Why We Focus on Training Through a Full Range of Motion at Uptown Movement

We move to feel, we train to connect. That’s the heart of what we do here at Uptown Movement.

On a practical level that means we really focus on slowing movement down and training through a full range of motion. A full range of motion, it's not just about how far a joint can stretch or how low a squat can go. It’s about exploring the entire spectrum of your movement potential. Yes we can lift more or move faster, but what’s the point? Training isn’t just something to get through, we are building and investing in the future. Using deliberate movements through as big a range as possible allows us to do that. 

Learning the language. 

Think of movement like a conversation between your body and your environment. The fuller the range of motion, the richer the dialogue. When you train through the full arc of a squat or extend fully into a press, you start to learn the language. Initially when you start out training you might feel tempted to stop the movement at the first point of resistance. Or you might feel like you have gone through a full range but in reality just let another joint take over. The more time you spend exploring your end ranges. Slowing down and truely trying hard to get the most out of the movement, the more vocabulary you build. You will start to feel and understand sensations better. You will recognize your joint’s ranges and you will slowly be able to increase them.  

Ultimately the more fluent you become in the language of your body the more you will be able to deal with unexpected situations or conversations (to keep the theme of the analogy). 

Health Is in the Space You Can Move Through

The space your body can comfortably inhabit—that’s ultimately what we are trying to increase. Not only does this mean flexible enough to get into these positions but strong enough to handle the loads once we get into these positions. 

For many of the members, flexibility is not the issue. They have spent years with yoga, dance or performing and a lot of looseness in their bodies.  They are able to sit into the bottom of a squat beautifully but on closer inspection they are just passively dumping into their end ranges and can’t actually get up. 

On the other side of the coin we see a lot of people come in who’ve spent years moving in a narrow band—sitting at desks, commuting in cars, staring at screens. Over time, their body language starts to echo that: limited, restricted, tentative. .

In both cases training through a full range of motion improves that space you have freedom in. By not just training flexibility for the sake of flexibility, or strength for the sake of strength but slowly exploring end ranges and adding weight as we go we end up creating more freedom. Those who are less flexible will find more range eventually, those who are lacking strength will start to feel more comfortable in those ranges that they can get to. 

When we work on a full squat, a deep hinge, or even an overhead press, it’s more than a physical act. It's a way of telling your body, “I trust you. I believe in your capacity to move freely, to move well.” 

Investing in the future:

Regardless of your current flexibility, Old Father Time will start chipping away at that mobility. The more ranges of motion that we use now the more the body will retain in the future. By cutting movements short we start sending very subtle signals to the body that we do not need to maintain these over the decades these ranges start to close in. 

Training through a full range of motion does the opposite, it signals to the body that we need these ranges of motion and will need them in the future. The more we use now, the more we will have access to down the line. 

An Insurance policy…chance at reducing injuries:

Injuries happen, that’s life we get little boo boos. While we can’t avoid them all together, understanding where they come from can help us see that training through a full range of motion is like adding extra safety netting to your physical structure. 

Injuries happen when the load is too much for the structure to handle. That load might be the position you find yourself in, the force that structure withstands as it enters the position or the physical load itself. Bottom line if your body finds itself in a position that it has no previous exposure to, then there is a good chance injury will occur. Think of falling from a curb and twisting an ankle. It’s not the position itself but the load and speed at which you entered the position. 

It’s insurance against life’s unpredictability. By exploring the limits of your mobility, you become less prone to injury, because you're no longer surprised by sudden twists, deep lunges, or awkward reaches. You’ve already been there in your training.

Moving More Freely, Living More Fully

Ultimately, training through a full range of motion is about more than just the gym. It’s about how you move in your everyday life—how you reach, lift, twist, and flow through the world. Training isn’t something we leave behind when we step outside Uptown Movement’s doors. It stays with you, in the way you carry yourself, in the way you breathe into life’s challenges and move with grace when things get tough.

We believe that training should give you more than physical strength. It should offer you freedom—the freedom to move through life with less hesitation, less pain, and more confidence. That’s why we emphasize movement in its fullest expression. 

So, when we ask you to squat deeper, reach higher, or stretch a little further, it’s not just for the sake of the exercise. It’s for you—to remind you of the space you can create, the strength you can access, and the potential you can unlock.

Because training is never just about movement and exercise. It’s about the life it gives you back.