Breaking Barriers: The Sticking Point Uncovered

Article by David Sandler, MS, CSCS, CCS, HFD

Historically, the bench press, among strength training athletes, has been considered the base mark of strength. The bench press far and away outweighs any other exercise in terms of the number of training programs it is employed within. In fact this exercise is so heralded, it is always performed on the same day, without fail: Monday, AKA “International Bench Press Day.” Yet, with all the practice, this exercise still torments even the greatest of lifters as the secret mystery to mastering the sticking point has yet been revealed.  Deep in the sarcophagus of lifting lore lies the answer to “How do I prevent the sticking point from occurring?”.  At last, the answer…….

          You Don’t.  You don’t need to read any further, unless you are prepared to work hard, because the truth is, no matter who you are, you will inevitably find a precarious position during the lift that affords much frustration.   In fact, a sticking point exists in most multi-joint dynamic exercises.

 

 

          Simply put, your body is a complex system of levers built for speed, not strength.  When you try to challenge your body against its normal will, meaning moving an object along an undesirable path, the body’s architecture prevents you from achieving certain things, or at the very least, changes the way in which you do things.  The theory of levers holds the answer.  To help explain this, lets quickly examine the bench press mechanically.  We know that the bench incorporates the pectoralis major, the anterior deltoids, and the triceps (among other muscles).  Although each of these muscles perform different actions at separate joints, the goal is to perform a single effort combining all muscles. While a muscle pulls on a bone (remember muscles do not push, they only pull bones together causing a pushing action), it forces the bone to follow a path around the joint.  The joint acts as a pivot point causing a rotational force known as torque.  Each muscle exerts a specific amount of force according to the angle and velocity of the movement. During the initial push, the pecs (and lats for a brief moment) exert more force then the triceps and deltoids because these muscles are not yet in a position to contribute fully. As we continue through the motion, the triceps and deltoids become more active helping contribute to the overall force.  However, during this transition, the interaction between the pecs, tris and deltoids in concert with the fall-off from the lats, causes a decreased force production and hence decreased velocity in the bar. The further the object being lifted gets away from the line of action of the muscle, the more force is required by the muscle to overcome the resistance.  The entire system of muscles acting together to produce a movement forms a system of varying torques.  Whew, that just about confuses us too.  You can imagine how complicated the system becomes when each muscle has different points of origin (where the muscle originates), different points of insertion (where the muscle pulls against), different shapes and sizes, and different lines of pull.  It is only natural to assume, that with all these factors contributing to lifting a barbell, that at some point, competition between opposing muscle groups will cause a period where the overall production of force is minimized. This, my friends, is the reason why we have a sticking point.  At some point during any movement, a barbell will slow down while the muscle fights through the transition of least leverage. Of course, the more complicated a lift and more joints/muscle groups involved, the more likely a sticking point is to occur (even multiple sticking points may occur)

 

          The easy solution to overcoming the sticking region is to cheat.  Yep, push the bar right through the sticking region bypassing the most difficult muscle taxing part of the lift by using some other non-related body part.  Hmmm, my guess is that you have all tried this before, yet the sticking point still exists!  There is only so far you can elevate you butt off the bench and only so many CPR compressions you can do to avoid cracking your sternum before you finally give up! Not to mention there is a butt elevation limit requirement by most gyms; you should not be able to slide a triple-decker wedding cake under it!  In fact cheating merely augments the sticking region because the muscle required to overcome it are never properly trained.  Therefore, the very first rule is to use proper technique and proper form.

          Secondly, remember the old saying, the fastest way to get to another point is to travel in a straight line.  Rule number two: avoid extraneous horizontal bar movement.  The bar should travel in as-close-to-a-straight-line-as-possible.  Yes it will follow a slight curvilinear motion, however, it should be minimal.

          Third rule:, the bar’s line of force (the bar would fall straight down due to gravity), should be directly over the major force line being produced by your body.  That means, the force should travel down through the wrist, through the forearm to the elbow and the bar should be parallel to your upper arms when at the chest. 

          A fourth and final rule is to maintain body stability on the bench. Any erroneous movement, will inevitably steal from your overall ability to produce that all important linear force.

 

          If you are still reading, you have begun to win the battle.  The following list represents the top 10 ways to improve your chances of powering through the sticking point without cheating.

1.     Dig your shoulders into the bench, and keep your butt on the bench. This allows you to stabilize your shoulder capsule (minimize horizontal bar movement) and keeps the bar moving upward in a straight line.

2.     Wrap your thumb around the bar.  A very common error used by many who were improperly informed that the thumbless grip isolates the chest better. In fact, there is no difference in muscle activation, however, a small “extra” torque is created about the wrist as the bar mass does not travel down the forearm (rule #3).

3.     Actively squeeze the bar. The contraction of the forearms when the bar is squeezed creates a solid connection to the bar allowing the force developed by the the pecs, delts, and tris to be transmitted more effectively to the bar.

4.     Use your legs.  Place your feet wide apart, to stabilize you body, and slightly backward so there is a sharp ankle angle.  As you press the bar up, the contribution from the legs keeps your body tight and forces your butt to stay on the bench.

5.     Retract your scapula while lowering the bar.  During the descent, actively squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Again this stabilizes the shoulder, but more importantly, when you push, the first portion of your bench will incorporate the lats adding increased force to your push.

6.     Explode off your chest.  Imagine a chunk of TNT is on your chest. When the bar touches your chest, rather then bounce, pause for a moment then try to ignite the TNT and drive the bar up past the sticking point.

7.     Lower the bar slowly.  You spend a huge amount of effort trying to slow a bar down, not to mention trying to control the rebound effect when the bar makes contact with your chest.  A controlled descent allows for the stored energy and the muscles elastic properties to aid in producing the force for the concentric portion of the lift.

8.     The bar should touch across the nipples, not much lower.  When the bar is at the chest, you should have a 90^o angle with the armpit and a 90^o angle with the elbow. This can be achieved by taking a slightly wider then shoulder width grip or even wider.

9.     Protract the shoulders (round the upper back) and drive your body into the bench away from the bar when you explode out of the bottom. Although this is hard to actually do by attempting to push your body into the bench, you help drive the weight up.

10. Take a huge breath in when you lower the bar. This expands the chest, shortening the distance the bar has to travel.  When you get to the bottom, as you explode the bar off your chest, forcefully exhale to help power the bar up.

 

Don’t train the shoulders too soon before you bench. Keep at least 48 hours of shoulder-free work prior to a big bench day.  The deltoid muscles are the weakest link, they fatigue quickly and limit the overall lifting capacity. If the bench press is the focus of your training consider making the first training session after a day off from your heavy bench session.

 

Try training using pause repetitions occasionally. This forces the muscles to work even harder to generate force.  This added strength will power your way through the sticking point.  

 

There is no way to truly train portions of the lift, contrary to the opinions of many of our colleagues. While training partials has benefit, if you cannot get the bar moving off your chest with enough velocity, you will fail at some point.  The best way to get through the sticking point is to increase the initial power and drive off your chest. Always focus on being as explosive as possible as the bar comes off your chest.  Drive all the way through the movement, continually attempting to accelerate the bar. You may not move very fast if you are using a heavy weight but the intent to move fast is the crucial ingredient. Timing transitions and bounces are very difficult and should be avoided.

 Some Training Suggestions

There are many great exercises, but few help truly improve the bench other then hardcore, gut-wrenching benching.  Meaning go all out, work different grips such as wide and narrow into the program.  Doing various angled bench versions and dips also complement the bench well, however, the sticking point remains to be an issue.  If at all possible, use dumbbells in your auxiliary exercises as these will help to increase efforts from your shoulder stabilizers in controlling extraneous bar movement.   And most importantly, USE WEIGHT YOU CAN HANDLE, otherwise you are wasting your time.  If you can’t lift it, you can’t force yourself to lift it. Reduce the weight, work the technique and you will surely improve your chances of beating the sticking point.