When it comes to training, I’m constantly searching for new cues that help my clients and athletes better understand how their bodies should move.

For instance, for the past couple of years now I’ve been talking about feeling the whole foot when squatting, deadlifting, lunging, etc. The RDL is a particularly salient example here because most have a tendency to shift all the way back to their heels, and thus don’t truly own their center of gravity.

Whats’ challenging for many clients and athletes is to find this balance – to be able to feel the front of their foot, but to simultaneously know where their heels are.

As such, here’s a cue I originally heard (i.e. stole) from my guy Pat Davidson to help clients better distribute weight through their heels…

After watching the video, here are a few final thoughts:

• Feeling the heels is one thing, but it also just gets us in the ballpark. Distributing load evenly through the quarters under our heel really starts to dial things in and cleans up a lot of frontal plane (side-to-side) issues.
• If you’re struggling to find your quarters on both sides, there could be a host of issues at play. Is the exercise progression too advanced? Is the load too high? Do you need a different exercise all together? These are different things that should be running through your mind, like a mental checklist.

The quarters cue is one of my favorites, and I’ve seen first hand what it can do for clients and athletes once they learn to better “center” themselves.

Give this a shot next time you’re in the gym – I think you’ll love it!

All the best

MR