Limiting Range of Motion

Limiting my range of motion and finding out how to improve it.

Almost a year ago I had a I small injury. My sacrum got twisted out of place and it hurt a lot. I couldn't fully squat so most of my Olympic lifting program was now pointless. Most of my workouts consisted of squats, cleans and snatches.

Then I realized that the pain only bothered me when I went ass to grass. So modified the program I had at the time and only did power snatch, power cleans and box squats. At first I thought I was cheating myself. I found out that I could do more weight with the box squats which did give me a bigger challenge.

After doing this for four weeks, and going to the doctor and getting my spine fixed I could now move in a full range of motion. The surprise came when that first session after that doctor's visit I was snatching 30 lbs more on average. I went from a 135 lb snatch to a 165 lb snatch consistently. Few weeks later I hit my personal best which was 205 lb snatch!

Not only that, but I got more confident when squatting heavier. The box squats gave me a great confidence boost with +300 lb lifts. Before the injury was afraid to squat over 250 lbs and now I go in a confidently squat 275 lbs for reps.

I realized that today, tweaking our ROM is crucial for improvement. Some of us have weakness and working on a limited range of motion will make us improve. I did some research on climbers and how they achieve such impressive strength. It is funny how they will perform limited ROM exercises to strengthen certain parts of their pull movements.

So with that said, go out in your next workout and try to limit that range of motion to improve a specific movement. Then you will add variety to your training and obtain unforeseen results. Keep in mind that is to supplement your training. You can occasionally add limited range of motion movement with difficult lifts. For example if you 3RM is 315 lb you can try to do 335 lb for 3 reps to see how that feels.

I use limited ROM to give me that confidence and prepare to lift heavier at a full ROM. Again use the limited ROM to work on weaknesses and then go back to full ROM to keep getting stronger!

Stay Real!

**I will soon be posting about the food on a budget series!