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When it’s time to go for broke with a new personal best in the gym, you may ask a stranger for a “spot”, which is fitness lingo for “help me out, bro”. You’re ready to crush this, you think… but what if the person doesn’t actually know how to spot and you get crushed? Worse, what if you both get hurt? Here’s why it’s a bad idea, and what to do instead.

Image by ResoluteSupportMedia.
Few situations call for a spot. Most commonly it’s when you’re attempting to lift big weights for a new personal best (usually with a bench press, overhead press, or squat), and don’t want to be squashed if things look bleak. In any case, when you ask for a spot, you’re entering an unspoken, fierce bond of trust that goes both ways.
You’re assuming that the spotter knows exactly how hard you can (or intend to) push, is perfectly capable of moving the weight you have (without hurting himself), and understands proper spotting technique and etiquette. But as this Wall Street Journal article astutely points out, most people in the gym have never been taught to spot.
Moreover, if the spotter has no idea what he or she is doing and/or has a pre-existing injury (like a bum shoulder or something), it’s a double-whammy in injury risk for both the spotter and lifter. Not to mention, that such heavy weight could pose an injury risk for the lifter anyway.
If you want to ask for a spot, here are things to keep in mind:

  • Make sure the person you’re asking is a trained professional. Fitness trainers at the gym (usually) are more reliable.
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate. Make your goal clear: how many reps you intend to do, how much and when the spotter should “help,” whether you’ve lifted this amount of weight before, etc.
As a spotter, you need to remember:

  • You’re not there to lift the weight for the lifter; you’re there as a safety net in case something goes wrong.
  • To the above point, you need to be prepared and alert the entire time. Things can go wrong at any time.
  • There are stances and grips that can make spotting more safe for you as well. The WSJ article notes that “an alternating grip (one overhand and one underhand) with a narrower grip than the lifter” makes for a more secure way to grasp the bar in a bench press. For more tips on spotting properly, check out this article at Breaking Muscle.
Simply, if you’re in a situation in which you are asked to spot but don’t feel comfortable doing so because of inexperience or injury, the onus is on you to say no. For the rest of us, try to avoid asking strangers for a spot unless you’re confident no one will get hurt.


http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/01/why-its-dangerous-to-ask-a-stranger-for-a-spot/
 
I've spotted a few benchers at my gym which is perfect for punching out a few reps of rows. Otherwise it can be a pain in the ass like avoiding random dumbell bombs on your feet after shoulder presses and yeah, imagine the horror of seeing the bar rocketing down in your general direction when the bro dumps the bar in a back squat.
Sometimes when I look in the classes and see them doing stiff legged deads, I reckon they all need a spot
 
I don't want a spot and I don't want to spot.

Too bad.

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I don't want a spot and I don't want to spot.
100% with Adrian on this. This ought to be a dying art by now, where forced reps should be a thing of the past, and a rep or so left in the tank would be the go. Bodybuilders who like to toy around with forced/joint wrecking reps, are welcome to spot each other as much as they like.
 
100% with Adrian on this. This ought to be a dying art by now, where forced reps should be a thing of the past, and a rep or so left in the tank would be the go. Bodybuilders who like to toy around with forced/joint wrecking reps, are welcome to spot each other as much as they like.

Fadi, where you miss the point here is;
Regardless of whether one leaves one in the tank or not if the exercise you are doing is not right for you, then no matter how one performs the exercise, an injury is inevitable.

Injury of a joint is common only if the bio-mechanics of the movement is wrong, the trainee has an strength in balance (antagonist/agonist), applies unessesary force and "impact".

it has nothing to do with taking an exercise to momentary fatigue, or positive fatigue, even intense negative fatigue.
 
Fadi, where you miss the point here is;
Regardless of whether one leaves one in the tank or not if the exercise you are doing is not right for you, then no matter how one performs the exercise, an injury is inevitable.

Injury of a joint is common only if the bio-mechanics of the movement is wrong, the trainee has an strength in balance (antagonist/agonist), applies unessesary force and "impact".

it has nothing to do with taking an exercise to momentary fatigue, or positive fatigue, even intense negative fatigue.

A not an.
 
Fadi, where you miss the point here is;
Regardless of whether one leaves one in the tank or not if the exercise you are doing is not right for you, then no matter how one performs the exercise, an injury is inevitable.

Injury of a joint is common only if the bio-mechanics of the movement is wrong, the trainee has an strength in balance (antagonist/agonist), applies unessesary force and "impact".

it has nothing to do with taking an exercise to momentary fatigue, or positive fatigue, even intense negative fatigue.

Thank you for that, and I agree with you up to a point. However I see things a bit differently from you after that. Once you go beyond what you're capable of lifting, even if that exercise is perfect for you, you're bound to deviate from that line of power, placing your joints in positions that are totally unnatural for them to be placed in. The bench press exercise comes to mind here. As the lifter is pressing the weight up, there lies a path where his shoulder joints would be placed in a compromising position, leaving them vulnerable to injury. The reason? Deviation from that line of power. Pulling a weight off the floor, even with a weight that a lifter is capable of lifting, would also be of concern once the travel path of that bar moves away from that center line if you like. So if one can injure one's self whilst lifting a weight that is within his normal lifting capabilities, how much more is it when he tries and force a weight up when momentarily exhausted!

So in a nutshell, I'm responding to this:
Injury of a joint is common only if the bio-mechanics of the movement is wrong
...the bio-mechanics of the movement become wrong once you deviate from a particular lifting path, which is easier to do once you apply forced reps than not.
 
Eh I spot guys at powerlifting all the time. It would be kind of silly to do any kind of heavy squatting out of stands withouth spotters on either side. I squat in a rack @ commercial gym and don't go all out with benching, cause I don't trust BB'er type kunce to recognise when I need help vs trying to grab the bar cause it's paused on my chest.
 
I guess it depends on your definition of a spotter.

In the case of someone catching a weight that is pinning you down, that's a good use of a spotter. So as soon as they touch the weight, your set is over.

But like Fadi said, in the case of helping you with forced negatives or any other assisted reps, they're probably not a good idea as there's potential to cause injury.
 
Thank you for that, and I agree with you up to a point. However I see things a bit differently from you after that. Once you go beyond what you're capable of lifting, even if that exercise is perfect for you, you're bound to deviate from that line of power, placing your joints in positions that are totally unnatural for them to be placed in. The bench press exercise comes to mind here. As the lifter is pressing the weight up, there lies a path where his shoulder joints would be placed in a compromising position, leaving them vulnerable to injury. The reason? Deviation from that line of power. Pulling a weight off the floor, even with a weight that a lifter is capable of lifting, would also be of concern once the travel path of that bar moves away from that center line if you like. So if one can injure one's self whilst lifting a weight that is within his normal lifting capabilities, how much more is it when he tries and force a weight up when momentarily exhausted!

So in a nutshell, I'm responding to this: ...the bio-mechanics of the movement become wrong once you deviate from a particular lifting path, which is easier to do once you apply forced reps than not.

Thanks for that

i don't believe the lifter has to worry about deviation of the bar path in most cases the structures of the body will enable you to either perform the exercise safely or not, there will be tolerances in deviation but if the structure of your joints or limbs impede movement, well- injury is inevitable might not happen straight away, but will happen regardless of the methodology.

the biggest issue I find with forcing a rep is when the body contorts and twist to get that final rep, and not the weakened state of the muscles moving the weight, the finals rep's in this regard are the safest in terms of muscle and tendon damage.
 
So in my mind, use a spotter, a partner, if there was ever a secret to biulding muscle this is it.

The key is that you and your partner are familiar with your abilities and that like all things bodybuilding it takes time, so start of light and slowly overtime get to know the partnership
 
I guess it depends on your definition of a spotter.

In the case of someone catching a weight that is pinning you down, that's a good use of a spotter. So as soon as they touch the weight, your set is over.

But like Fadi said, in the case of helping you with forced negatives or any other assisted reps, they're probably not a good idea as there's potential to cause injury.

A spotter's a friggin spotter is a spotter and what is this "as soon as they touch the weight, your set is over" are you talking completion here, we're talking about regular lifting here, why are you talking about competition here
Please don't talk competition here, it's not about competition
Ta
 
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So in my mind, use a spotter, a partner, if there was ever a secret to biulding muscle this is it.

The key is that you and your partner are familiar with your abilities and that like all things bodybuilding it takes time, so start of light and slowly overtime get to know the partnership

you forgot to say no homo
 
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