Spotting

[Gladiola]

How do you 'spot' someone for dumbell presses?

Last night I was spotting my partner by crouching at the head of the bench with my hands on his elbows (when he needed) to help him press up.

Apparently some muscle decided it didn't want to fire anymore & his arm gave out - dropping the DB on his pec!!! It was still in his hand, but his elbow just collapsed in & the DB bounced off his pec. Considering my hand was on the outside of the elbow, I was no help in preventing him from being wacked.

He was fine, but I felt bad. Was I spotting wrong?

 

[Screwball]

Hi Gladiola,

I spot dumbbell presses just as you described. It is not uncommon for someone pushing to failure to "give out" and loose control of the weight. I spot at the elbows and when the person lifting becomes fatiqued I make sure to keep an eye on the dumbbells. If it becomes unsteady I will slide my hands up to the upper forearm area to better control the weight. Good luck!

 

[BrickGirl]

my husband spots me and I spot him and we both grab the wrists, the heaver the weight, the tighter we grip the wrist, never had a problem, and I spot my husband on 140lb incline dumbell presses, never a problem

 

[Bikini Mod]

What she said... although when the weight gets challenging spotting at wrists is better.

 

[PowerPrincess]

the same thing happened to both my training partner and myself, but instead we were doing dumbell chest presses - all of a sudden without warning, it was like someone pushed our arms, and the weight in our hand came crashing down on our chest and just kinda bounced, and that was when we were both spotting each other by the elbow too. The only thing i dont like about the wrist spot is that i feel too constricted even when lightly spotted.

 

[Gladiola]

Oops - these were CHEST Presses, not military presses, forgot to mention that.

The only thing i dont like about the wrist spot is that i feel too constricted even when lightly spotted.

Good point. I'd feel like I was kinda too in his face - although going forward I will ask him to let me know if he thinks he's at failure & I need to be extra cautious.

He he - it's just so hard to tell if he IS working with heavy weights. He is quiet & always pushing himself. He's hard to read so I don't know what's REEEALLY tough for him. When I first started working with him, I used to ask him constantly if he was BREATHING! It seemed like he was holding his breath during sets!