An instructor tells participants to press through heels and keep chest tall to ensure form. This is which cue type?

• A. Safety cues
• B. Informational/Educational cues
• C. Respiration cues
• D. Alignment cues

Answer: (D)

Guiding cues that focus on body placement and posture during a movement. Telling participants to press through the heels and keep the chest tall directs how the body should be aligned from feet through spine, creating a stable, efficient posture for the exercise. Alignment cues help position the joints and trunk correctly, promoting proper load distribution and balance, which supports safe, effective movement.

Safety cues, by contrast, emphasize avoiding injury or risky patterns (like not letting knees track inward). Breathing cues focus on how to breathe during the exercise, and informational/educational cues explain the purpose or mechanism of the movement. In this scenario, the emphasis on where the weight sits and how the torso is held is exactly about alignment.