How do you like to be spotted?

[Milford Jenings]

Thought I would start a new thread since there was some mention of spotting techniques in a few other threads. I lift alone so when I work to failure (every set) on an exercise that could hurt me when the weight comes back down I have to ask for a spot. There is a gym employee there most of the time that I go to the gym and I have him trained pretty well.

Here's what I say..."First don't touch the weight until I tell you to. Second, don't help me until I tell you to. Third, you should not be helping until the weight is traveling in the negative direction (this forces me to work through a sticking point or fail trying)." Some other ground rules I use are:

A. Never take the weight away
B. If possible, spot by applying force to my hands rather than grabbing the weight
C. Never, and I mean never tell me that it's good enough, cause I am not going to get anywhere if I don't push myself.

So what do you do?

MJ

 

[MonStar1023]

I just tell them not to apply too much pressue and not to touch the weight until I tell them to.. for example I usually get a spot for wide-grip chins and Ill tell them Ill prolly get 8-9 on my own and I need help to maybe 12.

 

[FitFossil]

Those sound like good ground rules.

One thing in my gym... we have a few "good samaritans" who come over and spot without being asked. And it's NOT like they see me struggling and have to save my life.

I'll be in the middle of a set, doing great, but then I sense an uninvited presense. It's very distracting. It's not like they're trying to be creepy or anything, so I don't want to act mean, but I just wish they'd stick to their own workout and let me do mine.

Unfortunately, they're not even good spotters that I could actually get some benefit from. If I want a spot, I'll ASK for one.

 

[DaCypher]

FitFossil,
I know exactly what you mean (see other thread where I went off on a rant about how I hate that).

I only like to get a spot on exercises that could be somewhat dangerous if I don't complete the rep. Barbell military presses, for example, are an exercise I like to be spotted on. I only want the spot to help rerack the bar when I reach complete failure and the bar is coming back down. I don't like assisted reps at all. I figure if I can't do X amount of reps byself I should lower the weight.

 

[theoak01]

someone who doesnt touch the weight yet helps

for example on monday i had a guy spot me on db inclines i was using the 80's and i got to the top and asked for help cuz i knew i couldnt get it down,asshole stood there with his hands in his pockets while one db fell on me

 

[DanielBishop]

I rarely find a good spotter....

.... I usually dont' ask (although I know I should) them not to touch it until I tell them to or whatever. I just let them do what they do, but I more often than not, find myself pretty pissed off after.

Like the guys who grab the bar with both hands on your first rep.... WTF?? I TOLD them I could probably do 6 or 7 by myself.... so why are they grabbing the bar? It's like I'm helping them!!

Then there's those who grab the bar and rack it up as soon as the reps start to slow down.... I could still have another 2 or 3 left in me, but they see it slowing, and it's all over.

And then there's the ones who have their hands on the bar and are pushing it out of your natural plane of motion....



In a perfect world, they would keep their hands well off it until the bar wasn't moving AT ALL.... then they would use their two index fingers and apply enough pressure JUST to get the bar moving again SLOWLY.... and if it looks like I can take it from there myself, they let go again. And they don't rack it up until I say "one more" and we actually do one more.

Dumbasses. Sometimes I've said "Okay, two more" and they've racked the fucking weight up. I'm like "Uh.... thanks."

Maybe it's my Australian accent.... these Canadians don't understand me.

 

[squatter]

i train alone in the tradition of ken patera, paul anderson and dorian yates. when I make a lift, I know it was all me baby!

 

[DanielBishop]

I train alone also.... it's only been in the last few weeks that I've started to ask people to spot me on bench press.

But it's been good to have the security of a spotter there so I can have the confidence to do one more rep, even if there's a chance I won't be able to get it all the way back up.

 

[Travbedaman]

Unless you are doing forced reps (and that should be rare) a spotter should only spot on the last rep that you can no longer complete on your own...if the spotter has to help (even a little) to complete a rep, that`s it! Your done! You have reached failure for the set.

Most people only ask me to spot them once because I don`t help unless it looks like they need help (unless the are forced reps), and if I help them up on let`s say bench and the bastards try to go for one more, well lets just say that rep will be the hardest of their lives and they won`t try to go for another one.

 

[Milford Jenings]

AFter I posted this a gentleman in the gym I go to asked for a spot on bench. He was a small guy, but going for 225 on becnch. He said that he could get 5-6 out of it on his own and wanted to make sure that he did the 5th and 6th rep. Needless to say he did. And when he frooze about half way up on the sixth all I did was put my fingers under the bar. That was enough to get the bar moving again. Since then he has asked me to spot him every time I see him. Next time I'm waiting until the bar goes down to help .

MJ