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Dips instead of Benchpress?
Rip,
I recently lost my gym partner and have been forced to ask random people at my gym to spot me on the benchpress.
I'm tired of them screwing up the spotting - holding onto the bar, yanking it up, taking the weight, dripping sweat all over me, giving advice, acting belittling because their poundage is better etc. etc. etc.
I'm thinking of just going with dips instead. What do you think? Are dips a good alternative?
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You are going to let shame/annoyance/patience threshold dictate your exercise selection?
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There was discussion about how to properly instruct your spotter so that he can give you a handoff and save from a bad case of "bar in the face". I liked one particular suggestion: "just give me a handoff, then step back, I usually spit a lot". I have not tested this on the field, but I can't really picture your spotter wanting to be spit on.
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The hand-off is not the part you should be worrying about. Everyone should be able to get their 5RM out of the rack without too much trouble.
It's the re-rack that has the most potential to hurt you. If you miss a hook it's going to get ugly. Just tell the spotter to take the bar when you've finished your set.
And hope they are paying close enough attention to grab the bar if it stops moving up. If it were me, I'd be pretty conservative with pushing the reps with some joker in a globo gym spotting me. In other word, don't miss a rep if you can help it.
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Once they stand behind the bench, turn around, look them dead in the eyes, and say:
"Don't touch the bar unless I scream for help."
Does this not work?
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I don't understand why people can't just open their mouth and dictate exactly what it is they need a spotter to do. When people ask me for a spot, I always ask how many reps and would they like me to touch the bar at any point and/or if they'd like a hand-off. A little communication goes a long way.
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Try bench pressing in a power rack or squat rack. Then you may still need a hand-off but that's it. Nobody will fuck with your effort. Make sure you set the pins of the rack right - above your teeth and below your chest after your set-up is finished. If you miss a rep just lower the bar to the pins.
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When I have people that haven't spotted me before spot me, I usually tell them give me a lift off, and then step way the fuck back, and do not touch the bar unless i explicitly ask for help. Because if you do you touch it and I don't ask you to you are ruining my set. It usually works pretty well.
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Just do the bench press inside a power rack with the safety bars set so that the bar of the barbell just barely touches your chest. I don't have a spotter either, and doing it inside the power rack has saved me a few times.
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