This idea has been stirring in my mind for a while, but it finally came into better focus the other day while watching a client do a working set of bench press. The bar moved well, the reps looked solid, and I didn’t cue her at all. At the end of the set she racked the bar and said, “That wasn’t very good.” Or something close to that.

My first reaction – like most coaches – was to jump in with a list of all the things she was doing right: bar path, leg drive, touch point, tightness, the whole checklist. Instead, I paused and simply asked:

“What do you mean?”

Her answer had nothing to do with technique. A few weeks back she had benched 90 lbs, and today her top set was 80. She’d been away for a week, so the 80 felt heavier than she expected. Her evaluation of the working set had almost nothing to do with what I had just seen.

And that moment made me wonder: How often are we giving athletes feedback that isn’t actually helpful to them? Or worse—feedback that’s about our perception, not theirs? This is where asking better questions becomes a powerful tool for strength coaches.

Why Questions Matter More Than We Think

Most coaches only ask two or three basic questions:

   “How did that feel?”

   “What did you think of that set?”

There’s nothing wrong with these, but they often don’t get the client thinking deeply about what actually happened. And most of us, if we’re being honest, tend to follow up their answer by telling them everything we saw.

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Strength coaching is built on direct instruction. People come to a Starting Strength Gym to learn the lifts correctly. They want to be taught. They want cues. They’re paying for expertise. But within that reality, there are many moments where a well-timed question gets the message across better than another round of technical explanation. A question invites the client to notice something – to become part of the coaching process instead of just receiving it. That’s here Discovery and Guided Questions (DGQs) come in.

What Is a Discovery/Guided Question?

A DGQ is a purposeful, open-ended question that directs the lifter’s attention toward something specific without you giving the answer away. The point isn’t to quiz them. The point isn’t to make them guess what you’re thinking. The point is to nudge their attention toward a detail that matters. A good DGQ helps the client:

• Recognize patterns.
• Reflect on their own movement.
• Connect feel with mechanics.
• Make corrections that “stick.”

The question aligns their perception with reality, keeps your feedback on target, and can reveal things you didn’t see. Instead of you telling them, they arrive at the insight themselves – or at least get close.

When to Use Instruction and When to Use a DGQ

This is the dance. Direct instruction is best when:

• You’re teaching a lift for the first time.
• Safety requires an immediate correction.
• The lifter is new and overwhelmed.
• Load is high and you need a quick fix.

DGQs are best when:

• The lifter already understands the basics.
• You’re refining something subtle.
• They’re making a recurring mistake.
• You want to build self-awareness.
• Their perception is likely different than yours.

The magic is in alternating between the two – coaching with the client instead of at them.

Examples of Useful DGQs

Again, this isn’t a giant list – just enough to illustrate the idea.

• Bench Press – “How connected were you to the floor?” “What changed on the rep that slowed down?”
• Squat – “What did your knees do on the way down?” “How balanced did you feel at the bottom?”
• Deadlift – “What did you like about that pull?” “What happened with the bar on the way up?”

These questions help the lifter talk about what they experienced, not just what you observed.

The Three Types of Answers You’ll Get

After asking a DGQ, clients tend to respond in one of three ways:

1. “I don’t know.” Totally fine. This is where you reassure them: “That’s why you pay me,” or “No worries, this is a small tweak.” Then give the cue you were going to give anyway.
2. They comment on something you didn’t see. Example: They think their hips shot up, but they didn’t. If you didn’t see it, say so: “I didn’t catch that, but I’ll watch for it next time.” Then address what you noticed. If you did see it, stick with their perception. No need to redirect them to what you originally planned.
3. They comment on exactly what you hoped they’d notice. This is ideal, and now you can reinforce, refine, or elaborate. In this scenario you’ve done your job without giving them the answer first.

Common Mistakes Coaches Make When Asking Questions

Even with good intentions, coaches can easily fall into a few traps when they start using DGQs. Here are some of the most common ones to watch for:

• Asking questions that are really instructions.
• Fishing for one “correct” answer.
• Asking questions the lifter has no chance of answering.
• Using too many questions at once.
• Asking a question mid-set.
• Treating “I don’t know” like a wrong answer.

The goal is clarity, not confusion.

How This Makes Athletes Better Over Time

The long-term benefit of DGQs isn’t about that single rep or that single set. It’s this: clients start evaluating their own reps before you even say anything. You’ll see it happen when they rack the bar, pause for half a second, and then tell you exactly what happened. They start noticing their balance, their bar path, their knees, their grip, their position. They develop a vocabulary for their own lifting. They become self-sufficient. They become better training partners. They become more confident and less anxious about mistakes. And coaching becomes more collaborative – less about “fixing” and more about guiding.

The Role of the Coach Changes Too

When you start asking better questions, you learn things too:

• You discover what the client thinks is happening.
• You understand what cues stick.
• You hear how they describe their own movement.
• You get insight into how they process difficulty, fatigue, and fear.
• You become more precise. You talk less and listen more. And your coaching improves as a result.

Direct instruction has its place. A big place. People come to a strength training gym to be taught. But coaching is more than giving cues; it’s helping people understand their own movement. Questions – good questions – invite the client into the process. They make coaching a dialogue instead of a monologue.

And they often reveal more than another round of technical explanation could ever correct. So next time a client finishes a set and says, “That wasn’t very good,” pause before launching into your list of corrections. Try this instead: “What do you mean?” You might be surprised by what you learn.

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