Does this piss anyone else off?

[solidj55]

I was at they gym Monday doing some semi-heavy bench to prepare for my meet in September. My lifting partner was not able to come so I had this guy to give me a spot. I am a "head-case" when it comes to someone touching the bar at all during the lift unless I say "I cant get it" or "pull the motherfucker off" Well my weak point is at the bottom of my lift and sometimes it will look like I stall but my tris are strong enough to push it out usally(when I have a Bench Press Shirt on you cant even tell because its takes out my sticking point ). Anyway this damn guy insisted on sticking his hands under the bar. And I would have to keep telling him, as Im straining I might add, that I had it or dont touch it. He would move away but as I went for another rep he would put his hands near it again. He only touched the bar twice but both times I had told him mid-rep not too, and of course he did anyway. It fucked up my whole damn workout. I was so mad I felt like I was cheated out of those reps because of him. Sorry for my ranting and raveing but I cant help it. Does anyone else get this damn mad?

 

[The mann]

shit yea brother,by the way how ya' been??so you used the shirt monday?

 

[PowFit]

I feel your pain, bro. A typical putz in the gym has no idea what the hell they are doing when it comes to spotting a powerlifter. I learned a long time ago to be very specific when asking someone for a spot. I tell them give me a light lift off and get back. If I need help I WILL ASK FOR IT! So stay back. You have to be crystal clear to the jerk off bicep man that thinks he knows everything.

To me, as soon as someone touches the bar the rep does not count even if the idiot says. "I didn't pull at all". I have been known to yell at someone mid bench for coming close to the bar. If I am going heavy and someone touches the damn thing before I ask I am flipping out before the bar is off my chest. Just be clear with them.

Unless you don't have any option don't ask Joe Schmuck the BB to spot you. They will screw up your bench like they did you or do the "One more rep!" crap. And you will probably die squatting heavy. When I was in collage a guy about got strangled by a powerlifter for that. It was hilarious afterwards. The lifter ended up not getting hurt, but he crashed with the weight and the dude spotting him is still googly eyeing himself in the mirror not know WTF happened.

 

[bubba2k]

It's all you man

I have had people run across the room trying to "help" me when I am doing pause squats. ANd I was counting out LOUD. I mean I would be practically yelling one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.

 

[chuck48]

There are these guys at my gym that spot each other on the bench. They lift the bar off and then keep their hands there the whole way down and the whole way up. Last week one of them wasn't there and his partner asked me for a spot. Needless to say the guy had the "worst" bench day of his life. Fuckin poser. They are just there to impress the girlies

 

[blood_drinker]

bro that pisses me off so much ! No one knows how to spot ! It seems the spotter is lifting more weight than I am when he gives that big pull before I even ask him to! they don't even wait for your call, they simply stick their smooth hands on the bar and pull. I am being threatened to being kicked out of the gym for not adhering to safety regulations , such as not asking for a spotter and getting pissed unnecessarily. When a workout is wasted and you have been cheated, a whole week was wasted and you could be benching more than you did last time. Definetely something to be pissed about IMO. it's all about overloading your chest - not someone else lifting the bar for ya !

 

[zen42]

I don't like having strangers spot me for these reasons. Sometimes its unavoidable.

The problem is everybody wants to be spotted differently, like the hosers who do the two-man row/bench press. The spotter can't read my mind (thankfully) on how I want to be spotted..

When I'm working with somebody new, I'm crystal clear in what I want/expect before I start. The same goes when I'm asked to spot, it never ceases to amaze me how many guys don't offer any information on how they want to be spotted. Those aren't the ones to ask for a spot later.

Chuck48, I do the same thing

Zen

 

[PowFit]

The 2 man benchers are hilarious! They are the first ones to brag about how much the can bench too.

What is worst than them spotting you is when they ask you for a spot on 350 after you did deads and your back is all clamped up. You have to straight leg dead the WHOLE DAMN THING! And then they say, "One more".

 

[bubba2k]

I almost never use a spotter. Actually I feel safer this way. Unless I absolutely know the guy and he knows what I expect. I think the last spot I used on bench day was towards the end of last year. And it was just a guy giving me the competition signals more so than spotting me.

I usually train at home now and have not had problems. I've got a solid power rack and that is all the spotter I need or want.

 

[PowFit]

I hardly use a spotter either, but when I start getting a little heavier it is hard to stay in competition form and lift off. If I can't get a good lift off my form suffers. Sucks. I wish there was a gym out here where people do not look at you like an alien when you have a bench shirt on. One of these days there will be.

 

[solidj55]

Im dreading tomorrow as I know this same damn guy will be at the gym and will come over and talk to me as he always does. Dont get me wrong I like the guy, hes really nice but I dont want his fucking spot!! I just hope I can figure out a way to avoid this problem. Just a few more weeks at this gym and Power Rack here I come!!! The hell with a spotter.

 

[Welsh power house]

i trust the guys' judgement who i train with, they dont pull or grab the bar when i need a spot on one of the last reps, they are there and know exactly when to spot and when to let ME do the work.....i like to think i do the same for them, hell i do the same for them!!

 

[bubba2k]

PowFit

About the only time I require a spotter on a regular basis is with declines. I just can't do the lift off. But most of the time on a flat bench I can do it. I try to find somebody I can trust when I am going really heavy. But alot of the time I do better without a spotter even though I know I am loosing pounds from not having a handoff. I just don't push myself hard enough with most spotters. I have known maybe 1 or 2 guys I really trust to give me a handoff and spot.

What sucks is I pretty much just have to lift at home now because of my work schedule. I miss my bros at the gym.

 

[blood_drinker]

yeah i have the same problem with flat. I am short 5'5 and when I go heavy my arms are too short to lift the bar up off the rack. So the guy thinks Im gonna struggle for real and we end up like the 2 man benchers. he then wonders why i asked for a spot if i didnt need one.

 

[Exodus]

yeah it slightly pisses me off

i have left the gym in the middle of a workout before

a guy kept grabbing it saying he wasnt....... i racked it grabbed my stuff and left him to unload the weight

 

[solidj55]

My partner was at the gym today so I got a good spot(which means just a lift off!!!) I was so damn glad. the guy that I was talking about "helping me" last week lifted with us again but I told my partner not to let him spot me. I think it kind of pissed the guy off but oh well shit happens.

 

[BigT]

I am the same way....I feel like I missed a workout if somebody so much as makes a move towards the bar....and I get a kick out of the "one more rep" crap too.....nobody understands strength training, they read a Flex magazine once a month and they can't understasnd why you don't want to force out 15 reps on an exercise, and then they don't understand how to train for power either.....One guy asked what I was working at the gym, and I said squat, bench, push press..and he looked dumbfounded and then asked what a push press was....there shold be gyms for serious athletes and then gyms for the average joe shit bag.

 

[natural-mike]

GENTLEMEN>>>>THANK YOU

Here I though it was only me, I have run the gamet and tried every person in my GYM, no matter what I do, no matter what I say they touch the bar.

I tell people if you touch the bar your getting slapped or dont even put your hands near it, the only reason I want a spotter is "JUST IN CASE" exactly what the first post said, when I tell you "help me" thats when you help, even when I am on the last struggling rep, its the struggle that builds and reaches deep into your reserves and that when the geniuses of the spotting world jump in. Oh yeah my cheesy $500 a year GYM decided to get ridof the Power Rack because I was the only on using it, no one else. Honestly, once you take the power rack out you turn the "GYM" into a "Fitness Center" now its Queer heaven in there.

Cant wait to buy a house and a damn power rack thats it...............

Peace,
Natural Mike

 

[WarriorPL]

Yeah i can't stand going to the gym without my friend, he knows how i hate it when someone puts there hanfs under the bar while i'm lifting. But what i can tolerate is what this one guy does when my friend isn't there, he just puts both his index fingers under hte bar if it looks like i can't lift it, he's helped me like twice when i couldn't get it up myself but it doesn't entirely kill the workout in my opinion.

 

[kingsquat]

Re: It's all you man

I have had people run across the room trying to "help" me when I am doing pause squats. ANd I was counting out LOUD. I mean I would be practically yelling one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.

LMAO!!!

 

[ALCATRAZ]

Gentlemen

I know EXACTLY what you mean when you talk about the 2 man bench. We have several groups at our gym that think they can all bench a house, when in fact one of them can bench 135 and the spotter can deadlift/row the other 180+ off of him. And it pisses me off b/c I'm on the bench struggling to get 315 for 5 or 6 (by my damn self!!) and they're over there saying "Man, that guy's weak...I (meaning him and his spotter!) got 8!" Damn retards. I'd wish, in fact I pray, that one of them asks me for a "spot" one day when he tries it. I'm going to smile and say "Sure!" Then I'm going to unrack it, step back, and wait for the shit to hit the fan!! Sorry for the rant, but these guys piss me off.



Alcatraz

 

[sqbpdl]

No shit. I love getting these idiots to ask me or one of our other PLers for a spot. They get a liftoff and our hands are off the bar. If they can get it off their chest, we don't touch the bar at all as long as it is moving, however slowly. When it starts back downhill, the bar gets taken away and racked. They never ask for another spot. When I tell them, "that's how it's done in competition, sorry, don't know any other way", they say we are fucked up. Somehow, those types only seem to stay around the gym for a couple months then disappear.

 

[plifter]

I train alone now and have to rely on whoever's at the gym to spot me. I've run into this before and it sucks! The second they put their hand on the bar they've destroyed the whole set.

There's only one other person at my gym that knows what he's doing when it comes to powerlifting.