Dave Tate, Founder of EliteFTS and arguably one of the most influential figures in the field, was interviewed on Joe DeFranco’s Industrial Strength Podcast. Listen in, as Dave discusses the critical importance of training to a full range of motion to decrease risk of
injury, increase muscle mass, and enhance sport performance. Below is an excerpt from Dave himself, on his experiences and benefits of training through a full range of motion:

“I was sore as f***, but then I started to feel better! Everything started to feel better. That is when I started to put one and one together. I had all these limited range of motion movement patterns for 20 years (powerlifting background). I am going into the range of motion of a movement that I haven’t seen in twenty years (powerlifting)… Everything started to feel better, really quick, within 46 weeks. Then I started to put some muscle on as well…”

Below is a short piece by Laylor Performance Systems Founder and Level 5 Master Strength Coach Clance Laylor, regarding training to a full range of motion:

“Our muscles are stupid. Plain and simple. They will do what they are trained to do and they aren’t capable of communicating with us that we are doing something wrong until it’s too late. If we train our biceps curls through 75% of their ROM (by going three quarters of the way down), we are training your biceps to be strong from full flexion to 75% of extension. The same basic idea can be applied to any lift we do: squats to 90 degrees, bench presses where the dumbbell doesn’t get to our anterior delts, chin ups that don’t go to a full hang. All of these exercises will train the muscles to be stronger in the ranges that we work them, without giving them a chance to get stronger in the untrained range. The result: we need to perform an explosive movement during a game or practice and BOOM! We pop a ligament; we tear a muscle; we get taken out of the game.Remember, athletes strengthening tissues through a full range of motion in a controlled environment will have developed the armour to absorb greater forces in an uncontrolled environment in-game.”