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7.2 Selecting Corrective Cues: Short, Specific, Actionable

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1 Chapter 1: Screening and Ongoing Assessment

1.1 Health & Medical Screening (PAR-Q+, Risk Stratification & Pre-Participation) 1.2 Referral Criteria & Medical Clearance Protocol 1.3 Rhabdomyolysis Risk Screening & Psychological Tolerance for Training 1.4 Movement Analysis & Baseline Physical Assessment 1.5 Evaluating Work Capacity Across Broad Time and Modal Domains 1.6 Goals, Progression Readiness, Overtraining Monitoring & Performance Tracking

2 Chapter 2: Programming - Designing Workouts and Cycles

2.1 Energy Systems, Workout Formats & Stimulus Selection 2.2 Volume, Intensity & Density Manipulation 2.3 Sequencing Workouts for General Physical Preparedness 2.4 Periodization Models (Linear, Conjugate, Block & Peaking) 2.5 Evaluating Programming: Benchmarks, Adjustment & CrossFit's Definition of Fitness

3 Chapter 3: Programming - Scaling for Every Athlete

3.1 Scaling & Modification Strategies for Varied Populations 3.2 Scaling by Age Group: Youth, Adolescent & Masters Athletes 3.3 Scaling for Special Populations: Pregnancy, Postpartum & Adaptive Athletes 3.4 Scaling & Programming for Athletes with Sport-Specific Goals 3.5 Programming for Injured Athletes: Maintaining Fitness & Restoring Function

4 Chapter 4: Educating - Teaching CrossFit Concepts

4.1 Teaching the Definition of CrossFit & the Character of Functional Movement 4.2 Teaching CrossFit's Definitions of Fitness and Health: The Four Models 4.3 Teaching the Goals of CrossFit Programming and How Variance Achieves Them 4.4 Teaching the Technique-Intensity Relationship, Threshold Training & Relative Intensity 4.5 Teaching the Principles of Scaling

5 Chapter 5: Educating - Teaching and Demonstrating Movement

5.1 Teaching Progressions & Points of Performance for Primary Lifts 5.2 Gymnastics Progressions & Body Control Mechanics 5.3 Group & Individual Instruction Methods 5.4 Designing Progressions for Complex Movements 5.5 Teaching and Using Correct Spotting Techniques 5.6 Demonstrating Movements, Faults and Progressions

6 Chapter 6: Training - Seeing Movement

6.1 Identifying Points of Performance Across the Foundational Movements 6.2 Recognising Sound Mechanics: What 'Good' Actually Looks Like 6.3 Fault Identification, Root-Cause Analysis & Contraindications 6.4 Identifying Faults in the Olympic Lifts and Gymnastics Movements 6.5 Root-Cause Analysis: Mobility, Stability, Motor Control or Load 6.6 Refining Sound Mechanics and Identifying Common Themes Across a Class

7 Chapter 7: Training - Correcting Movement

7.1 Cueing Strategies (Verbal, Visual, Tactile) & Feedback Loops 7.2 Selecting Corrective Cues: Short, Specific, Actionable 7.3 Reinforcing Sound Mechanics & Balancing Relentlessness With Acknowledgement 7.4 Applying Basic Principles of Anatomy and Biomechanics 7.5 Coaching the Midline: Bracing, Breathing and Spinal Position Under Load 7.6 Fault Triage: Addressing the Most Egregious Fault First 7.7 Refining Mechanics to Optimise Performance Under Fatigue 7.8 Intra-Session Adjustments & Real-Time Coaching Decisions

8 Chapter 8: Leadership and Management

8.1 Providing Athletes With Goal Setting 8.2 Building a Culture of Excellence and Establishing Rapport 8.3 Coach Development, Mentorship & Staff Supervision 8.4 Mechanics-Consistency-Intensity as a Management Strategy 8.5 Managing Athlete Risk, Recognising Overexertion & Teaching Personal Responsibility 8.6 Floor Flow, Class Structure & Time Management 8.7 Engaging Virtual and Remote Athletes 8.8 Safety Zones, Equipment Handling & Facility Setup 8.9 Balancing Individual Attention, Group Cohesion & Class Logistics 8.10 Athlete Onboarding & Retention Systems

9 Chapter 9: Lifestyle Education

9.1 Identifying Nutrition Goals and Assessing an Athlete's Nutrition 9.2 Providing Nutrition Guidance & Outlining Dietary Strategies 9.3 Zone Diet Block Calculations & Macronutrient Manipulation 9.4 Caloric Estimation & Sub-Population Nutritional Needs 9.5 Reviewing Basic Health Markers 9.6 Teaching Food Labels and Building Sample Meal Plans 9.7 Lifestyle Goals, Assessment & Scope-of-Practice Limits 9.8 Sleep, Stress Management & Recovery Modalities 9.9 Behavioral Change, Goal Setting & Habit Formation

10 Chapter 10: Professional Responsibilities and Ethics

10.1 Self-Assessment of Training Sessions & Pursuing Continuing Education 10.2 Legal Liability, Risk Management & Informed Consent 10.3 Facility Operations, Maintenance & Equipment Standards 10.4 Recognising and Responding to Extreme Environmental Conditions 10.5 Insurance, Employment Status & Truth in Advertising 10.6 Emergency Response, First Aid & Rhabdomyolysis Prevention 10.7 Scope of Practice & Interprofessional Collaboration 10.8 Standards of Professional Practice & Ethical Guidelines 10.9 Documentation, Incident Reporting & Record Keeping 10.10 Confidentiality, Client Records & Mandated Reporting

7.2 Selecting Corrective Cues: Short, Specific, Actionable

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

An effective cue is short, specific, and actionable: it tells the athlete exactly what to do next, in a handful of words they can process mid-set.

Cue the action, not the fault: 'push the floor away' outperforms 'stop letting your hips shoot up' because the athlete cannot act on a negative.

One cue at a time. An athlete under load can act on one instruction; a list produces none of them.

If a cue fails twice, change the cue rather than repeating it louder — repetition of a failed cue is the most common cueing error.

Cue selection is matched to the root cause: a motor-control fault responds to a cue, whereas a load or mobility fault does not and needs a different intervention.

Last updated: August 2026

What Makes a Cue Work

The content outline names three related tasks: communicate cues to correct unsound mechanics, use multiple cueing strategies, and utilise effective cues that are short, specific, and actionable. That last phrase is the definition, and each word carries weight.

Short. Two to five words. An athlete mid-thruster has almost no available cognitive bandwidth, and a sentence is discarded before it finishes.

Specific. It names one thing. "Tighten up" is not specific. "Ribs down" is.

Actionable. The athlete can perform it immediately. "Improve your hip mobility" is true and useless in the moment.

Cue the Action, Not the Fault

The most reliable construction rule: tell the athlete what to do , not what to stop doing. "Don't let your knees cave" requires the athlete to hold the error in mind and then invert it. "Knees out" is one instruction, and it points at the target.

  • Instead of (negative) Say (actionable)
  • "Don't round your back" "Chest up" / "Proud chest"
  • "Stop letting your hips shoot up" "Hips and shoulders together"
  • "Don't bend your arms early" "Straight arms until your hips finish"
  • "Don't let your heels come up" "Drive the floor away"
  • "Stop pressing forward" "Bar behind your ears"
  • "Don't sag in the middle" "Squeeze your glutes"
  • External Beats Internal

Cues that direct attention to the effect of the movement on the environment or an object generally outperform cues that direct attention to a body part.

  • Internal: "contract your glutes at the top of the swing."
  • External: "throw the kettlebell at the far wall."

The external cue produces the same muscular action without the athlete having to consciously manage it, and it avoids the disruption that conscious control of an automated pattern causes. Use internal cues for teaching a position in a slow, controlled setting; use external cues for fast, dynamic movement.

A Working Fault-to-Cue Reference

  • Fault Primary cue Backup cue
  • Knee valgus in the squat "Knees out" "Spread the floor"
  • Heels rising "Weight in your heels" "Drive the floor away"
  • Lumbar flexion in the deadlift "Chest up" "Long spine" / "Show me your logo"
  • Hips rising early in the deadlift "Hips and shoulders together" "Push the floor, don't lift the bar"
  • Early arm bend in the clean "Straight arms" "Arms are ropes"
  • No hip extension in the clean "Stand all the way up" "Finish tall"
  • Elbows dropping in the front rack "Elbows up" "Show me your elbows"
  • Pressing forward instead of overhead "Head through" "Bar behind your ears"
  • Losing the hollow in a kip "Squeeze your belly" "Long body"
  • Soft shoulders overhead "Push up into the bar" "Ears forward"

Build your own version of this table for the movements you coach most. The value is not the specific words — different athletes respond to different language — but having a first cue and a second cue ready so you are not inventing under pressure.

When a Cue Fails

Repeating a failed cue louder is the most common cueing error in affiliates, and it produces frustration in both directions. Escalate instead:

Same cue, once more. Sometimes it simply was not heard.

Different words, same intent. Move to your backup cue. "Chest up" becomes "show me the logo on your shirt."

Change the channel. Move from verbal to visual — demonstrate the fault and the correction — or to tactile, with consent.

Change the constraint. Give the athlete an environment that makes the fault impossible: a wall to squat toward, a plate under the heels, a band around the knees, a lighter bar, a dowel along the spine.

Change the task. Regress to a progression step where the position is achievable.

Most coaches stop at step one or two. Steps four and five are where genuinely stuck athletes get unstuck, because a well-chosen constraint teaches the position without any language at all.

Cue Selection Depends on the Root Cause

A cue is a motor-control intervention . It only works when the athlete has the capacity to do the thing and simply is not doing it. Matching the intervention to the cause:

  • Root cause Does a cue work? Correct intervention
  • Motor control / understanding Yes Cue, demonstrate, constraint
  • Load too heavy No Reduce the load
  • Stability / strength deficit Partially, briefly Reduce load and build the specific strength
  • Mobility restriction No Modify the movement; program the restriction

Cueing an athlete who physically cannot achieve a position is worse than useless: it tells them, repeatedly and publicly, to do something they are incapable of doing. If two well-chosen cues fail, stop cueing and check the cause.