Though we had previously discussed coaching cues during an earlier intern education session, the topic was brought up in a different light this past week. One of the coaches suggested that we look into the differences between internal and external coaching cues. Prior to researching the topic, he asked what we understood internal and external cueing to be, and my initial thought was entirely off base. I was under the assumption that external cueing involved physical contact, such as a finger placed between the scaps to initiate retraction; and my understanding of internal cueing was that the cues drew the athlete’s attention to some variable involved in the lift or movement, such as their body mechanics or bar speed. Once I began researching the topic however, I came to realize the extent to which I misunderstood the difference between the two, and how it may have been affecting the athletes I had been coaching.
External cueing involves drawing the attention of the athlete away from their body, and refocusing it on some external object or thought. For example, an external cue for an athlete completing a broad jump would be, “Jump to (or through) the line 3 meters in front of you.” Saying this refocuses the athlete’s attention towards the line and away from their body mechanics during the jump. An internal cue for the same situation could be “Fully extend the hips” or “Drive your arms forward as you jump.” Both draw the athlete’s attention towards their body mechanics during the act of jumping. I had always made the incorrect assumption that focusing the athlete on their mechanics and where their body was located in space would help cement appropriate movement patterns and thus lead to more efficient movements later on. To a certain extent, especially when teaching a movement, it may be valid to utilize internal cueing. However, after reading a review titled “Attentional focusing instructions and force production”, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, on the current literature surrounding internal and external cueing and focusing, I came to understand how much more beneficial external cueing is, and the impact we can have as coaches on each athlete’s performance.
After reading the article, I came to understand several concepts that I will take with me throughout my career. Interestingly enough, when no coaching or cueing occurs and the athlete is left alone, they will more often than not focus internally on some aspect of their body mechanics, especially when producing force during a movement. The issue with this is that an internal focus can actually inhibit the body’s natural, automatic movement processes because you are consciously attempting to control your movements as opposed to simply performing them and allowing your body to automatically regulate. Thus as a coach it is vital that you help draw the athlete’s focus externally, allowing the motor system to automatically regulate movements like it was created to do. External cueing and thus an external focus on the part of the athlete have also been demonstrated to increase performance. Wulf et al. (2007) conducted a study on vertical jump height in which the athletes were given no instruction at all, or told to focus on either their fingers (internal) or the rungs of the Vertek (external). Their findings showed that external cueing lead to significantly greater jump heights versus internal or no cueing. By drawing the athletes’ focus to the rungs as opposed to their fingers, their bodies moved via automatic control within the motor system. This allowed for enhanced coordination of muscular contractions and more efficient movement mechanics, and thus greater force output, leading to greater vertical heights.
Without going into too much more detail, what I came to learn is that how I had been coaching was essentially detrimental to the athletes’ I had been working with. I had been drawing their focus to their movement mechanics and bombarding them with information that was non-essential. Since reading this review of the literature I have begun to simplify my cues, and focus them externally in hopes that it will allow the athletes’ bodies to move more automatically and thus more efficiently.
Marchant, David C. (2011). Attentional focusing instructions and force production. Frontiers in Psych. Vol. 1, Article 210.