MOVE THE BAR FASTER

In this post, I'm going to explain one of the Starting Strength coach Rusty's favorite cues and why you need to move the bar faster. Rusty is a coach at the Wichita Falls Athletic Club.

One of coach Rusty's favorite cues to use is moving the bar faster. ("Push/make the bar move faster"). He loves to use this cue whenever people start getting into heavier sets and the bar speed starts to slow down. He can normally tell when someone's pushing as hard as they need to make the bar move versus as hard as they can. Whenever you have a heavy bar in your hand, your goal is to push into that bar as hard and fast as you can whenever it starts moving.

When it's bench press or press is whenever you can really see this cue go to work. Whenever the bar speed starts slowing down, especially on a press, if you yell at somebody make the bar move faster, normally the bar starts to move quicker. They start pushing harder on the bar. And that's ultimately what you're trying to get them to do with that cue. When the bar starts moving, even if it's grindy, they think: "OK! This is as hard as I need to push on the bar to make this rep go." If you tell people: "Push harder.", and the bar speed picks up, that makes those later reps a lot easier, and it makes a fail less likely to happen.

So, whenever you're by yourself and you notice that the bar speed starts slowing down, remind yourself: push faster. Make the bar move quicker. You'll be surprised about how the bar speed starts picking up, which leaves more in the tank for those later reps. I hope this helps.

Bibliographic references:

• Starting Strength. (2026). Move the Bar Faster [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/0QLIXsf8yHs?si=UEvx7OeZ8xpGzCrI