peeves is watching people in the gym who just don’t do weight lifting exercises properly. The bottom line is that if you want to get strength in the entire range of motion of the muscle, you have to train the muscle in the full range of motion. To many times I see guys try to cheat when lifting weights. They will only work the muscle in a limited range of motion to appear to lift more weight. I have also seen guys who leverage or swing their body in order to lift more weight.
My advice is to lift a lighter weight and to work the muscle in the full range of motion. I would also advise that one should stabilize their core and to lift or push the weight in a smooth controlled movement. The rule of thumb is that the concentric and eccentric movement in the weight lift be about 2 seconds. By following these rules in weight lifting, there will be several benefits. First of all, the chances of injury during exercise will be greatly diminished. The chances that you will suffer a muscle pull or strain will drop exponentially. What most people don’t truly realize is that by doing the exercise properly, one will see much faster results and much greater strength gains.
I invite feedback from readers of this blog. Please throw your opinion my way.