How important is having full range of motion (ROM) on every joint in your body?
In the video above I go through a foam rolling also known as Self Myofascial Release (SMR). I hit and talk about all these muscles and joints:
- Shoulder joint and muscles.
- Lat (latissimus Dorsi), traps, and neck muscles to release rear delts, neck and even reduce and eliminate headaches and migraines.
- Triceps to release elbow.
- Wrists to improve mobility in shoulders.
- Calves and shins to release knee and ankle joints.
- Quads, IT and TFL to release knee.
- Glutes.
To my readers, this is about as in depth as I can get without having a doctorate’s. What you’ll read next is years upon years of learning the hard way. Doing it all on my own. Don’t make the same mistake. Digest what I talk about here and you will be the best athlete possible in the shortest amount of time.
How important is range of motion?
In the Olympics, it’s the difference between first and last place. If you can’t lock your shoulders in place then your ability to hold weight overhead becomes extremely difficult if not impossible. If your ankles and knees lack range of motion you can’t get a deep squat which drastically reduces your speed, strength and power.
In this article, we are going to discuss the following topics about range of motion:
- The importance of range of motion.
- Dynamic vs Static Stretching and Warming up.
- Improve range of motion in shoulders.
- Improve range of motion in knees.
- Foam Rolling
- Conclusion range of motion.
- Frequently asked questions about range of motion.
Before I get into details, let me give you some examples of range of motion in practice using clips from my YouTube workouts. Subscribe to the Gymming at Home with Fitness Adaptations channel to train participate for free!
When it comes to range of motion there are a number of things that need to happen within your body. Number one, you need to have muscular balance. Your prime movers must move in perfect balance with your synergist muscles.
Number two, you need to move with correct form and technique. Most issues I see with my clients is not knowing what to do with their body. The term neuromuscular efficiency and mind to muscle connection comes to mind.
Number three, get into the habit of foam rolling and static stretching before a workout. Follow this warm up by a second warm-up in the form of dynamic stretching. Last but not least, practice yoga and take joint health supplements.
Range of motion describe in six clips:
Image #1 – You can see the range of motion starting with my shoulder blades in order to straighten my arm out and create a stacking position allowing me to hold the weight up. Additionally, my triceps have to be strong enough to keep my arm straight.
Image #2 – My core has to be strong enough to brace as I go down into the side lunge. My arm holding the kettlebell overhead has to be straight, firm, and locked to create stability and once again the stacking position.
Image #3 – In order to create that straight line, again, you must have a good balance with your triceps, you must have mobility on your wrists, and the straighter of a line you can create the easier it is to hold the position.
Image #4 – Very similar to image #1 but I want to discuss my feet. Good mobility on my ankles allows my hips to open and make it easy to sit at the low squat position. My biggest focus is to retract my left shoulder blade to allow my trunk to get in position to hold the weight up.
Image #5 – Just another depiction of Image 1 and Image 4.
Image #6 – Mobility on your hips allows you to twist. This twist allows your shoulder blades the ability to stabilize and open your chest so that you can put your arm in a vertical stacking position. Being aware of the hip hinge also allows you to get into a comfortable position so that you don’t hurt your knees.
If I had poor range of motion or weakness in my triceps, holding even 5lbs would be impossible. As a rule thumb, a healthy full body with great range of motion starts with your ankles. From there work your way up. Remember, if you’re synergist muscles are inactive, your prime movers are good for nothing.
What is the importance of range of motion?
What I’m going to tell you here is from my own personal experience. Everything I talk about I have learned from other people much more educated that I am when it comes to joints and human biomechanics. It comes from years of research trial and error.
My history with weight lifting and becoming who I am today:
Let me tell you a little about me first so that you can understand how I know what I know. I played high school and college baseball where I trained without knowing anything about biomechanics. I didn’t know anything about exercises or training. When I went to the gym all I wanted to do was be the strongest guy in the gym. I used to pitch complete games just about every game that I played. When I wasn’t starting I was coming in relief. I used to throw batting practice when I was off. Over the years, this deteriorated my rotator cuff. I pushed through the pain and abused my rotator cuff. I was ignorant.
Then after college I broke my left arm. Again, I didn’t let it heal correctly and now I have a slightly deformed humerus. Then I got into bodybuilding. In bodybuilding it’s about overloading and isolating muscles. This further created imbalances in my body. After decades of abuse, I finally decided to educate myself after meeting people in the fitness industry when I decided to become a personal trainer. My first mentor was a physical therapist assistant and gave me my first job as a trainer. This is where I began to realize the importance of rehab and having balanced muscles.
Then I got my certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine where I furthered my knowledge with becoming certified in Performance Enhancement and Corrective Exercise. To this day, my main priority now is training my entire body and focusing on all my weaknesses and eliminating all the abused I have done to my body. Oh, did I mention I competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 2 years which creates significant abuse to your body? Oh yeah, let me tell you, having to restore my body a lone has made me into the man I am today. Without further ado, let’s talk about the importance of range of motion.
Prime movers vs Synergists
I’m going to make it as simple as possible. When you develop imbalances in your body, you joints begin to move into positions that limit how far you can move your limbs. Muscles usually act in one of two ways. They are either prime movers or synergists.
Prime movers are the big dogs such as glutes, quads, chest, lats. Syngergist muscles are smaller muscles also known as helpers that assist the prime movers. Examples are hamstrings, abductors, and adductors.
If the prime movers become weak due to lack of technique and bad form, the synergists make the attempt to act as prime movers. This overload can cause tears such as hamstring and ACL tears. In the shoulders, this can lead to frozen shoulder. When it comes to lifting, your ability to stabilize gets reduced to almost zero and thus strength goes down the same road.
If you watch Olympic Weightlifting and Gymnastics, two sports where range of motion is absolutely essential, the ability for these athletes to hold 3x’s their body weight overhead in Olympic lifting, and the ability to bend and twist in shocking positions in gymnastics, is not by accident. These athlete’s are as perfectly balanced thoughout their body as you can get.
In the snatch, a power move that requires you to pull and explode with a weight above your head and then catch, requires you to execute the catch at the top position with completely locked and straight arms. Any small bend and that weight comes crashing down. This is called stacking. When joints are stacked on top of each other you can hold 2-3x’s your bodyweight overhead. If you try to press this type of weight it will be impossible. Even trying to lift your body weight above your head is extremely difficult without great technique from having full range of motion in the hips, legs, and rotator cuff.
What is the difference between Dynamic and Static Stretching when warming up?
If you join me on any of my workouts that I do live on YouTube, I spend the first 15 minutes taking the class through a dynamic stretch where we emphasize range of motion. I teach you the proper way to squat, contract your shoulder blades, swings, and include movements similar to the exercises to be performed on that day.
The difference between dynamic stretching and static stretching is very simple. The exercises are virtually the same. What changes is the speed and the time each movement is held. With dynamic stretching you are moving as if you were actively exercising. The holds are very short usually 1-2 seconds while you focus on executing the exercises with perfect technique. Static stretching means you get into a position for an exercise and you hold the stretch for 30-60 seconds.
Dynamic stretching should be performed right before you are about to get your workout in. Static stretching should be done way before dynamic stretching and tools such as foam rollers are very useful. Static stretching is also to be performed post workout but never replace static stretching for dynamic stretching.
How do you improve range of motion in shoulders?
The shoulders are one of the most abused and misused muscles in general. Bodybuilders especially are very susceptible to shoulder injuries due to their emphasis on muscular isolation. When I used to bodybuild, it was all about growing the muscles and creating this look of wide big full shoulders, huge quads and calves. Your typical guru would tell you to avoid working out abs so that you could maintain a tiny waist. Most bodybuilders have such bad range of motion that they don’t squat to full depth. They instead use leg extension machines, leg presses, hack squat machines, and leg curls. All designed to isolate muscles throwing the natural balance completely out of wack.
If you want healthy shoulders focus on exercises that not only challenge your strength, but stability such as overhead carries. Work on stimulating the rotator cuff muscles and work them as much as you should the front and side deltoids. Make sure you stretch your chest as having overactive pectoral muscles and over stimulating the side deltoids can lead to cross axis syndrome.
Foam Rolling:
One of the muscles you want to foam roll and release is your lats. This will allow you to better move your shoulder blades. Another muscle you want to foam roll to improve shoulder mobility is your chest. When foam rolling, always remember to follow that up with stretches of those muscles.
Foam rolling is a way to Self Myofascial Releae (SMR). My favorite muscles to myofascial release are my lats, my entire back but do not SMR your lower back, my hamstrings, shins, shoulders and chest. Try to do SMR in combination with static stretching. Then move to dynamic stretching and then get into your workout. This will significantly improve your performance as you will no doubt improve your range of motion. However, this does not mean you will automatically have sufficient range of motion. If you are lacking ROM you need to eliminate your muscle imbalances and keep SMR’ing and stretching.
How do you improve range of motion in knees
Like I mentioned before, go to my videos and get a workout in with me. I put so much emphasis on proper technique that most people that train with me can squat to full depth and have zero knee problems. I squat over 400 lbs ass to grass without knee sleeves and have never had knee problems.
Range of motion in the knees starts with proper movement of your hips. It also starts with proper range of motion of your ankles. When people tell me they can’t squat to depth because they have bad knees, when I ask them to demonstrate for me an air squat, I immediately notice the lack of technique they have.
Bad squats:
People with bad squats start their squat by dipping with the knees. Their knees go forward which causes all the weight from their body to be transferred directly to the knee joint. Many times they have stiff ankles from over active tight calves and zero dorsiflexion (raising the ball of your feet up). This is because in bodybuilding people do tons of calf raises and zero dorsiflexion work. They have zero hip hinge and no ability to stabilize the feet in order to create outer rotation of the femur (thighs).
Good squat:
A good squat starts with the ability to hinge. Break at the hips first as if a rope was on your waist and was forcefully yanked back. This drives your hips back and your upper torso forward to about 45 degrees. Keep your chest up to maintain and neutral or slightly arched back. Grab the floor with your feet, crunch them until your plantar is pumped, and continue crunching them as you squat down. While your grabbing the floor with your feet turn your thighs and knees out creating room for your hips to fall and allow you to squat to full depth.
As soon as you follow those steps you will see how much more range of motion you will create and your knees will never hurt again when you squat.
Foam Rolling:
Following the same advice as foam rolling the shoulder, for the knees you want to foam roll your calves and your tibial muscles. Additionally spend a good amount of time on your IT band, TFL, hamstrings, and lower quads. Remember to follow the foam roll with stretches specifically for those muscles. Start moving using compound movements and avoid isolated exercises such as leg extensions and leg curls.
Conclusion about range of motion:
Range of motion is all about the little muscles surrounding your joints. It’s about maintaining balance between the prime movers and synergists. Avoid isolation exercises. You do not need to do isolation to create a fantastic body. If you have weaknesses diagnosed by a physical therapist or if you’re experienced enough through self diagnosis, then you can do isolation work.
If you train with functional compound movements you will avoid over stimulating and creating muscular imbalances. Stretch out the most common muscles around the most common injured joints. Shoulders, knees and ankles.
If you want to further understand what that looks like, workout with me live on YouTube. I also have training packages if you need a coach. Check out the information in the links below.
Frequently asked questions about range of motion:
What increases range of motion?
The best way to increase range of motion is by stretching. One thing to note about stretching is that we are assuming you have a tight muscle. Tightness can be created either by previous stimulation due to exercises or over time due to a muscle imbalance. When you have an imbalance not only is stretching required but foam rolling and balancing the imbalanced strengths between muscles.
Does stretching increase range of motion?
Stretching will automatically increase range of motion assuming you have tightness due to an imbalance of muscles. Whenever you exercise a muscle damage is caused to the tissue and you may be sore the next day. Stretching will immediately release the muscle if you wish to perform with that muscle again the next day. However, repeated exercise of a muscle without training the other muscles involved in the movement may cause compensations and future conditions. Frozen shoulder is an example where the deltoids become tight due to over work but the rotator cuff is neglected. Over time you develop cross axis syndrome that results in frozen shoulder.
What are the 3 types of range of motion?
The 3 types of range of motion (ROM) are passive, active, and active passive. Passive is when someone helps you stretch as some trainers do for their clients after a workout. You are providing an external source and is usually performed in a static stretch method. Active range of motion is in movement. This is performed in a dynamic type of stretching method although you can do it statically but there is no external force. Active passive is very similar to active but an external force is also included. The difference between passive and active passive is that in passive the external force is doing all the work. When you lay down and someone stretches your hamstring , if they raise your leg and push back without you doing anything that’s passive. If you do a split and someone is pushing you down to get further down on the stretch that’s active passive. If you’re just doing the split and letting gravity do all the work that’s technically active.
What is the best method for increasing flexibility?
Take a yoga class. Flexibility is different from range of motion. For flexibility stretching is key because you lengthen the muscles. The more you stretch the better your flexibility gets.
What are some range of motion exercises?
The thing about range of motion is that there is a delicate balance between flexibility, stiffness, and strength. If you want to carry a heavy load overhead, you need to have enough flexibility to create a straight line between your center of gravity in order to hold the heaviest load possible. You also need some stiffness because being hyper-mobile will hinder you being able to keep a weight overhead efficiently. Strength is critical because you can’t allow a joint to collapse. You need to have a solid base starting with your legs and going up through your glutes and core.
How do you get flexible in a week?
The best advice I can give you is to start taking a yoga class. If you don’t have access to a yoga class start stretching. If you can grab a hold of a foam roller foam roll first and then follow that up with stretching.
How can you increase the range of movement in a joint?
If you lack range of movement in a joint most likely it’s because it’s tight and weak. Tightness you can decrease by foam rolling and stretching. However, an imbalance where one muscle is too weak compared to it’s counterpart, will create tightness in the weak muscle. This means you have to strengthen the muscle.
How do I lengthen my quads?
There a few different quad stretches you can do to lengthen your quads. You can do the standing quad stretch where you kick your leg back, grab it with your hands, and just bring your heel to your hamstrings or glutes. Depending how tight your quad is this may be enough. You can also sit on the floor, flex one leg behind you or both, and lie down slowly. You’ll notice that as you start lowering your self backwards your quads will stretch and lengthen.
Can you become flexible after 30?
There is no age as to when you can become flexible. The one thing that happens with age is that you develop compensations that create extreme tightness in muscles which must also be worked on. In essence age only makes it harder to become more flexible if you don’t take care of yourself.
Is it OK to stretch every day?
Stretching every day should be mandatory to keep balance especially if you workout every day.
What causes extremely tight quads?
A hard bout of exercise can cause quads to get very tight due to the tissue damage you create. The body however heals within 48-72 hours. Another thing that can cause quads to get tight is an imbalance. If you don’t train quads right say for example you quarter squat and use the leg extension machine with light weight and high reps, but train hard and heavy with deadlifts and leg curls, you’ll develop strong hamstrings and glutes but a weak quad. This will create tightness on your quads. A tight muscle is a weak muscle.
Why are my quads so weak?
Strength is relative to how you train. If you don’t follow the right strength training program then your quads will never build strength. Many people have trouble squatting so they never reach their full potential. Your quads may get weak and tight due to not training them correctly and not following a true strength program.
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