10 Exercise Cues that May Be a Game Changer to your Workouts
While working out with a friend and client at a local gym, one of the members came up to us. It was quite the perfect scenario. We were laughing and chatting, this individual respectfully made eye contact, introduced herself, and asked if we might offer her some help. From a distance, she noted that we looked like we knew what we were doing and wondered if we could watch her squat form as she had a bit of discomfort in her low back and knee. Though my friend was quick to mention that I was a personal trainer, I smiled and told her to educate away. Based on experience, I’ve found that you have a better understanding of what you know when you teach it to someone else and I wanted to see what she knew. As I observed her coaching, it had me feeling quite confident that I had done my job in educating her based on what she was sharing with this individual. #ProudCoachMoment
My thoughts from the moment - do you know how when you start working on a new goal, you end up wanting to work on every single thing at once? What happens when you do that? You end up feeling overwhelmed and after a week or two, those goals are long gone. Well, the same goes for exercise cues. It’s so easy to teach some an exercise and want to tell them about every possible cue in the book:
Keep your chest up
Brace your core / pull your belly button to your spine
Engage the lats
Draw your chin back
Pinch your shoulder blades together
Pelvic tilt / tuck your tailbone
Push the floor away
Engage your glutes
Neutral spine
And the list of cues goes on…
However and in both scenarios mentioned above, this only has the individual feeling overwhelmed and unable to remember any one of the cues. So, just like when you focus on a goal, take it one step and one cue at a time. I often like to provide one cue for the individual to focus on and this might be one that can be a game changer based on how they are performing the moment at this time. This also can differ per individual.
In this case, as this individual performed her squat, I noticed her right knee buckling inward. My response:
“Your form is absolutely impeccable…pro status! My only recommendation might be to take a look in the mirror as you squat [a great use of biofeedback] and monitor your right knee as you squat. I noticed that it buckled a bit. Something that could be of help [As I demonstrated the movement]: Feet in, knees out. Otherwise, absolutely lovely form. I’d love to hear your thoughts!”
Once someone crushes that cue, then I’ll trickle in a new one. Again, just like goal-setting - let’s focus on one goal at a time and not move forward until you’ve confidently crushed the current goal. ;)
As this individual performed the squat, I asked if her back was okay. Boom - game changer as all was well and she walked away feeling more confident with her movement. This moment had me thinking about coaching cues that I’ve learned over the last 10+ years. When we have effective exercise cues, we can then execute movements efficiently and pain-free. And when we can move efficiently and pain-free, we can get better results! Hopefully, these can be a game changer to you as they have been for myself and many of my clients.
Note: I’m going to try my best to seek out and share the information from those I’ve learned each cue from. Talk about a blast from the past as I re-watched these videos from 5-10 years ago. Wowza! Do keep in mind that there are SO many exercise cues out there and no one right or wrong way. These are just a few that have worked for me and my clients.
When we have effective exercise cues, we can then execute movements efficiently and pain-free. And when we can move efficiently and pain-free, we can get better results!
10 Exercise Cues that May Be a
Game Changer To your Workouts
1.) Exercise: Deadlift. Exercise Cue: “Show me your logo” by Tony Gentilcore
2.) Exercise: Squat and Deadlift. Exercise Cue: “Feet in, Knees out” by Eric Cressey
3.) Exercise: Plank, more specifically, the RKC Plank. Exercise Cue: “Pull your elbows toward your toes, and your toes toward your elbows” by Bret Contreras.
The Why: It’s quite easy for many to hold a plank. However, many tend to perform the plank with a “soft” versus engaged core while utilizing other parts of the body to keep themselves upright. Thus, this cue not only ensures the core is working but also increases the challenge of the plank.
4.) Exercise: Squat, Deadlift, Bench, most sport-specific skills, bending over to pick something up, etc. Exercise Cue: “Engage your core as if someone was to punch you in the gut.” by Stu McGill
The Why: I can guarantee you’ve heard, “suck it in” or “pull your belly button into your spine” as a means to engage the abdomen. What this does instead is hollow out the abdomen versus engaging the abdomen. As a result, the likelihood of injury and poor performance increases as abdominal hollowing reduces core stability and spinal stiffness.
Research: Vera-Garcia FJ, Elvira JL, Brown SH, McGill SM. Effects of abdominal stabilization maneuvers on the control of spine motion and stability against sudden trunk perturbations. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2007 Oct;17(5):556-67. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2006.07.004. Epub 2006 Sep 22. PMID: 16996278.
5.) Exercise: Lunges, more specifically, Bulgarian Split Squats (aka Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat). Exercise Cue: “Lean forward” by Jordan Syatt.
The Why: This is such an underrated cue but makes a world of a difference. Oftentimes when performing a lunch, I’ll see the individual shooting straight up and almost even hyperextended or leaning too far back. As a result, this creates a ripple effect in the individual and forces them to move in a forward manner - the knee moving severely past the toes. This is not to say that allowing the knee to pass the toes is bad. However, it is not the intention or movement pattern we are looking for with this particular exercise. By leaning forward, we are able to open up the hips and achieve the movement pattern we desire.
6.) Exercise: 1/2 Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch Exercise Cue: “Squeeze the glutes” in order to achieve posterior pelvic tilt versus “tuck your tailbone”.
The Why: First off, I remember exactly when this article was posted back in 2016. Geesh! Anywho, this “pelvic tilt” cue while performing the 1/2 kneeling hip flexor stretch was absolutely a game-changer. I recall when I had a client come in and just plow through these as demonstrated in the first few seconds of the video. When explained that while in anterior pelvic tilt, it wasn’t that she was achieving a stretch of the hip flexor, but instead was experiencing a protective mechanism of her hip capsule that was protecting her from going any further. This was a stretch she performed daily in hopes of ridding this “tight” feeling she was experiencing which most likely only increased the pain she was experiencing on a daily basis. However, this “pelvic tilt” cue when in this position was an absolute game changer. Give this a go and just as Tony describes at the 1:45 mark, you’ll also experience the “eyeball moment”..or the aha moment. Enjoy!
7) Exercise: Any row or pulldown variation Exercise Cue: “Put your shoulder blades in your back pocket”
The Why: When performing a row, the goal most of the time is to work the lats - latissimus dorsi. The lats are an extremely large muscle group and in order to engage them, we want to pull our shoulders back and down. Thus, using the cue “put your shoulder blades in your back pocket” is a great way to get those lats, rhomboids, and other muscles in the proper position for rowing. In addition, when performing a lat pulldown or pull-up variation, you might see the shoulders roll forward in order to achieve the rep. By “putting your shoulder blades in your back pocket”, you’ll eradicate this from happening in order to achieve full activation of the lats. For example, see the image below the video.
8.) Exercise: Variety of movements. In this case, the push-up. Exercise Cue: “Don’t smell the floor” or versus “pack the neck”
The Why: Tony spells it out perfectly by stating, “If your head is in the wrong position, the rest of your body will be too”. The example that immediately comes to mind and one that I use this cue for is the push-up. I often see individuals who push their head forward as if they are reaching their nose for the floor. As they do this, this creates a ripple effect in which the scapula/shoulders follow suit. Instead, I like to use the cue, “don’t smell the floor”. Immediately, the individual pulls their head back into a neutral head position.
9.) Exercise: Hip-hinging movement. In this case, the deadlift. Exercise Cue: “Use your butt to close the car door” “the bend and snap”
The Why: I absolutely love using our past experiences and imagination as learning opportunities. And these two cues are exactly just that - while also having a bit of fun! When teaching the deadlift to some individuals, there can be a bit of back rounding, stiffness, and difficulty moving from the hips in such a way. However, when having the individual reflect on the last time they were holding something and used their “bottom” to shut a door, it becomes a game changer.
10.) Exercise: Most movements involving the shoulders whether as the active muscle group or stabilizer. In this particular case, the push-up, plank, and overhead press. Exercise Cue: “Squeeze the lats and pecs”
The Why: Oftentimes, I find that individuals who experience pain in the shoulders when doing the above-mentioned exercises lack the ability to create tension throughout the area, but also have altered spinal mechanics (kyphotic posture = shoulders are rounded forward, head shifted forward, etc) due to sitting so much at a desk or on their phone. Now, for any movement where the shoulder is active (shoulder press, push-up, etc) or is a stabilizer in the movement (squat, deadlift, etc), the shoulders MUST be in an optimal and working position. One technique I picked up from Dr. John Rusin back in 2015 and one that has helped reduce shoulder pain (in addition to bettering the posture) while performing such movements is learning how to “co-contract” the lats and pecs. In doing so, all of the muscles surrounding the shoulder become active, thus, increases torque and tension so that the shoulders are stronger and more stabilized. To learn what that co-contraction of the lats and pecs should feel like, try this quadruped exercise. Once you learn what it feels like, try to trickle it into your warm-ups and exercises.
