To address a bar that loses contact with the legs, which corrective cue is indicated?

• A. Cue 'Pull the bar in to your legs the whole time.'
• B. Use a tactile cue to help engage the upper back.
• C. Bend the arms more to maintain contact.
• D. Release the shoulders and drop the bar.

Answer: (B)

Keeping the bar close to your body as you pull hinges on how effectively you engage your upper back and keep your torso tight. A tactile cue on the upper back helps you feel the scapulae pinching together and the chest staying tall, which rouses the muscles of the upper back to brace the spine. When those muscles are engaged, the bar tends to stay along the legs instead of drifting away, so contact with the thighs is maintained as you drive upward.

This cue directly addresses what tends to cause the bar to lose contact—insufficient upper-back engagement and a slack, unstable torso. By feeling the upper back contract through a tactile cue, you’re more likely to keep the bar in a stable path and in contact with the legs. The other options either focus on the bar path in a way that doesn’t reinforce back engagement, promote arm bending that can change the bar’s trajectory, or reduce stability entirely, which won’t fix the loss of contact.