It’s no mystery that we have a lot of focus on internal versus external cueing and this is out of hand. If someone is too narrow or too wide in a squat stance, just tell them. No need for excessive analogies. Sometimes good cues done too much or at the wrong time create excessive recruitment when muscles need to relax. It’s not easy to get athletes to relax, especially if fatigue shows up a little. Sometimes a cue done then makes athletes try to relax, or backfire! Cues during a squat like screw your foot into the ground can improve a lift but as the speed of the movement gets faster the cues become less effective. I read on social media all of the cues and magic words, and some are indeed magic as I have seen some great responses with some coaches. If we are such magicians why are we still seeing experts in coaching drop the olympic lifts because they are too complicated and take too much time? Shouldn’t the cuing work? Think twice cue once. Sometimes it’s plan once cue never. Just like a pill or magic exercise, a focus on external or internal cueing is a lost cause. Sometimes the right demo, a video clip, the sequence of practice, the right training group, is better than the cue stuff. Eventually we can’t cue the big game and need to look at who is doing the best just teaching and that is is likely physical education. I strongly suggest before boarding a flight to a far away land just swing by an elementary school and see a gifted teacher in physical education. Good teachers are out there and you just need to look deep enough.
Carl Valle
Latest posts by Carl Valle (see all)
- Thank you EliteTrack! - September 7, 2013
- Brainwashed- How the internet is making Pain Science Voodoo - September 5, 2013
- How fast can Usain Bolt run the 40 yard dash? - September 4, 2013
- Matt Harvey- Superman to Clark Kent - September 4, 2013
- Rotten to the Core? - August 31, 2013