A sticking point tells you where a lift becomes difficult. It doesn’t tell you which muscle needs more work.
“The hips shoot up, so the quads are weak.” “The torso folds, so the lower back is weak.” Those are possibilities to investigate. The visible breakdown alone doesn’t establish the cause.
Before choosing accessory work, I want to distinguish between muscular capacity, movement coordination, and the supporting musculature and bracing needed to maintain position. These limitations can exist together, but they call for different programming decisions.
1. Muscular capacity: sometimes the muscle needs to get stronger
A contributing muscle group may be underdeveloped or insufficiently strong relative to the demands of the lift. The answer may involve targeted hypertrophy, strength development, or both.
That doesn’t make “small”, “weak” and “poorly coordinated” interchangeable descriptions. Looking at a muscle doesn’t establish its contribution to a failed lift. The question is whether the relevant musculature can produce the force required for the task.
If muscular capacity is the limitation, develop the relevant tissues and strength. Then assess whether that development transfers back to the lift you are trying to improve.
2. Movement coordination: sometimes they need to perform the movement better
A lifter may have useful strength but struggle to organise the movement effectively. In a squat, that might involve coordinating hip and knee extension, controlling balance and bar position, or reproducing the setup and movement as the load increases.
Adding muscle doesn’t automatically teach those skills. The movement needs appropriate practice, feedback and, where appropriate, exercise constraints. Use a manageable load that allows the trainee to practise a defined execution standard.
An immediate improvement after a cue is useful information. It tells you that changing the execution affected that performance. It doesn’t prove muscular weakness was absent. Keep that qualification when deciding what to train next.
3. Supporting musculature and bracing: the legs need a position to work from
In a squat, the trunk musculature must help maintain the position from which the legs work. Sometimes the legs aren’t the only limit.
A lifter might fail to establish an effective brace, lose that brace during the repetition, or lack sufficient trunk strength or endurance for the demand. Bracing involves coordinated muscular activity rather than one isolated “core muscle”.
Knowing how to brace and being strong enough to maintain it are separate considerations. A programming response may need to develop both the bracing skill and the muscular capacity to hold the required position.
The same breakdown can have different causes
Take a squat in which the hips rise faster than the shoulders. That observation gives you something to investigate. It doesn’t, by itself, prove “weak quads” or “weak lower back”.
Consider muscular capacity, movement strategy, bracing, fatigue and the selected squat variation. Some forward torso inclination is expected. The useful questions are what changes, when it changes, and whether it limits the intended execution.
For example, establish whether the change appears as load increases, as fatigue accumulates, or when the lifter struggles to reproduce the setup. Those observations help direct the next assessment. They still need to be considered alongside relevant strength and execution.
Assess, change one variable, then retest
Stop choosing an accessory exercise from one failed repetition. I want a repeatable basis for the decision:
- Compare repeatable performances. Establish when the breakdown appears and what changes in the lift.
- Change one variable at a time. Keep the comparison useful rather than changing several things and guessing which mattered.
- Assess relevant strength and execution. Consider muscular capacity, coordination and the ability to establish and maintain position.
- Retest the lift. Assess whether the chosen response improves the target performance.
If muscular capacity is insufficient, develop it. If coordination is poor, use appropriate practice and feedback. If support or bracing is insufficient, develop the skill and the strength needed to maintain position. Where the limitations overlap, account for that in the program.
Your accessory exercise needs a reason. Identify the limitation, choose a response that addresses it, then assess transfer back to the lift.
Adapted from my Instagram carousel on sticking points and the limits of a lift, published 9 November 2026.
