Spotting the squat

[Goosey]

I often see the spotter with his arms around the waist of the trainee, squat down with the trainee and I find that irritating.

I've often wondered about the benefit.

To me, to be a good spotter they should have both hands on the bar.

The bar is were all the action is, and especially for multiple reps the spotter has got to gauge when the trainee is fatiguing, having hands on the bar gives the spotter feedback in regards to bar speed as an indication of fatigue.

if the squatter stalls the spotter can decide whether assist or maintain control of the bar if the trainee falls.

what do you think.

 

[lkt004]

If someone is squatting 150kg, hands on the bar is fine. Anything above that and if they fail spectacularly you have no chance of saving them, i picked my training partner up with 400kg on the bar, not a chance i would have been able to help with my hands on the bar. Much easier to just help them up from behind.

 

[TTT]

The heaviest squat I failed on was 200kg
I went down, starting coming back up and just as I got back up to parallel I couldn't go any further and started to go back down again.

My Spotter had his arms under my pits ready to grab me.
and he did.

basically like a bear hug to help me squat back up.

how would you have done this by having your hands on the bar?

It would be too high to do like an upright row..
if you move the bar in a path that is out of my squat path if would throw me off balance and you'd be left with the entire weight and have me fall back towards you.

In a comp you also have side spotters AND straps attached to the monolift (unless PA/IPF where it's stands)

no way you can help with hands on the bar.

 

[El Testicle]

Gotta agree... I train alone these days, but found the 'mutual squat spot' a good method... Just felt safer all-round.

 

[Goosey]

The heaviest squat I failed on was 200kg
I went down, starting coming back up and just as I got back up to parallel I couldn't go any further and started to go back down again.

My Spotter had his arms under my pits ready to grab me.
and he did.

basically like a bear hug to help me squat back up.

how would you have done this by having your hands on the bar?

It would be too high to do like an upright row..
if you move the bar in a path that is out of my squat path if would throw me off balance and you'd be left with the entire weight and have me fall back towards you.

In a comp you also have side spotters AND straps attached to the monolift (unless PA/IPF where it's stands)

no way you can help with hands on the bar.

Where there also spotters either end of the bar?

 

[lkt004]

I just can't think of a reason to spot with my hands on the bar, regardless of weight, so much easier to just bear hug them and pull them up and back.

Hands on bar is completely useless in my opinion.

 

[TTT]

yes.
They are there to prevent the bar from crashing down.

Think about it.
you're most likely to fail at the bottom of the squat.

At that point the bar is at around belly height for a spotter if they are standing upright (wrong way but just o make my point about where the bar is)

In any comp during squat, the side spotters will squat down with you while their hands AND Elbows are under the bar ready to catch it if required and help stand with it.


Lets say in this pic, the lifter fails at the bottom..

The guy on the left hand side is not in a position to lift his side of the bar up to the rack position.
and that is what... about 250kg... 255kg?

If the spotter behind him had his hands on the bar and the guy failed a squat and bailed (this has happend before) those 3 wouldn't be able to get that bar up properly.
so it will end up in those safety straps.


Do the same thing with over 300kg and walked out or something and it would all come crashing down.

If you're spotting a chick doing 100kg then it probably wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Goosey]

I understand that in competition setting, placing hands on the bar or any contact with the lifter would be prohibitive.

If you can't understand the benefit of hands on bar when your spotting outside comp conditions and you've never tried it, maybe give it a go, it's especially useful when a squatter is doing high reps.
On the last two or three reps of a set, it's especially useful.

 

[Goosey]

If someone is squatting 150kg, hands on the bar is fine. Anything above that and if they fail spectacularly you have no chance of saving them, i picked my training partner up with 400kg on the bar, not a chance i would have been able to help with my hands on the bar. Much easier to just help them up from behind.

Where there spotters at either end of the bar that also helped?
Or was it just you?

I'm just wondering if the spotter had his hands on the bar it would give quicker feedback to the others, when the squatter stalls?

 

[spartacus]

from a competition max effort point of view, spotter behind, grabbing body, is key.

But, from a training point of view, silverback's point is quite plausible.

Personally I hate anyone touching me or bar when doing reps, but maybe there is some merit in terms of proper reps towards end of set in terms of motion and so on.

 

[lkt004]

You don't touch the person squatting when you spot from behind, for the record Silverback, no side spotters touched the bar or plates.

I can tell the bar speed and path in either way, for lifter safety, the method i use, in my opinion is the safest, regardless of weight on the bar.

 

[TTT]

You've posted this in the powerlifting section.
High rep squats = 5 reps.

Powerlifters doing 5 reps = a weight you can't safely handle by hands on the bar.
Also, powerlifters generally don't do the "it's all you bro, 3 more reps" spots.

The spotter is purely there to catch if they fail that rep and get them back up to standing... ONCE... that's it.

 

[Goosey]

from a competition max effort point of view, spotter behind, grabbing body, is key.

But, from a training point of view, silverback's point is quite plausible.

Personally I hate anyone touching me or bar when doing reps, but maybe there is some merit in terms of proper reps towards end of set in terms of motion and so on.

Thanks.
Not saying either is right or wrong, just something to think about is all, I do this when I'm spotting, it helps me guage were the trainess at.
More often than not, I'll ask "how many rep's", they'll say 10, and on the 10th rep, your able to help them push out a couple extra.

 

[Goosey]

You've posted this in the powerlifting section.
High rep squats = 5 reps.

Powerlifters doing 5 reps = a weight you can't safely handle by hands on the bar.
Also, powerlifters generally don't do the "it's all you bro, 3 more reps" spots.

The spotter is purely there to catch if they fail that rep and get them back up to standing... ONCE... that's it.

I've posted this in the powerlifting/strength training forum also doofas.

 

[lkt004]

The lifter should know their limits, the spotter is there to help if something goes wrong, not pick the lifter up after stupidly going for another rep.

 

[Goosey]

The lifter should know their limits, the spotter is there to help if something goes wrong, not pick the lifter up after stupidly going for another rep.

Ok, I'm out before this gets stupid, as it normally does FFS.

If one is working in the higher rep world, going for and extra rep or two is not stupid.

 

[High Road]

I only use spotters at each end of the bar to assist with the lift, they will never take the full load. It's also up to the lifter to decided if they want spotter before they lift. If I or my lifters get into trouble on their own they have been taught how bail out safely.

I tried to spot a guy once, at his request, with hands on the bar, it was 180kgs, at the time more than my 1rm deadlift. I had no chance. He went down, couldn't get out of the bottom, all I could do was try and pull it off his back, he flicked it off at the same time into me. Could of ended much worse, not a safe option in my opinion, but neither is grabbing the body, what happens if you both can't lift it?

 

[Neddysmith]

You've posted this in the powerlifting section.
High rep squats = 5 reps.

Powerlifters doing 5 reps = a weight you can't safely handle by hands on the bar.
Also, powerlifters generally don't do the "it's all you bro, 3 more reps" spots.

The spotter is purely there to catch if they fail that rep and get them back up to standing... ONCE... that's it.

I've posted this in the powerlifting/strength training forum also doofas.

Yeah but I think the point (and correct me if i'm wrong) is that when spotting more in BBing environment, you see people squatting less but are getting "spotted" or assistance for the last couple of reps, in a PL environement, the spotter is there completely for safety of the lifter and as soon as the spotter steps in to assist then bar is pretty much racked and that set has finished, whereas, in a bbing environment, you will see people get assistance when they cant go it alone, and then do another 2 or 3 reps.

 

[High Road]

The lifter should know their limits, the spotter is there to help if something goes wrong, not pick the lifter up after stupidly going for another rep.

Finding your limits is stupid? How would you ever improve?

 

[strong enough?]

Interestingly, it only seems to be the monolift feds where you see the back spotter hugging the lifter. Never in the IPF, even with stupid over 400kg equipped squats. Yet there is nothing to suggest there are more spectacular spotting failures in the IPF than elsewhere.

Hands around the lifter is not specifically prohibited by the rules, but if the spotter so much as touches the lifter, it's instant red lights. In other feds, the spotters are allowed a lot more leeway. I suspect that the reason the back spotter's hands are kept much further away in the IPF is a product of not wanting to accidentally invalidating the lift and getting out of the way of the walkout from the squat stands.

I think it makes for a much better spectacle when the back spotter has their hands away.