Teaching Through Feeling: Coaching the Person, Not Just the Lift

To improve in weightlifting, we need to improve all qualities of weightlifting, especially technique.

No one will ever have perfect technique, but we can always improve. And we don’t do that just by explaining positions, we do it by learning to feel them.

But over time, I’ve realised something important.

It’s not just about teaching the lift.
It’s about coaching the person performing it.

Because two lifters can have the exact same technical issue and need completely different approaches to fix it.

Coaching Starts Before the First Cue

As a coach, a lot of the people I work with come in needing to improve their technique. Many of them have a CrossFit background, where the lifts are often done fast before they’re fully understood.

But before I jump in and start correcting anything, I do something pretty simple.

I watch. And I talk.

I’ll get them lifting and building in weight, but I won’t say much about their technique straight away. I just want to see how they move naturally, without my voice in their head yet.

At the same time, I’m getting to know them. What they’ve been told before, what they think is right, what they struggle with.

Because if I jump in too early, I’m not really coaching them, I’m just layering my opinions over the top of everything they already think they know.

And more importantly, I haven’t built any trust yet.

Understanding the Person Behind the Lift

I’m not just looking at how someone moves. I’m trying to understand who I’m working with.

Some lifters overthink everything and hesitate. Others move fast and rely on aggression. Some have been told so many different things that they don’t know what to focus on anymore.

You can’t coach all of those people the same way.

Sometimes what looks like a technical issue is actually a confidence issue. They don’t trust the movement, or they don’t trust themselves in it.

And if that’s the case, no amount of cueing is going to fix it.

Identifying the Real Problem

Once I have a better idea of the person in front of me, I’ll start looking more closely at the lift itself.

I still work from the bottom up. How’s the setup? Are they balanced through the mid-foot? Can they create and maintain tension?

But I’m also asking a bigger question now, Is this a strength issue, a movement awareness issue, or a confidence issue? Because from the outside, they can look almost identical. But how you coach them is completely different.

Example: Same Fault, Deeper Problem

A pretty common example is someone who jumps forward in their snatch or clean and ends up with lower back pain.

When I watch them lift, I might see their hips shoot up off the floor and their chest drop forward. And when I talk to them, they’ll often say something like, “I’ve always been told to keep my chest up.”

So now I know where part of the issue is coming from, but there’s usually more to it than that.

If they’ve been dealing with this for a while, there’s a good chance they’ve already tried to fix it and nothing has worked. That starts to affect how they approach the lift. They second guess things, or they just go through the motions because they don’t expect it to change. So I’m not just trying to fix a position here. I’m trying to rebuild some trust in the movement.

Constraints Teach, But They Also Build Confidence

This is where constraints and variations come in. A constraint is anything that shapes how the lift is performed pauses, tempos, different starting positions, all of it.

We use them to guide the lifter into better positions and help them feel what we’re actually asking for, one thing I think gets overlooked is what this does for confidence. Instead of failing at the full lift over and over again, they start getting small wins. They feel what it’s like to be balanced, they feel what it’s like to stay in position, they start to understand the movement instead of guessing it. When that happens, they stop fighting the lift and start working with it.

Using Variations to Teach and Reinforce

For someone like this, the goal is to teach them how to actually use their legs and stay balanced through the pull.

I might start with something like a lift-off variation, where they pause just off the floor and again at the knee. It gives them time to feel the positions instead of rushing through them. From there, I might use some work from the power position to help them understand what proper extension should feel like. A lot of lifters who have issues off the floor also don’t really know how to use their legs in the second pull, so this ties things together.

Floating variations are another one I like. Starting from the hip and lowering the bar down can sometimes be the simplest way to show someone where they should be. Then the goal is to recreate that on the way back up.

None of these are random choices, they’re based on what that person needs, how they respond to different drills, and what’s actually going to help things click for them.

Adapting the Approach Over Time

After a few weeks, I’ll reassess. Not just whether the lift looks better, but whether they understand it better.

Do they trust the movement more?
Are they moving with intent?
or still thinking their way through every rep?

Some people need more variation to keep learning. Others need consistency to build confidence in what they’re doing. There isn’t a single right way to do it. It just comes back to the person in front of you.

A Cue is NOT a Teaching Point

If I just had someone doing full lifts and kept telling them “chest up” or “hips down,” nothing meaningful would really change.

A cue only works once the person has already felt what you’re asking for. At that point, it becomes a reminder, not a solution.

And even then, the right cue depends on the individual, what makes sense to one person might mean nothing to someone else.

Coaching is More Than Fixing Lifts

I still believe the best way to improve technique is through feeling the right positions and repeating them.

But coaching goes beyond technique

It’s about understanding the individual, adjusting how you communicate, and knowing when to push and when to simplify.

It’s about building confidence at the same time as competence. Because in the end, we’re not just trying to create better lifts.

We’re trying to build people who understand what they’re doing, trust their movement, and can keep progressing without needing someone in their ear every rep.

Final Thoughts

Improving technique isn’t about chasing perfect positions. It’s about patience, awareness, and meeting the person where they’re at.

Coach the lift, yes. But more importantly, coach the person in front of you.

At MWBC, this is something we firmly believe. Every session is built around the individual, because that’s where real progress happens.

If you want to experience that for yourself, we offer a free 1-on-1 to get to know you, your lifting, and what you actually need.

—MWBC Coaching Team