On Spotting Bench Press

[skipbeat]

lol one dude gave me a handoff and put the bar all the way over my nuts (hyperbole). came crashing down into my ribs, not fun.

[veryhrm]

As a broader procedural point, i think this will be received quite poorly if you haven't established some relationship w/ these people that makes them want to listen to you.

Also, the thing about collars is different when you have a spotter. If it collapses on your chest all he has to do is go to one side and tip the bar to the side. If he's not strong enough to get the bar off of you that way by tipping it over and then squatting under the high end to pick that up even further, once it's tipped over he can take off the collar on the high side and pull off some plates until he can squat the high end off of you. Either way, that's better than the uncollared case which would have flying bars and weights.

[Jsutt]

Bit long isn't it?

[yorick]

This guy I was spotting yesterday didn't know how to receieve the handoff. Was taking it out to him and he didn't even lock it out just BAM straight down. Shit sucked, didn't even know if he had it fully.

Sorry, this made me laugh. Hopefully it's funny for you in hindsight.

[Dabs]

I like those small forklifts. They perfectly balance the bar. An alternative is to get some pulleys that even a skinny spotter can grab and get the bar off your chest.

[Oldster]

Without reading all the responses I'll just say a few things. Anyone can spot just about any weight. I've had Middle School aged girls spot me with very heavy weights. If the lifter does his job, the spotter shouldn't have to lift more than 5lbs. The only problem is getting a liftoff from someone fairly weak, I really appreciate it when the bar is lifted off to me and I realized they lifted a LOT. As with the squat, I would NEVER allow spotters on either end of the bar unless they did it on a regular basis and really knew their stuff. And uneven spot and someone is going to be injured.

[Joe Murphy]

Seeing Oldster's response drives me to post. I'm a noob (my son's spelling) to lifting but apparently since I do squats and deads in the rack instead of the Smith guys think I know what I'm doing and I must be strong (I don't and I'm not.) I was in the gym (well, club/spa) a few Sunday nights ago and I was doing something in the power rack. A guy who looked like a 55 year old reformed surfer came over and asked me for a spot. (We were the only two in the room.) On the way to his bench I see he's got 3 plates on each end and I think, 'Holy SHIT! He looks hard but is 6'2"ish and very trim.... So, I know enough to ask him, "Do you want any help or should I just save you?" He says, "I'll probably need a little help..." So, we take it off and he lowers it...and presses it about 1/4 and grunts out for help.... Now, these benches are the 4 section things that happen to have a cross-bar right behind the lifter's head. The cross-bar prevents one from getting close enough to actually help much. So, I'm leaning over the goddamned bar, trying to pull it up, I mean trying hard. I was thinking he's going to have to dump it and I'm going to have to show him how.... Somehow I lean back and pull and we rack it. I say something about 'that's a lot of weight, man...' and we pull a plate off of each end. I go back to the power rack and see him fight for one rep @ 225. I mean, I admire his grit, but c'mon....

[hbriem]

I'd like to add that spotting equipped benches is a whole lot trickier and more dangerous than raw benches.

I have been privileged to spot equipped benches up to 250kg (551 lbs) and it is far more dangerous than raw. As Oldster said above, with a normal raw bench, the spotter only has to provide a few kilos of assistance. But when equipped, not only is the weight higher, sometimes much higher, but also tends to fail up or down into a position where the lifter cannot provide much, if any, assistance. It also moves out of position much faster, driven by the shirt's elasticity.

When the weight being benched exceeds your best deadlift you had better have side spotters to help.

Spotting shirted bench presses is tricky and difficult and everyone should learn to spot all the positions, side and main.

[PackMule]

Sorry, this made me laugh. Hopefully it's funny for you in hindsight.

It is pretty funny in a sketchy way (he had 315 on the damn bar). But I politely told him that its usually a good idea to bring it to the lockout position before heading down.

[ColoWayno]

I'll probably end up just talking to a trainer I know pretty well there and see where it goes. I'm glad I started this thread though because it's helped clarify a few things and also let me vent. I'll go in a bit more humble me thinks.