Understanding and Overcoming the Sticking Point in Resistance Exercise

Abstract

In the context of resistance training the so-called "sticking point" is commonly understood as the position in a lift in which a disproportionately large increase in the difficulty to continue the lift is experienced. If the lift is taken to the point of momentary muscular failure, the sticking point is usually where the failure occurs. Hence the sticking point is associated with an increased chance of exercise form deterioration or breakdown. Understanding the mechanisms that lead to the occurrence of sticking points as well as different training strategies that can be used to overcome them is important to strength practitioners (trainees and coaches alike) and instrumental for the avoidance of injury and continued progress. In this article we survey and consolidate the body of existing research on the topic: we discuss different definitions of the sticking point adopted in the literature and propose a more precise definition, describe different muscular and biomechanical aspects that give rise to sticking points, and review the effectiveness of different training modalities used to address them.

Fig. 1

Defining the sticking point/region. a A conceptual illustration of a popular definition of the sticking region adopted by van den Tillaar et al. [11] amongst others. b Region identified as the sticking region despite the minimal drop in the velocity of the load. c The aforementioned definition identifies no sticking region despite the clear and rapid performance drop approximately half way through the lift. d An easily completed lift

Fig. 2

Muscle force modulation. a A typical force-length diagram (not to scale) for an isolated striated muscle [35]. Two components contributing to total force production (T, black) are shown: active (A, blue) and passive (P, red). Total forces for different levels of muscle activation are shown in black in different styles (100 % solid, 80 % dashed, 60 % dotted). Minimum and maximum denote respectively the lengths of the muscle when it is fully contracted and maximally stretched. b A typical force-velocity diagram (not to scale) for an isolated striated muscle [26]. −ve and +ve denote respectively negative and positive contraction velocities, the former corresponding to the shortening of a muscle and the latter to its elongating