Exercise with partial amplitude

Sooner or later, every athlete faces the problem of plateau, when the physical stamina and performance does not improve, do not grow working weights, classes cease to be fun. Come to the aid of exercises with partial amplitude, which are well known in the circles of bodybuilders.
The essence of this method? Doing habitual exercises such as the squat, chest press, pull-UPS, the athlete's body moves between the two extreme positions of maximum relaxation of the working muscle groups. The distance between these limits is called the amplitude. But in fact, the optimal time of the muscles – 20 seconds, and half of it muscle fibers are resting. According to the results of numerous studies the most challenging and fruitful is the middle part of the exercise, the time of peak voltage. To increase the load and to move from a dead point, you can engage in the partial amplitude, reducing full one-third or even half. For example, the classic chest press technique will consist in the avoidance of muscle relaxation, i.e. the extreme positions when 1 - barbell lowered to the chest and 2 hand straightened in elbow joints. Classes in a limited scale will give results in the form of increase in weight and expressed feelings of blood circulation in the muscles, and, consequently, their hypertrophy. There is a perception that the upper part of the exercise helps to develop power quality, and lower – raise a lot, but it has no scientific evidence.

Another life hack is to use the static muscle tension and it breaks in the middle of the exercise. Let us consider the example of bending of hands on a biceps, in full amplitude. The first part is easy: it is necessary to bend the arm until the angle at the elbow 90 degrees and stay in this position for 1 – 2 seconds. Then continue the exercise to maximal flexion, to pause for a moment and deliberately slowly return to the starting position. After only a few reps will come to feel the pump effect. For the qualitative flow you will need 3 sets of 6 – 8 repetitions. This technique can be used in almost all exercises in the gym.

Every workout with exercises in the partial amplitude must end with a good relaxation: stretching, massage, sauna. You can't abuse this method since it can be traumatic with long-term use. We also recommend not to use it to beginners, because they are a plateau is usually associated with the attainment of the capacity limit, but the technique is far from perfect.

Partial amplitude is a bonus, not a panacea, therefore, the Foundation of training (90 %) should be the classic exercise.