Understanding and Overcoming the Sticking Point in Resistance Exercise
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Understanding and Overcoming the Sticking Point in Resistance Exercise Justin Kompf1 • Ognjen Arandjelovic´2
Ó The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract In the context of resistance training the socalled ‘‘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.
& Ognjen Arandjelovic´ [email protected] Justin Kompf [email protected] 1
Kinesiology Department, Park Center, State University of New York at Cortland, Cortland, NY 13045, USA
2
School of Computer Science, St Andrews University, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SX, Scotland, UK
Key Points Existing definitions of the sticking point (or region) in the literature fail to capture the phenomenon of practical interest adequately. Thorough analysis of the factors underlying the development of sticking points shows the aetiology to be highly multifactorial, demanding careful caseby-case exercise prescription.
1 Introduction The ‘‘sticking point’’ (or sometimes the ‘‘sticking region’’) is a concept commonly used in the context of resistance training [1–3]. Broadly speaking it refers to the part of the range of motion (ROM) in a resistance exercise in which a disproportionately large increase in the difficulty to continue the lift is experienced. If the exercise is performed to exhaustion, failure is often experienced in the vicinity of the sticking point. Hence, two important practical concerns can be immediately observed. The first of these regards performance. If the sticking point is the proverbial weakest link in the execution of an exercise, it is the limiting factor, which can have a profound effect on the load an athlete can employ in training or, in the case of athletes who compete in sports that inherently involve weight lifting (e.g. weightand powerlifting), can directly impact competitive achievement. The second important concern is that of safety and injury prevention. A disproportionate increase in
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the difficulty of the lift, often coupled with a bio
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