Range of Motion

Bob doing some pressing

In the Crossfit method there is a big emphasis placed on getting a good time. Many times people will try to get a good time at the expense of cutting their range of motion on an exercise. Full range of motion is essential in every exercise. By using a full range of motion you will actually improve your flexibility and the health of your joints. If you only use partial ranges of motion during your workouts then you are putting yourself at a much higher chance of injury. Using a shortened range of motion is going to tighten your muscles up and cause imbalances in your body. These imbalance are what lead to things like hip, back, knee, and shoulder pain. The reason that people tend to shorten their range of motion is because it is obviously much easier. The goal of these workout is to change you body, and full range of motion movements are going to change your body faster because they provide a greater intensity. One of the things that always makes me laugh when I go into commercial gyms is guys who load up the bar with a tremendous amount of weight and then do a 1/4 squat. They obviously have more weight on the bar than they can handle in order to look macho. The thing that they don't realize is that they would get much better results if they simply backed off the weight and did the exercise properly. Alwyn Cosgrove who I will be spending a week with in August has said that "if all men would lower their weights by 10% and focus on better form that they would get better results."

Workout of the Day

30 reps of clean and jerk