#1 Range Training (Short & Long Range Tension)- A New Era In Athletic Success

Short range training emphasises the muscles. It connects the brain to the body and brings circulation to the area without causing a lot of tissue damage.

In the extreme these movements are "crampy" (cause cramps) and will cause the muscle to adapt to stop cramping as the muscles learn to work in positions that were previously inaccessible.

Long range training emphasises the connective tissues and creates more hypertrophy by creating more inflammation and more tissue remodelling against the threat of a future tear.

In the extreme these movements are one step short of being on the rack... natural knee extensions, slant board jefferson curls and lying bicep / sefto curls are some great examples of movements that pull the fascia across multiple joints and cause serious remodelling when load and speed are used.

Getting the most from the muscle at both ends seems to support tissue health and function.

MANIPULATING THE TOOLS

By playing with LOAD, LEVERAGE and SPEED we can create a lot of TENSION with short range movements also like Poliquin Step-ups and Romanian Rhythm Squats.

Long range movements can be made gentle by going very slow and using light loads.

Don’t only consider if the movement is short or long range.

Poliquin & Other Step-Ups also create significant loading on the meniscus and internal structures of the knee.

#6 Joint Dominance is the key complimentary concept to understand that is independent of load on the muscle and tendon and independent of short or long range.

Both step-ups and reverse nordics place strong adaptive stress on the internal structures of the knee.

ELIMINATING THE WEAKNESS

Structural balance was a great progression in strength training.

This was a progression on the idea that the back squat should be a certain percentage of the snatch and the bench press etc.

Structural balance took it one step further to balance each muscle (isolation movement) of the shoulder, arm and forearm versus those bigger movements.

Great reductions in injury and increases in performance were the result.

Hidden within the ratios was a balance between short, middle and long ranges.

But the concept wasn't well applied or understood for the lower body.

ATHLETIC RANGE or MUSCLE BALANCE are the terms I've used for this idea.

I've seen it work over and over again across all joints of the body.

Combined with other ATG principles like the pain free pump and progressive speed miracles have become everyday occurrences.

There is more work to do with systemising and sharing this knowledge with the world.

Now you have it and you're probably one of very few coaches in your city / state / country who has it.

Ben and I have used this knowledge to get previously unreachable results... now it's yours.

Short Range Tension / Healing Strength & Neural Drive

Compared to long range tension for a given tension type:

Short range movements stimulate muscle mass more than connective tissue.

Have lower tension for a given load because the tissue isn’t already under stretch.

Take less time to recover from because of lower inflammation.

Have more healing and recovery effect due to blood flow.

Make the muscles shorter.

Result in less connective tissue in the muscle.

Have less benefit for plyometric gains.

Increase mind muscle connection because they rely on the CNS for tension more than long range movements.

Increase mind muscle connection by high volume

Program Short Range Tension:

Before long range.

More frequently - eg. daily ROKP.

Lighter loads for higher repetitions.

Understanding and applying the difference between short and long range will change your training and coaching career!

Long Range Tension / Stretch Strength Long range compared to short range with cause:

Increased inflammation

More tendon strain

More muscle damage

Longer recovery times

More muscle hypertrophy

More tendon growth

Program Long Range Tension:

Less frequently.

Light loads for high repetitions with pauses in the stretch position when the goal is gentler remodelling / post injury.

Heavy loads for lower repetitions when the goal is muscle mass or bulletproofing for plyometrics.

After short / mid range training to prepare the tissues.

A movement is long range if the target muscle is under stretch while contracting.

Extreme Long Range movements pull on whole fascial slings like the Slant Jefferson Curl, Reverse Nordic, Smith Curls etc.

Range Scale 1-5.

We can rank movements from 1-5 on the SHORT to LONG scale.

1 being very short range with the shortest part of the movement being hardest.

5 being very long range with a complete fascial stretch.

This is based on when the movement is hardest and if there is complete fascial shortening / lengthening as well as the focus muscle action.

Chasing Pain VS Short To Long Sequencing.

If the goal is to cause damage to the muscle making the muscle cold then training them in the long range with high tension repetition types would make sense.

NOBODY is advocating that method.

Less crazy but more common is to train long range movements or stretching before heating the tissues using short range movements.

If tension progression is conservative with light loads and slow speeds this can work fine.

Generally better sessions will be achieve more often with better recovery if we use short to long training.

Train the most connective tissue dominant movements later in the workout.

When performance is the goal being conservative with short to long will allow increased frequency of training and increased training volume.

Given similar levels of focus and exercise selection the person who can train most often will get the best results.

Range Training allows you to consistently practice more than the competition because more work can be done for a given amount of tissue damage.

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#1 Range Training (Short & Long Range Tension)- A New Era In Athletic Success