Just because plates are manufactured at a particular diameter doesn’t mean every lift has to be “full range of motion”.
A buddy and I were speaking about the making of concrete weight plates the other day.
He was saying they’d be too thick, I said I’d just make them a larger diameter.
If you’re just lifting in the yard who cares. It’s not a powerlifting meet, and strongman often pulls partials.
“Dude, I’d make them wagon wheel height. I’d just stand on a wicked tall box, probably higher than making it the equivalent of pulling from floor height, should I want more range of motion.”
I’ve pulled a deficit stiff leg at 90% of my deadlift 1rm. I’m stronger lower to the ground, bar at toes, while partials are a muscle builder to me.
Yoke “rack pulls” were great!
↑ Yoke deadlift “from the floor”
The radius of plates was initially settled upon, the design to keep one from crushing their skull should an oly go catastrophically wrong.
I’m not linking that photo, nope.
Certain builds benefit from shortened range of motion.
Dudes built like dwarves, and dudes built like, 6’3″ seems to be the minimum height, elves have very different leverages.
I knew a guy, 6’3″, and he entered college at about 120 – pounds, not kilograms. He showed me photos. Crazy. In his mid to late 20s he had trained himself to classic Arnold, his weight fluctuating between 225 and 245 dependent on how often he ate. Probably the highest metabolism I’ve seen outside of dudes in the 5’8″, 5’9″ 160-170lb range.
He didn’t eat enough and he’d look lighter within the same day.
Not properly hydrated it was the same.
You could see he hadn’t taken in enough food and water!
He’d always have abs, but he was always 2000 calories or a couple water bottles away from starting to appear like a starving skeletor.
Yet…
Doubled his bodyweight in less than a decade! With abs! He put in work!
He could pull all day. It’d be 495 for 4×12 sumo twice a week, a bit less when he pulled conventional, curling 135 for at least sets of 6 strict, good on the leg press, but make him squat? Lol. It’d be maybe 315 maxing, while 225 for 5s was a clusterfuck waiting to turn disaster.
Use the ranges of motion that work for you.
Persistence & Tenacity