Understanding the Master Cue | Mark Rippetoe

[stef]

by Mark Rippetoe

On page 58 of the Blue Book, I make an argument for the use of the mid-foot position as a cue for the correction of form problems. While this approach is useful with heavy weights, it can be misused with light weights and when teaching the movement at first, because the mechanical argument is often misunderstood, and it can be misapplied by an inexperienced coach.

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[Greg Ruhl]

As someone new to coaching, this article clarified many thoughts I was having as I thought about the master cue and the squat model. Thank you!

One other issue I have with the "master cue" is that the lifters I've trained have no idea where the bar is in relation to the rest of their body. I've only had success cueing bar positions in two cases: When the bar physically touches the body (a spot on the chest for bench, the shins for a deadlift, etc.) or a visible position (top position on the bench). Nick's recent article "A better way to cue the press" describes this when he recommends to "cue the lifter, not the bar". Is this your experience with the other lifts as well?

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're right. It's hard to know where the bar is. In most cases, the Master Cue works by cueing the lifter to visualize the mid-foot, and to either "keep the bar over mid-foot" in a squat, or to "push the mid-foot into the floor" on a deadlift.