If you’ve ever felt pain while lifting, you’ve probably had one of two reactions:
Stop training completely because you’re afraid you’ll make it worse
Push through it because you don’t want to lose progress
Both approaches can backfire. Stopping completely often leads to more stiffness, more weakness, and more sensitivity when you return. Pushing through pain without adjustments often makes irritation worse and turns a manageable issue into something chronic.
Here’s the truth:
Pain doesn’t always mean damage. Sometimes it just means your body is sensitive in a certain range and you haven’t learned how to train around it intelligently.
The smarter option is a third path: Modify the range of motion.
This is one of the most underrated strategies for rehabbing injuries while staying strong. And it’s exactly how we help athletes keep momentum at Bax Performance and Rehab.
Let’s make one thing clear:
Pain is information. Not always damage.
A painful rep doesn’t automatically mean something tore. Often, it means the tissue is irritated, the load is too high for that moment, or your body doesn’t trust a certain position yet.
Your job isn’t to ignore it. It’s to understand it.
Instead of asking: “Should I stop lifting?”
Ask: “How can I change this movement so I can keep training safely?”
That’s where range modification becomes your best tool.
Range modification simply means:
You change how far you move into a painful position, without abandoning the lift entirely.
It’s not a “cop-out.” It’s not “half reps forever.” It’s a temporary strategy that keeps training stimulus high while keeping symptoms low.
And the key word is temporary.
Range modification is:
a bridge back to full movement
a way to maintain strength and confidence
a way to prevent complete de-training
If done right, it becomes a controlled progression back to full range, and not an excuse to avoid it.
When pain shows up during training, most people respond by removing the exercise completely.
But here’s the issue: removing load completely often makes you more sensitive, not less. Muscles and tendons adapt to what you ask them to do. If you stop loading them, they lose capacity.
Range modifications allow you to still:
load the tissue
stimulate strength
reinforce motor patterns
keep training consistency
prevent fear-based movement avoidance
This is especially important for lifters, CrossFitters, and athletes who rely on consistent training to stay mentally sharp and physically ready.
One of the most common pain triggers in the gym is bending over, especially in deadlift patterns.
Maybe your low back feels tight. Maybe your hamstrings feel like they’re pulling. Maybe your hip just doesn’t like the bottom position.
A lot of people assume that means: “I can’t deadlift.”
Not true.
The answer is often: Raise the starting position.
Instead of pulling from the floor:
pull from blocks
pull from plates on risers
pull from pins
pull from a rack
This reduces the amount of hinge (and therefore stress) needed at the bottom while allowing you to keep loading the movement pattern.
Then, over time, you progressively work the blocks lower until you return to full range.
The bottom of a deadlift is usually the most demanding position:
deeper hip flexion
longer lever arm on the spine
increased hamstring tension
increased trunk demand
So if that’s the area that irritates your symptoms, it makes sense to temporarily avoid that bottom end range, while still training the rest.
This preserves:
hip hinge coordination
posterior chain strength
confidence under load
And you don’t lose the deadlift entirely.
Range modification applies just as much to pressing movements.
If your shoulder or elbow hurts during bench press, the instinct is: “Bench is off limits.”
But pain during pressing often happens in just one part of the range, usually the bottom position when the shoulder is most stretched.
So instead of scrapping the bench, you can modify the range using:
bench blocks
floor press variations
pin press
Spoto press
board press
This allows you to:
keep loading pressing strength
maintain upper body training capacity
avoid irritating the joint in its most vulnerable position
Partial range pressing allows athletes to keep training without pain while they rebuild capacity.
This is a big mindset shift. Rehab isn’t about living in bubble wrap.
The goal is: keep pain low and controlled.
A common guideline we use:
0–2/10 pain = usually acceptable
3–4/10 pain = caution, depends on irritability
5+/10 pain = usually too much
The key is that pain should not:
spike during training
worsen as the workout continues
linger worse for 24–48 hours after
Range modifications are only valuable if they lead somewhere.
Here’s how to progress properly:
Start with the range where symptoms are minimal (0–2/10).
Train that range with intention:
good technique
controlled tempo
no compensations
Depending on the injury, this might happen:
in the same session
over 1–2 weeks
over 3–6 weeks
There’s no rush. You’re earning the range back.
Even if one lift is modified, you can still train hard:
accessories
tempo work
unilateral work
isometrics
different angles
This keeps the athlete strong and moving forward, rather than stuck waiting.
Range modifications only help if:
✅ they reduce symptoms
✅ they preserve mechanics
✅ they are progressed gradually
They become a problem when:
❌ they avoid a position forever
❌ they allow sloppy form
❌ they reinforce compensations
That’s why coaching matters.
At BPR, we don’t just “modify.” We choose modifications that still train the correct pattern so the return to full range happens naturally.
At Bax Performance and Rehab, we work with athletes who want to stay in the gym while rehabbing, not sit on the sidelines.
Range modification is one of our go-to strategies because it:
respects symptoms
prevents deconditioning
maintains identity
accelerates confidence
And most importantly… it keeps you doing the thing you love while you heal.
Here’s a quick breakdown showing how to use range modifications for lifting with pain:
If pain has been limiting your lifting — but you don’t want to stop training — we can help you modify intelligently, rebuild capacity, and return to full strength.
📞 Call/Text: (925) 397-0399
📧 Email: Abigail@BaxPerformanceRehab.com
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28548712/