Video: Spotting the Squat

[Mark Rippetoe]

How to Spot the Squat | Nick Delgadillo

[thras]

Thanks for this. I had someone at the gym the other day ask for three of us to spot him squatting. He was lifting 630 for a single rep, and wanted me in back, and two other guys on either side. He was in a power cage, but preferred to avoid dumping the bar, if possible. I felt that I was standing in a suboptimal position for being of any help, and was very conscious of the need to avoid bumping him. He did the lift without any interference on our part. Still, if YouTube is any guide, the 3-person spot seems to be the standard way to spot high weight competition squats. Is there anything that I should do differently the next time?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do it like in the video next time.

[dpinsen]

Do it like in the video next time.

My gym has cages, so spotting the squat shouldn't be necessary, but a guy asked me to spot him a few weeks back. He got stuck near the bottom on one of the reps, and I had to help him from behind in the way Nick and you disapprove of.

Realistically, if you're the only spotter, that's what you have to do to get him up. Your one-man method from SS:BB3 wouldn't have worked in this case.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thank God you were there, Dave. Nick and I would have fucked this guy up.

[Rodaki]

The video has been up only a few hours and already the top comment completely misses the point:

"This may be necessary for advanced lifters but for novices and fairly intermediate lifters, 2 spotters is just overkill. The weight rarely exceeds the strength of one person alone."

There was also a comment about catastrophic failure and how two guys on the side can't stop it - what do people expect would happen when 750lb suddenly drops into their arms? Of course they cannot stop it, if they could instantly catch hundreds of pounds and lift it off someone they would probably be in a more lucrative sport than powerlifting. Which I reckon is why in the video, which the commentators probably did not watch, it says to guide it, not catch it.

[nykid]

Thank God you were there, Dave. Nick and I would have fucked this guy up.

Hahaha. I love you Rip.

[dpinsen]

Thank God you were there, Dave. Nick and I would have fucked this guy up.

If you and Nick were both there, you could have spotted him the two-man way. I don't think your one-man, bar-only method would have worked for you, but I'd be willing to be proved wrong. I know it wouldn't have worked for me. I couldn't have lifted that much weight, away from my body, that way.

[David Kirkham]

My gym has cages, so spotting the squat shouldn't be necessary, but a guy asked me to spot him a few weeks back. He got stuck near the bottom on one of the reps, and I had to help him from behind in the way Nick and you disapprove of.

Realistically, if you're the only spotter, that's what you have to do to get him up. Your one-man method from SS:BB3 wouldn't have worked in this case.

Realistically--if you are the only spotter around and the guy is in a "cage" then why are you spotting him at all? The rack will catch him if he can't lift it. I know it will. I've used the bars on my rack way too many times. What can I say? I get greedy...400 is calling my name

Besides, if you "spot" the lift wrong you very well may injure him or yourself. You have a large moment arm to overcome when you are reaching from behind (you have to reach over his hips) and it's easy for one of you to lose your balance. I say let the rack do the work.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you and Nick were both there, you could have spotted him the two-man way. I don't think your one-man, bar-only method would have worked for you, but I'd be willing to be proved wrong. I know it wouldn't have worked for me. I couldn't have lifted that much weight, away from my body, that way.

Dave, we want you to use 2 spotters. That's the purpose of the video. TWO spotters. We want you to make better plans than having one spotter. We want there to be 2 spotters.