Breaking Down the Sticking Points in Your Major Lifts

When your body's force production can't keep up with the lift's mechanical needs at a certain joint angle, you'll hit a sticking point. You could grind out of the hole or stall in the middle of the squat. If you're not in the right place or have weak pecs, the chest-level shift on the bench can show it. When you deadlift, your knees often give out because your weight changes. The first step is to figure out exactly where your weak spot is.

What Actually Causes a Sticking Point​

A sticking point isn't just where you're weaker overall; it's also where the mechanical demands of a lift temporarily make it too hard for you to keep the bar moving. Several things cause this. Biomechanics are very important because the angles of your joints change your leverage during a movement, which makes some positions harder no matter how strong you are overall. Muscles can't all contribute the same amount of force at every point because force production changes as you move. Your technique also has an impact on this. A small forward lean, a change in the bar's path, or a break in your bracing can all make an already tough situation even harder. To find your real weak spot, you need to know which of these things is to blame, not just guess that you need to lift more weight.

Squat Sticking Points and How to Fix Them​

The squat's trouble spot is usually in one of three places: out of the hole, through the mid-range, or close to lockout. Each of these places shows a different problem. Having trouble getting out of the hole is usually a sign of weak quads or bad bracing. You may be falling under the weight of the bar if it moves forward as you rise. A mid-range grind is often a sign of weak glutes or hip tension that doesn't stay in place. Stalling close to lockout usually means that the hip extensors are weak or that the posterior chain drive has broken down.
To train weak spots, make sure the change fits the zone. Paused squats help you get stronger out of the hole, pin squats work on the mid-range, and tempo squats make you more controlled all over. Changing up your exercises will only help if they are tailored to your specific problem.

Why the Bench Press Stalls at Chest Level​

The squat is a good way to work out your lower body, but one of the most annoying things about the bench press is that it's easy to get stuck off the chest. When this point gets stuck, it's usually a sign of weak pecs or bad upper-body positioning, not a general lack of strength. If you don't retract and compress your scapulae before you unrack, you won't have the stable base you need to drive the bar off your chest. When you do paused bench presses, you stop the motion and force your muscles to work from a standing start, which directly targets this weak spot. Spoto presses, in which you stop just above the chest, build power in the same way. If you do these variations along with progressive overload on your regular bench press, you'll build the base strength you need to get past those bench press plateaus and reach lockout strength.

Deadlift Sticking Points at the Knee​

A lot of lifters who have trouble with the knee part of the deadlift are actually having trouble with their leverage instead of their strength. As the bar goes past your knees, your torso angle changes, and your hips have to extend through a position that is very bad for their mechanics.
Most of the time, knee sticking points in the deadlift are caused by weak mid-range power rather than a broken setup. You can directly work on this position with block pulls that start just below the knee, Romanian deadlifts, and hip thrusts. Doing these exercises regularly along with your main deadlift will help you get the strength you need to break through that range.

Accessory Work That Targets Each Sticking Point​

Once you know where a lift fails, accessory work can be used to fix it instead of just adding more work. In strength training, each part of a lift has its own strength curve, and the right equipment should be used in the spot where you're weaker.
Box squats and pause squats can help with squat sticking points near the bottom. They build positional strength and speed up the rate of force development out of the hole. When you have problems with your mid-range deadlift, Romanian deadlifts and block pulls can help. Spoto presses and paused variations can help with chest weakness in the bench press.
Clear up any lift problems right away; don't guess. If you're having trouble with lockout, board presses or pin presses will overload that area. If you match the accessory to the position, you'll be able to put your strength where it counts most.

 

[kev_b1989]

The lift feels fine until one specific part of the movement suddenly slows down. Paying attention to that pattern has helped me figure out which part of the lift actually needs work instead of treating every missed rep as a general strength issue.

 

[Amanda_R]

This is something I’ve been trying to pay more attention to lately. I used to just think “I’m weak here” and keep hammering the whole lift, but it makes more sense to figure out exactly where the rep starts falling apart.