Powerlifters are known for using supplementary exercises to target weak points in their competition lifts. If you struggle with a hard sticking point in your squat, bench press and deadlift, it’s not as simple as continuing to practice those movements; it’s often best to use a close variation of the competition lift that further increases the difficulty of the movement to teach you to self-correct at your weakest point.
It’s never a bad idea to make the BOTTOM of the lift harder. Regardless of whether your sticking point seems to be the bottom, middle or lockout of the lift, the reality is that many technical issues originate from something that happens at the start of the concentric portion: out of the hole in the squat, off the chest in the bench press and off the floor in the deadlift. I’m a big fan of making the bottom of the lift more difficult through supplementary lifts that either extend the range of motion or take away leverage, such as:
Squat
– Below-parallel box squats (shown below, removes any bounce/rebound out of the hole)
– Below-parallel pin squats
– Long-duration pause squats (3-5 seconds)
– Narrow stance high bar squats
– Front squats
Bench Press
– Feet-up bench press (shown below, removes leg drive and reduces how much you can arch your back)
– Close grip bench press
– Incline bench press
– Long-duration pause bench press (3-5 seconds)
– Pin press (as close to the chest as possible without touching)
– Dead bench (as close to the chest as possible without touching)
Deadlift
– Snatch grip deadlifts (shown below, increases range of motion, makes it tougher to engage lats, and squat shoes make it harder to engage hamstrings and shift weight to center of feet)
– Deficit deadlifts
– Pause deadlifts
Sticking Points: Leverage vs. Deceleration
I’ve always approached sticking point training from the perspective of leverage. As leverages get worse, the bar slows down and technique is more likely to go out the window. Common sticking points like slightly above parallel on the way up on squats, 2-3 inches off the chest on bench and midshin on the deadlift are due to poor leverages and/or poor mechanical advantage of the main joints and muscles responsible for that lift, right?
A recent Stronger By Science podcast brought up an interesting point about bar speed being a huge factor in sticking points. This seems obvious after thinking about it (poor leverages and loss of bar speed go hand-in-hand), but regardless of whether you’ve got great leverages or poor leverages for a certain lift, maximum bar acceleration is going to occur right at the start of the concentric phase and fall off sharply afterward. Therefore, making the bottom of the lift more difficult in order to teach the lifter to accelerate violently and continue to push hard throughout the entire lift is a solid strategy for beating sticking points. Give the podcast a listen here (starting at 1:35:54):
Compensatory Acceleration Training
A concept called Compensatory Acceleration Training (CAT), coined by the legendary Dr. Fred Hatfield and made aware to me by Josh Bryant, involves moving the weight as fast as possible regardless of what weight is on the bar. Whether you’re squatting 135 or your 1-rep max, you should be trying to blast the bar through the roof with every rep. This makes lighter weights more productive through increased recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibers and gets you in the frame of mind of punishing every single rep. This mindset shift alone is something that separates great lifters from average ones.
The pioneering sports scientist Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky defined the dynamic effort method as moving a submaximal load as fast as possible. Force equals mass times acceleration, so moving light loads quickly is a viable way to increase force production. This theory gave way to the speed work days made popular by Westside Barbell and disciples of the conjugate method. However, I’ve heard many accomplished coaches and lifters say in not so many words that dynamic effort days are unnecessary because if you buy into CAT training, every warmup set is speed work.
When I think of CAT training, I always think back to Eric Lilliebridge’s deadlift videos. When he was on the top of the world of raw powerlifting a few years back, I’d always be in awe of how fast he and his teammates would lift the bar on warmups. They didn’t HAVE to do this, but they did, and no doubt it paid off when they got to heavier weights.
Get Low, Move Fast
So if you’re trying to beat a tough sticking point, try the combined strategy of making the bottom of the lift harder via supplementary exercises AND practicing CAT training during all warmups and working sets. A stronger, faster bottom end (don’t laugh) is never a bad thing.