Spotting - helping strangers make gains

if someone asks me to spot i just stand near them, it is a pure mentality thing. they know that someone is there to save them if needed so they give their 100 percent. I don't touch the bar unless needed and he's struggling to rack it.

i’m super new to this an i’m too intimidated to use a dumbbell because i’ve never even touched one. i want to us one (because the guide on the sticky is my new religion) but i’m nervous to ask about a spotter.

OP here - Same.

Grow some balls fag

Well, I said, "If they are struggling" numbuts

>Be benching 117.5kg/260lbs 3x5 paused
>nobody in the gym other than one DYEL guy
>tell him "dont touch the bar unless i shake my head and im pinned under it"
>he says okay
>unrack and go for first rep
>get it easy
>second rep
>pause at bottom
>as soon as i begin pushing the weight back up the guy grabs on to the bar
>"dont touch it!"
>he says okay
>go for another rep
>he grabs the bar again as soon as i begin pushing up
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE LET ME DO MY REPS YOU FUCKING DYEL

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>kind of shakey on the bar but not actually struggling
>worried they'll think my weak stabilizers means I need help
That said I really need to get a spotter it makes me more focused on finishing the sets than being nervous if I've got another one in me and fucking up

OP here -Well, this can be a bad spotter experience thread as well. Seems there are more of those than good experiences

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If you have a problem with normies spotting you wrong just do it alone and do the roll of shame.
Have done it twice and not once did anyone pay any attention.

if i take roids maybe i will
im a girl (Lmao tits or gtfo)

My father owns a gym, I work there as a personal trainer and, what do you English cunts call it, "weight room assistant"?

Basically I mostly show people how to do things properly and spot them.
The best spotter I've ever seen is easily myself, seems like very few people understand how you're fucking supposed to do it.

I'll give y'all a quick guide on how to spot, since most of you are daft anyway.
Let's take the basic example, bench press.

First, you ask them how many reps they aiming for. That helps you know how much you should "interfere".
Second, you don't even help them unrack the weight unless they ask you to. It can easily throw off someone's concentration if they're not used to it and get surprised or weirded out.

Then, on the first reps, keep your fucking hands to your sides, 99% of the people aren't gonna fail on the first rep. Exception to that are people going for heavy singles, doubles or triples, in which case your hands should basically hover the barbell by a few millimeters without actually touching unless needed.

When the guy starts to fail, you use your index fingers to give him the slightest boost. Sometimes, even just touching the barbell with your fingertips takes enough weight off him that he can finish the rep(s). If he has more and starts failing badly, that's when you close your hands around the bar and give him a stronger boost.

The key here is knowing just how much force to exert, so the guy being spotted can still bust his ass completing the set without the bar crushing him or you doing all the work.
Nothing makes me more livid than a spotter that does the work for me, I hate wasted sets.

I often get compliments, even from people who have been training for more than a decade, on how good a spotter I am. Initially I tought it was common knowledge, but I changed my mind when I saw how bad peiple are at spotting, even the aforementioned guys with 10+ years of lifting experience.

Tl;dr learn to spot, it saves lives and workouts

I feel bench is one of those workouts that spotting is very helpful. For example, I try to utilize drop sets in a handful of workouts, but bench isn't one of them. Going till failure on bench with a spotter is almost the equivalent. Having somebody help you with several reps when your muscles are burnt out.

>touching the bar before the rep has been completely failed

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all of this stupid 'put your index finger on the bar' shit is a good way of injuring people.

You should be grabbing the bar as soon as they fail the rep and racking it as safely and efficiently as possible.

A spotter should be there for safety purposes only, not to massage people's egos.

They FAILED the rep. They dont have enough strength to finish the rep on their own so you shouldnt be helping continue the set. Imagine if you did the same thing with squats or deadlift, people would snap their shit up instantly.

Do you ever see Larry wheels getting a spot half way through his set of 4.5 pl8 bench? No you dont because its dangerous and retarded and does nothing to increase strength or muscle mass.

Stop with this retarded shit.

lol

The thing is that even tho I might be able to do everything myself for the last rep, but don't manage to do it for psychological reasons. If the spotter just put their fingertips on the bar I will feel it lift just a bit and I'll be able to give my 100% knowing I'm saved if I don't manage it.

>touching the bar
you're a fucking idiot,they just need you there to make sure they don't die.The most you should do is on the last rep have your hands hovering around the bar ready to pull it off them or help them re rack properly

When I ask a normie to spot I just give them proper instructions first, tell em not to touch the bar unless I specifically tell em to.

False--If they are struggling I put the fingers on the bar. Case closed.

This is the way to do it. Even then though.
>ask some kid that was newer to the gym to spot me
>so new that he was newer than me when I was new
>'okay'
>'what is spot'
>fug
All good though and now if someone asks him he knows

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You're one stupid cunt, anybody ever told you that?

If the fucking index finger is under the bar, where do you think the rest of the hand is? Halfway across the gym? You can close your hands around the bat the millisecond the rep is actually failed, the guy gives in and the bar is going down instead of coming up.
But that's the only case where you should actually yank the bar up and re rack it.

If, say, somebody's doing 8 reps, but at the sixth one their force starts to diminish, the sensible thing to do is to give them just that little tiny boost they need to complete the remaining reps, not calling it quits and re racking, also because most people don't actually get to real failure where they're in danger of hurting themselves and you gotta take the bar away.

I've been doing it like this for the last three years in a gym with hundreds of clients and never once did I get anywhere close to putting someone in danger.

It's all about what kind of "failure" is occurring, either diminishing strenght which just needs some help to finish the set, or complete failure in which chase you row the bar up and rack it before they behead themselves.

Also where the fuck did I talk about squats and deadlifts? First of all,how the fuck are you even supposed to spot a deadlift. And yeah, the same things applies to squats, where you basically hug the guy from behind but you don't finish the rep for them unless they're really going to get crushed on the floor if you don't.

And really? You use Larry fucking wheels as an example? He's a world level roiding power lifter, in real life you'll rarely see people bench 3pl8s for singles, let alone reps.

You're full of shit

>but don't manage to do it for psychological reasons
Thats your problem m8. Regardless of the reason, you failed the rep. How are you supposed to track progression or whether you're getting stronger if you're getting an unknown amount of force taken off the bar on the last couple of reps? This is a great way of getting injured.

For example.

Lets say

>You bench 100kg for a set of 8
>The spotter takes 20kg off the bar by pulling upwards slightly on the last 3 reps
>You think it felt pretty easy and decide to move up the weight to 105kg x 8 next session
>Do 5 reps and the spotter only takes 10kg off the bar for the last 3 reps because he pulls up less
>best case scenario is that you fail on the 6th rep because you're effecitvely lifting 15kg more on the last 3 reps than the 100kg set
>worst case scenario is that the increased stress injures you and you fuck your shoulder/pec up

>somebody's doing 8 reps, but at the sixth one their force starts to diminish, the sensible thing to do is to give them just that little tiny boost they need to complete the remaining reps, not calling it quits and re racking, also because most people don't actually get to real failure where they're in danger of hurting themselves and you gotta take the bar away.
This is irrelivant, failure is binary, either they do the lift to completion or they dont. There is no middle ground. All you're doing is endangering people. "real failure" is not completing the lift. They are failing for a reason. They are not strong enough to complete the lift so forcing them to continue liftng a weight too heavy for them is leading to nothing but danger. You're an idiot.

>I've been doing it like this for the last three years in a gym with hundreds of clients and never once did I get anywhere close to putting someone in danger.
Firstly, that is an argument to authority "ive been doing x for so long so therefore i know best", secondly three years is not a long time at all to be lifting weights and spotting people.

>Also where the fuck did I talk about squats and deadlifts? First of all,how the fuck are you even supposed to spot a deadlift.
Yes thats my point, failure is binary on the deadlift, either you get it up or you dont. If you try and lift weight too heavy for you for reps you fuck your shit up. Same goes for bench. Stop massaging peoples egos.

>And yeah, the same things applies to squats, where you basically hug the guy from behind but you don't finish the rep for them unless they're really going to get crushed on the floor if you don't.
Heres how i know you've never spotted a heavy squat before. Firstly, when people fail a squat they usually lose balance forwards or backwards, so hugging their body isnt going to really do much if there arent guys each side of the weight securing the bar. Secondly, as soon as they fail you should be racking that shit.

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Yeah, nah. Most people aren't that stupid, they understand that if the spotter helped them on the last 2-3 reps, no matter by how much, then they shouldn't move up the weight.

If they want to, you should, as a gym employee or just as a sensible gym goer, tell them that's a fucking stupid idea.

If they don't listen, and end up in the same situation as the prior set, they'll learn the lesson quickly anyway and won't do it again. Once isn't enough to fuck a shoulder/pec up anyway.

How do you track progression you ask? Simply enough, if on the 100kg x 8 reps set the spotter helps me on the last 3 reps, and the next time I manage to do get all 8 reps by myself, I've got stronger.

>And really? You use Larry fucking wheels as an example? He's a world level roiding power lifter, in real life you'll rarely see people bench 3pl8s for singles, let alone reps.

Yes thats my point. Only weak people get spots on their bench. Why is it that you never see or powerlifters/strongmen or most bodybuilders (other than the REALLY retarded ones) getting others to spot their bench and only weak people do? Maybe its because strong people actually do the work and weak people feign out and then

>Simply enough, if on the 100kg x 8 reps set the spotter helps me on the last 3 reps, and the next time I manage to do get all 8 reps by myself, I've got stronger.
except the next week you wont be able to do 100kg x 8 by yourself because you only did it x5 last time and then did 70-80kg (unknown number in reality, most probably less) x3 for the end of the set. Doing this wouldnt increase your 100kg set by 3 reps next session. If you think it would you're most probably DYEL

You know what WOULD get you to a 100kg x 8 from 100kg x 5?
Doing it for 6 FULL reps next session. Then 7 reps the session after until you hit 8. All getting others to do the work for you is doing is robbing progress from yourself.

Training past failure every sesion is a recipie for disaster on any lift so stop doing it.

Never touch the bar until he actually needs the spot, i.e the bar starts moving down or he asks for it. It's just annoying and distracting.
I try to stand back be invisible until he actually needs me, then I swoop in. Having a dude hover over you when you're trying to concentrate sucks.

this

Let's talk logical fallacies first. You call out my appeal to authority, and respond with the same thing and an ad hominem.
Who are you to tell me three years aren't enough? Besides, I've been doing it as a job for three years, but I've been training for almost 8. I think I know my shit, thank you very much.

Look, your problem here is that for failure you just picture somebody with 150kg on the barbell giving in completely and the weight descending upon their soon to be crushed skull, without an ounce of strenght left to even slow down the descent.
This is not the case most of the time.

If I'm on my sixth rep out of eight, and I'm getting tired, and I am having a slight trouble clproperly closing the last few inches of the rep, I want a spotter that helps me out completing the difficult part, not one that just dead stops my set.
Or if somebody is going for a single and needs help mid-rep, I'm not taking the bar away if he still can keep going and just needs some help. On the other hand, if he's given in completely, of course I will.

I would do what you are saying only in cases that required it. A guy is going for five reps, on the second one his arms just go, of course i'm picking up the weight completely and re racking. But to do so always is just plain stupid.

Your stupidity stems from the fact that your autistic binary view on the matter is too restrictive for real life. When the situation calls for it, I will help the guy to keep exerting himself to finish the set, by giving him just the help he needs. Or, when the situation calls for it, I will deadlift the weight off the dude before anything bad happens.

You really need to learn how to discern between the two situations and act accordingly.
Most people in the thread agree with me, so maybe the one who should reconsider how spotting works is you, you absolute autist

Guys will literally jump over equipment and stop their workout to help if you're a girl

Again, if he's STRUGGLING I will put my fingers on the bar. Aside from that I stand there watching the reps diligently.

Your whole idea of people 'needing help' to lift weights mid-set goes completely against why they're even in the gym it bewilders me. If you apply your logic to any other sport or activity it breaks down completely.

>if a guy is going to run a 100m sprint and fails at 60m im going to carry him the remaining 40m and then tell him he ran it.

If they 'need help' to lift the weight for their designated amount of reps they should be lifting less weight in the first place and working up to that weight when they're strong enough, not overloading past the point of failure (you seem to think failure is some subjective value that you assign depending on how 'hard' the person fails the lift, this is wrong) and then forcing them to continue.

This is against the entire philosiphy/scientific approach behind weightlifting in general and your retarded idea of spotting goes completely against it also.

You wouldnt get a DYEL benching 2 pl8s until he drops the weight straight down to his chest and gets stuck theres so why would you do it for anyone else that cant lift 2 pl8s?

You're not helping anyone get stronger by doing this because you're doing the work for them and are simeltanously increasing the weight they're handling. And we know what happens when somebody handles a weight they arent strong enough to lift, they fail and injure themselves.

>Most people in the thread agree with me
There goes another logical fallacy. Appeal to popularity. It doesnt matter if the whole of Jow Forums agrees with you m8. Your logic is wrong and i dont think most people in this thread do agree with you, they just most probably havent read the thread.

I'm a beginner at the gym and i'm scrawny as can be. I was with my best friend on bench. he has around 2 times my strenght. He loads a 80kg bench and starts going at it for about 4 reps. He fails the 5th. I try to rerack the weight and we both struggle for a good 10 seconds to rerack it because i'm too weak. ( Heaviest barbell i ever used is 55 kg outside of deadlifts)
Should he just ask someone else to spot him when i'm with him at the gym or should i avoid working out with him ?

Didn't realize there were so many polarizing opinions on spotting fellow lifters. I think some people in this board have creepy standards that they only read about on other forums. The zealous ones that say only help once the weight is crashing down upon them are truly weird or are fatties that just don't lift and come here to troll.

I work at the gym so it happens occasionally
I Always wait for the bar to be on the way back down before pulling it
Even then just until they get past the sticking point just because that’s how l’d want to be spotted

Please give this person advice

not him--- give THIS person advice

>dude asks to spot 3pl8 bench
>I can barely row 70 kilos
Damn he immidiately dropped it like an inch deep in his chest, was I supposed to control the descent?

Also to add to the last post you are also robbing people of potential reps with your methods. If you're pulling weight off from someone on the 6th rep of a set of 8 because they're struggiling they may have been able to get that 6th rep before you grabbed the bar and there is now no way for them to know or learn how to grind through hard reps because you're stealing them you fucking gains goblin.

You’re supposed to call 911

>spotting

why is this even a thing when you have spotting arms?
also >people squatting outside the rack

Not every gym has power racks, smartypants

i always ask for bench so i can go my max without calling help when stuck under bar.
I hate it when the guy holds the bar or helps before i can give it my all.

a gym without a power rack isn't a gym

>how are you supposed to spot a deadlift

This is the point your dyel status became certain. Every powerlifting meet and most serious trainees will have a spotter for deads, their job is to stand behind you and catch you if you pass out. You didn't realise this because you think a spotter is someone who helps you lift the weight, instead of being someone who stops you getting hurt.

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If he's struggling you should let him fight through it on his own and relish the hard fought fight you fucking gains goblin

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Incorrect.

>open ops image
>suicide grip on bench press
Jesus fucking Christ why people do this.

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