Chest Up? Or Stay Over The Bar?
Let me explain why the cues “chest up” and “stay over the bar” are not only not contradictory, but a perfect pairing, because this gets confusing to a lot of you.
The most important part to understand is that staying over the bar does not mean moving farther over the bar as you pull, and it doesn’t even mean being very far over it at any point.
It’s right there in the cue: “stay”.
That is, we want to establish the proper posture for the pull and then simply not change it until we initiate the second pull at the right time—above the knee to mid-thigh.
Similarly, chest up doesn’t mean we want to be extending the hips as we pull to bring the shoulders behind the bar too soon, or to start with the trunk so upright that the shoulders are behind the bar to begin with.
Just like staying over the bar, it’s a cue to establish and maintain the proper posture—to not start too far over the bar, and to prevent shifting too far over the bar as we pull.
Both cues are essentially saying the same thing but from different directions—establish the proper pulling posture and don’t allow it to change during the first pull.
The most important part to understand is that staying over the bar does not mean moving farther over the bar as you pull, and it doesn’t even mean being very far over it at any point.
It’s right there in the cue: “stay”.
That is, we want to establish the proper posture for the pull and then simply not change it until we initiate the second pull at the right time—above the knee to mid-thigh.
Similarly, chest up doesn’t mean we want to be extending the hips as we pull to bring the shoulders behind the bar too soon, or to start with the trunk so upright that the shoulders are behind the bar to begin with.
Just like staying over the bar, it’s a cue to establish and maintain the proper posture—to not start too far over the bar, and to prevent shifting too far over the bar as we pull.
Both cues are essentially saying the same thing but from different directions—establish the proper pulling posture and don’t allow it to change during the first pull.
