Coaching Cues

A coaching cue is a word or phrase you use in order to communicate to a trainee what you want him or her to do during an exercise. It's purpose is to elicit a specific technique or correction to a technique, although it might be indirect.

For example, during a plank a coach might say "lengthen the spine" - you don't really make your spine longer, but the cue helps the trainee stretch themselves into the right position. In a deadlift, a common cue is "push your feet into the floor" - instead of thinking "pull the bar up" if you think of holding onto the bar and using it to drive your feet down, you'll lift it in the proper posture (i.e. you won't round your back because you wouldn't bend your back to drive your feet down).

Mike Robertson has just announced a coaching cues contest. The best thing about this contest is all the cues are publicly viewable, so it's become a small but useful compendium of coaching cues for a variety of lifts and problems.

Share