Kassiano, Witalo; Costa, Bruna; Nunes, João Pedro; Ribeiro, Alex S.; Schoenfeld, Brad J.; Cyrino, Edilson S.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 37(5):p 1135-1144, May 2023. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004415

PURPOSE:

Resistance exercise range of motion (ROM) influences muscular adaptations but there are no consistent practical guidelines about the optimal ROM for maximizing muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to systematically review the literature for studies that compared the effects of full ROM (fROM) and partial ROM (pROM) on muscle hypertrophy.

PROCEDURES:

PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify articles from the earliest record up to and including April 2022. Calculated were the effect size (ES) scores of the variables of interest from 11 different studies.

CONCLUSIONS:

o Full ROM and pROM performed in first part of the ROM elicited greater muscle hypertrophy of the rectus 

   femoris, vastus lateralis, biceps brachii, and brachialis distal sites compared to pROM performed in the 

   last part of the ROM.

o fROM elicited greater muscle growth on the gluteus maximus and adductors compared to pROM in the 

   last part of the ROM.

o The first part of the pROM produced more favorable proximal rectus femoris hypertrophy compared to 

   fROM.

o pROM at the mid-point of the ROM elicited greater triceps brachii hypertrophy compared to the fROM.

o Overall, the evidence suggests that when training at a longer muscle length – using either pROM or fROM 

   - some muscles, such as quadriceps femoris, biceps brachii, and triceps brachii, tend to experience 

   optimal growth. Thus, using pROM in the first part of the ROM combined with fROM should be considered 

   when prescribing hypertrophy-oriented resistance training programs.

IN PLAIN ENGLISH:

Different muscles have varied muscle fiber type makeups and leverage qualities. The starting length of the muscle(s) during an exercise’s ROM affects the needed force output to complete the event (i.e., completely extended or partially flexed). Therefore, if you are attempting to grow muscle tissue, several factors will affect their potential size. Based on that, it is prudent to experiment with different overload protocols that involve full ROM and partial ROMs to fully target all muscle bellies being targeted.