If you have a personal trainer or are working out in the gym, you have probably heard an “exercise cue”. An exercise cue is a visual or verbal guide that helps an individual perform an exercise correctly, efficiently, and safely. The cue aims to help the lifter understand movement patterns and techniques for a particular exercise.

Keep Your Core Braced

• What It Means - encourages engagement of the core muscles, including the rectus abdominals, obliques and back.

• Benefits - Creates stability of the spine and hips, protecting the spine while maintaining a good alignment, creating tension to resist the weight, and protecting you from possible injuries.

• Exercise Examples - back squat, deadlift, and shoulder press.

Pull Your Shoulders Down

• What It Means - depressing and retracting your shoulder blades.

• Benefits - engages the muscles of the upper and mid-back. It also promotes proper posture during exercise, reducing hunching of the back and shoulders. Don't have access to a pull up bar? Check out our Calisthenics Equipment for Home.

• Exercise Examples - pull-up and active hang.

Push The Floor Away

• What It Means - this technique can help you think about exerting force into the floor promoting upward movement.

• Benefits - encourages activating big muscles of your legs and back to work effectively during that exercise.

• Exercise Examples - squat and deadlift.

Keep a Neutral Spine

• What It Means - keeping the natural curve of the spine so that it is not over-arched or rounded.

• Benefits - promotes alignment and neutrality in the head, neck, and hips, helping to reduce the risk of injury.

• Exercise Examples - plank and farmer’s carry.

Open Your Chest

• What It Means - pulling your shoulders back and down and lifting the sternum up, reducing a rounded shoulder position.

• Benefits - improves your postural position and activates the correct muscles.

• Exercise Examples - bench press, row and shoulder press.

Stick Oranges in Your Armpits

• What It Means - a fun cue that helps you picture squeezing oranges between your upper arm and back to engage your lats and keep your arms close during an exercise.

• Benefits - it creates tension and helps you to remain active throughout the upper back rather than letting your shoulders become rounded.

• Exercise Examples - deadlift, RDL and Olympic lifts.

Engage Your Lats / Activate Your Lats

• What It Means - “switching on” the latissimus dorsi muscle, which spans the majority of your back.

• Benefits - creates stability around the shoulder blades by assisting in pushing and pulling movements, and helping you focus on using your lats to initiate the movement rather than over-pulling with the arms.

• Exercise Examples - Resistance Band seated row, pull-up, and lat pulldown.

Stick Your Bum Out

• What It Means - encourages hinging through the hips and engaging glutes while maintaining strong positions and good posture.

• Benefits - helps initiate movement from the hips rather than through the lower back and spine, helping prevent injuries and engaging the right muscles.

• Exercise Examples - deadlift and RDL.

Plant Your Feet

• What It Means - push your feet evenly into the floor, creating stability and balance.

• Benefits - planting your feet will build a stable base and prevent overarching of the back.

• Exercise Examples - shoulder press, squat, and bench press.

Drive Through Your Heels

• What It Means - drive back through the heels rather than pushing too much through your toes.

• Benefits - it helps you stay balanced and maintain proper posture rather than falling too far forward onto the toes.

• Exercise Examples - squat and push press.

Stand Tall

• What It Means - keeping the head, spine and hips aligned while in a standing position.

• Benefits - prompts good posture to avoid rounded shoulders and slouching, helping prevent injuries.

• Exercise Examples - farmer’s walk, row, and shoulder press.

At the Top of the Movement

• What It Means - refers to the point of an exercise when it reaches its highest point or peak contraction.

• Benefits - understanding movement and establishing what area of the movement needs focus, for example “squeeze your bum at the top of the movement”.

• Exercise Examples - In compound movements, the top of the movement usually indicates the start of the exercise, such as a squat or a press-up. However, in some movements, the top of the movement can refer to the peak contraction. For example, in a 7.5kg Dumbbell bicep curl, the top of the movement is when the bicep is at full contraction.

Exercise cues can be the perfect guide to improving your technique and effectiveness during an exercise. Now you understand what trainers are saying and how that benefits your movement. However, not all cues will work for every exercise or every individual; some cues might click for some people and not others. So, having a range of cues can be essential to train effectively.

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Tags: Misc > Lifestyle