When to switch up, when to keep at it

[Blackmetalbunny]

I've noticed a trend in my exercises, as I'm sure a lot of you have - that in any exercises, there'll be these kinks and sticking points that you just have to grit through and eventually as you rack up the repetition volume over the course of a block, they'll smooth out and disappear.

Like for me, a major kink in my squat will be just past the mid-point, or in the deadlift, it'll be getting the hinge to initiate. It'll be hard, but as I progress into week 2 and 3, I'll get stronger and sticking points will strengthen, even out and then work themselves out.

However; as I get stronger, I notice it takes longer and longer for these kinks to work themselves out - suggesting a weak link in the chain that either (1) my biomechanic form is hindering, or (2) I'm just naturally weaker in that part.

How do I know at what point (A) should I start doing assistance work to power through these weak links - like how powerlifters have assistance work to address weakness in the chain, OR is it a matter of (B) just sticking at it - although I'm sure at some point, I'll hit a wall simply because that weak link in the chain either isn't getting sufficient stimulus or activating as strongly as the rest of my body, OR (C) simply switch up the cluster to something else which can stimulate that weak link, but at the same time is a compound exercise which will still provide a global stimulus - e.g. switching from a Bench Press to something like an Overhead Press or Weighted Dip for a time.

I'm not keen on doing assistance work to get a new PR, for me; I'm approaching max strength as one more element to a strong body, and not an end goal like a powerlifter's 1RM. That said, I'm not sufficiently experienced in training to know if doing assistance work or switching to another compound exercise makes better sense. Hence I would like to hear how you guys approach it from your perspective.

[Barkadion]

I have two more points in mind..

D - Readjusting TM
E - Applying flexibility of forced progression

Idea is to progress with the volume by either increasing/decreasing weight on the bar or/and decreasing/increasing ## of sets. There are number of combinations that can be beneficial depending on the particular struggle (aka sticking point).

But personally, I don't see any problems with experimenting with all of your points (A,B,C) and finding what exactly works for YOU.

[Geidi]

One thing I've noticed since switching to TB is that consistently staying with the same exercises 70%-80% of the year produces the best results. The remaining 20-30% is spent switching up clusters for a block or two using different variations of the exercise or different exercises. It's an ideal way for me to back off when things get stale and hit things from another angle, and ultimately to keep progressing. Similar to what Louie Simmons preaches.

I spend most of my time doing the standard Op cluster, and then I spend my 20-30% "back off the same damn exercises!" time doing clusters with things like Front Squat, Romanian or Trap Bar DL, SOHP, and rows. I'm not exacting, but it works out to something like 9-12 weeks with my main cluster, followed by 3-6 weeks with my secondary/anything-goes cluster. I use that anything-goes cluster to hit things from a different angle, work on weak spots etc.