Mar 11, 2025Establishing correct exercise technique
When an individual begins their fitness journey and begins to implement weightlifting in their quest for bigger muscles, athleticism, or general health, one recurring topic vocalized is to use correct technique by utilizing a full range of motion. You can walk into any health club or fitness center and you can witness gym-goers of all types of ages, genders, and societal backgrounds largely focusing on proper technique through a full range of motion. Is this what all gym-goers aspire to be consistent about, proper technique?
The answer is, in large part, yes.
Sure, whether in general or specific population, (tactical or sports), incorrect technique can be found and some do not go through a full range of motion because of a lack of a fundamental understanding of proper biomechanics, but are some not completing this for a specific reason? If so, what is that type of exercise(s), why are people doing that, and what are the benefits?
Before we dive into this topic, let’s go over the fundamentals of correct exercise technique and full range of motion.
Correct Exercise Technique with Full Range of Motion
Exercise technique is most commonly learned from friends, associates, and watching others in a gym, fitness facility, or social media; however, the technique illustrated and subsequently modeled after may or may not be the best to learn from. Incorrect technique may result in sprains, strains, tears, fractures, and various types of musculoskeletal injury. Individuals starting in their fitness journey and those who have been training for a while should seek out a fitness professional with reputable credentials from a respected entity in the fitness industry. So then, what does proper form look like? The proper form for the typical gym-goer is quantified when someone performs the movement through a full range of motion. A repetition performed in a full range of motion occurs at the axis of a joint. This involves going through the resistance or weighted movement in a slow and methodical process in which the movement performed focuses on full contraction and extension of the muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons used in the movement conducted. The joints’ structure will determine its range of movement.
The shoulder and hip are both ball-and-socket joints and can move in all three anatomical planes of motion, which have the most movement of all joints. The knee is a hinge joint and primarily moves forward and backward in the sagittal plane of motion. The wrist, an ellipsoidal joint, can move up, down, and sideways or in the sagittal and frontal planes of motion. The type of joint dictates the range of motion the individual will be mobilizing. When a full range of motion is utilized, the individual maximizes the benefit of their exercise.
Slow and controlled repetitions are typically observed in exercises that are performed in pursuit of building or toning muscle, also known as hypertrophy. Hypertrophy training is a sub-maximal exercise with a repetition count that physiologically occurs mainly within the 8-12 range. Exercises like bench presses and barbell curls are performed to stimulate improved muscle growth and are traditional types of strength training. Through a full range of motion, an individual will build muscle strength.
Isometric and Eccentric Exercises
Now that correct exercise technique and a full range of motion is explained and we readily see the benefits, then what are isometric and eccentric exercises, their uses, and their benefits?
Isometric exercises are exercises that do not use a full range of motion.
The action of the muscle does not shorten (concentric) or lengthen (eccentric) but remains the same. We hold the movement in a static movement and do not move our muscles. This is because the force of the resistance equals that of the contractile force. Tendon strength is not something visibly seen like muscle on a person’s body, and it is not attributable to a visible new personal record (PR) that someone has accomplished in the bench, squat, or deadlift, so what is so important about isometric exercises? Through isometric exercises, an individual will build tendon strength and collagen synthesis as opposed to muscle strength in a full range of motion exercises, as explained previously. Through physical training, not only do we create micro tears in our muscle bellies, but we also place a lot of external weight and load on our ligaments and tendons, and they become inflamed and can cause acute and or chronic pain. Therefore, if hypertrophy training makes our muscles bigger, then isometric training makes our tendons stronger.
» ALSO SEE: NBA player suspended 25 games after confusing Tramadol for Toradol
With a sports athlete that is “in season” or the tactical athlete that has patellar tendon knee pain, isometric exercises will be the best choice to help alleviate the current acute or sudden pain. For chronic or long-term tendon pain, eccentric exercises where the muscle is under load will provide more benefits for the focus will involve not only the stretching of the tendon but now the lengthening of the muscle. With eccentrics, the load of the external force should be around 70% of an individual’s 1 repetition maximum. If our objective is to improve the strength of our knee or patellar tendon, we would improve the strength through a specific and individual exercise that directly loads the tendon, such as a single leg extension through a fixed range of motion or a wall sit or Spanish squat as opposed to a traditional back squat. Therefore, isometric exercises can play a large part for the sports athlete during their “in season” in which they cannot over train themselves and need to maintain their performance levels which in turn make isometrics a very extremely viable option for the athlete.
Performing isometrics will help them recover from injury and will prevent overtraining through performing less volume, fewer sets and repetitions through the lack of repetitive full range of motion exercises. Isometrics deliver less fatigue to the body, aid in maximal force production, and require less training time. Is it time for you to give isometrics a try?
