Lengthened partials, the latest training concept
August 5, 2024
THE GROWING EVIDENCE AROUND ‘LENGTHENED PARTIALS’ AND THE BENEFITS THEY CAN PROVIDE TO GYM-GOERS
As the field of sport science advances, there are numerous amounts of research studies being published daily. Over the past year, a new training concept has gained some traction in the fitness world, and it’s referred to as ‘lengthened partials. Whether you’re an athlete, allied health professional or even just a general gym-goer, learning about this type of training can provide your body with a different muscle building stimulus and also give you a different approach to your training.
Lengthened partials stem from using partial range of motion (ROM) during an exercise. Partial ROM can be done at short muscle lengths, for example on a bicep curl, working from the top of the curl, down to 90 degrees and back up. However, partial range of motion can also be done at long muscle lengths, for example on the same bicep curl, working from the bottom of the curl, up to 90 degrees and back down – this is essentially what ‘lengthened partials’ are.
Initial research on this topic came from an article in 2021 which measured participants muscle hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass) on the leg extension when doing either full ROM or partial ROM on the exercise. The study concluded that participants who did partial ROM during the exercise had higher levels of muscle hypertrophy than participants who did full ROM. Another study in 2023, saw an increase in calf muscle hypertrophy when performing ‘lengthened partials’ instead of full ROM on a calf raise exercise.
How is this possible?
- While it’s hard to exactly pinpoint what is causing these adaptations, past studies have shown that muscle strength and mass increases when tension is applied directly to the muscle.
- Therefore, experts believe, when training at longer muscle lengths (and performing lengthened partials), it provides the muscle with the most amount of tension possible (during the stretched position) which can therefore translate to greater muscle hypertrophy.
What does this mean for you?
- While lengthened partials have shown positive results thus far, it shouldn’t be seen as a complete replacement for full ROM training.
- Having complete muscle contraction during your exercises provides its own benefits but lengthened partials can be included as a different sort of stimulus.
- Next time you're in the gym, have a go with doing your set at full range of motion and then as you started to fatigue, switching to partial range of motion at the lengthened position to finish the exercise.
What if I’m injured?
- In the field of exercise rehabilitation, lengthened partials become even more important.
- When someone is injured, they may experience more pain and discomfort during the peak contraction of an exercise.
- Therefore, by implementing lengthened partials into your rehabilitation program, you can still achieve great muscle stimulus and hypertrophy while also limiting some of the range of motion that could be causing exacerbations in pain levels.
While lengthened partials still require more research, they are showing positive signs for muscle-building enthusiasts. Next time, you find yourself injured or just getting bored of your usual gym program – try out lengthened partials and see how you find it. As always, if injured, ensure you consult with a qualified health professional before attempting the above training method.
Nick Del Borrello
Workers Compensation Specialist (AEP, ESSAM)
Exercise Rehabilitation Services ‑ WA
As the global population ages and the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions continues to rise, the demand for orthopaedic surgeries has surged dramatically. With this increase comes a growing emphasis on not just the surgical intervention itself, but also on the preoperative phase as a critical window of opportunity to enhance patient outcomes. One of the most promising strategies emerging in this space is prehabilitation—a proactive, personalized approach to preparing patients physically and mentally for surgery. Prehabilitation can be broadly defined as a personalized exercise program designed to improve physical function and optimize recovery outcomes for any upcoming surgical intervention. In the context of workers compensation, prehabilitation offers additional value. By maintaining or even improving a patient’s physical function prior to surgery, individuals are often able to remain engaged in modified or light-duty work roles. This not only supports their psychological well-being and financial stability but also contributes to faster and more sustainable return-to-work outcomes post-surgery. A recent meta-analysis by Punnoose et al. 2023, found that a targeted prehabilitation program increased muscle strength, improved joint function and led to a higher health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores. These findings were consistent with patients undergoing Total Knee Replacements (TKR), Total Hip Replacements (THR) and lumbar spine surgery. Some clinical applications are listed below: Targeted approach of 4-6 weeks, with 2 sessions per week. This aligns with physiological evidence suggesting that a minimum of 4–6 weeks of strength training is needed for neuromuscular adaptations. Mixture of supervised and unsupervised intervention Multimodal programs (e.g. combining exercise with education or psychological support) may enhance outcomes By improving outcomes and reducing recovery timeframes, prehabilitation stands out as a cost-effective, proactive approach to treatment. James Chandler Workers Compensation Specialist ‑ Team Leader South (AEP, ESSAM) Exercise Rehabilitation Services – WA
As Exercise Physiologists, a large part of our role is to empower an injured worker to integrate exercise into their lifestyle – something that is easier said than done for everyone! A common misconception about exercise, is that, for an effective workout, it must be a gruelling 1-hour session in a gym or a 10km stomach churning run, however this is not the case! Here are some alternatives and strategies to gradually make positive changes to your life: One easy way is to add movement to tasks you already do. Walking or biking instead of driving short distances, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, holding your newborn as you perform a few quick (and safe!) squats or completing short exercises during TV commercials are simple ways to stay active without setting aside extra time. Another is to schedule ‘mini’ workouts like any other appointment. Set aside just 20 to 30 minutes a few times a week—whether in the morning, during lunch, or in the evening. Utilising exercise equipment that we give you during our initial assessment and picking a handful of exercises that you may particularly enjoy, is a great shorter alternative. Treating these moments as important and ‘you’ time can help build a consistent habit. Exercising with others can make it more fun. Invite a friend for a walk, join a fitness class, or play a sport with family. When you combine social time with physical activity, it feels less like a task and more like enjoyment. The same goes for a sport or hobby that you may like, whether it’s swimming, yoga, hiking or dancing! Experimenting with the introduction of one of these strategies can be an easier first step to making a positive lifestyle change. With a little planning and creativity, exercise can become a natural part of your lifestyle, helping you stay healthy and energized without adding stress to your day. Alexander Gerry Workers Compensation Specialist (AEP, ESSAM) Exercise Rehabilitation Services – WA
If you have doom scrolled through Instagram/Facebook or YouTube recently you may have been bombarded with advertisements for a slew of different exercise programs. These all usually have something to do with what you value and target you with a preamble on how to get it, how did I shrink my waist size, how do I build muscle or how I rehabbed my knee pain. As an exercise physiologist it's my job to write these programs! Now although I don’t always enjoy interruptions to my news feed of cat videos and rugby highlights, I do actually think a lot of these programmes have merit! I love anything with a bit of structure that can help you progress yourself towards what you care about so today I wanted to write about one of my favourite programs of all time and that is the “Couch to 5km Running Programme” Why Running? I love running as an exercise choice, it gets you outdoors, it has increasing social connections via run clubs/park runs and is completely free! However, it’s hard to jump in to, I see a lot of people getting tripped up by some of the barriers that come with it. A lot of the people I see starting running don’t know about the many choices that come with exercise and in the exercise physiology business we call this the FITT principle! - Frequency – How often are you doing your running? - Intensity – How fast or slow are you running? - Time – How long should I run for? - Type – Why run over biking or rowing? A dedicated programme takes care of these for you, and I think the Couch to 5k programme does a fantastic job of introducing you to all these different ideas. Language! The first thing I love about the “Couch to 5k” is its language. The use of simple and direct language leaves a bit of room for interpretation. You can see clear above on your first Tuesday run you will run for 1 minute and walk for 1 minute. In this small interval that speed is utterly and entirely up to you. Go as slow as you like or as fast as you like however I want you to run for the entire minute! Keeping things simple is so important and this guidance is exactly where I would want you to start off as a beginner runner, have some fun and run! Progression! From week to week the running times can be seen to get bigger and bigger! Slowly but surely these intervals only increase by 1 or 2 minutes at a time. Between each session you will be able to notice small increases, but your fitness catches up with that! The whole point of a programme is that it starts small and works up, no single day itself should feel like an insurmountable workout but by the end you’re able to run a whole 5k! Rest! This program builds in rest days and rest periods so well. Each day is spaced out giving some time for you two recovers but not so much so you can get some fitness in! Within the workouts as well these intervals leave you working for the right amount of time each workout. Goals Too often when working out our goals are too big and lofty. Being able to make big changes start with small actions and goals. You can’t change yourself image in one day so I like the time frame of 6 weeks (in some programmes 6-12 weeks) because by the end we have a set definable goal of what we want to achieve, and we can really feel thar progression of fitness! Mathew Walker Exercise Physiologist Exercise Rehabilitation Services ‑ WA
