Am i spotting right? Really embressed

[GebNod]

Today i got asked for a spot and it took a while for the guy to get the wieghts up is it because im weak? or is it because it is to heavy for him i had to spot him the whole way and i had to use alot of energy lol. Am i weak?

[magician27]

if he could hardly lift it up

1- spotter is too weak
2- you didnt lift weight ,you just touched the weight that you lifted. if a person has to apply more than 10-15lbs force, then its pointless to use spotter.

[GebNod]

if he could hardly lift it up

1- spotter is too weak
2- you didnt lift weight ,you just touched the weight that you lifted. if a person has to apply more than 10-15lbs force, then its pointless to use spotter.

wow that sucks i shoulda apologize to him next time then since i fked up becuase he was using 80 pound dumbbells and i just pushed on his elbows and i have to put all the force into even helping him lift it up after that it was easy though

[Connor1226]

No, what it sounds like he was lifting a weight that was way too heavy. It is not that hard to place even 30-40lbs of pressure on a bar when lifting it up. If he was strugglinh with help, he was using a weight way too much for him.

I bench 155 for reps. Im 5'9'. I spot a buddy of mine who benches 405 for reps. Trust me, spotting doesn't require strength.

Don't spot that guy again, he's screwing off and going to hurt himself or others.

[gBeuten]

No, what it sounds like he was lifting a weight that was way too heavy. It is not that hard to place even 30-40lbs of pressure on a bar when lifting it up. If he was strugglinh with help, he was using a weight way too much for him.

I bench 155 for reps. Im 5'9'. I spot a buddy of mine who benches 405 for reps. Trust me, spotting doesn't require strength.

Don't spot that guy again, he's screwing off and going to hurt himself or others.

This much more than anything. The chance that it was your fault is anorexic. Too often I see ego lifting especially on the bench press where they stack plates to get as much weight as possible and then get not even 1 clean rep or 5 reps with a spotter performing barbell rows more than the guy is doing a bench press I hate it. Next time tell that guy to lift weight he can actually handle instead of ****ing around. Not being able to push out the last few reps is fine but having your spotter perform barbell rows is not.

[uberkingkong]

wow that sucks i shoulda apologize to him next time then since i fked up becuase he was using 80 pound dumbbells and i just pushed on his elbows and i have to put all the force into even helping him lift it up after that it was easy though

Sounds like he was doing seated dumbbell shoulder press?
Those I can understand people who need a spot to get the weight up, because I can do 60 lbs dumbbell shoulder press, however getting the weight up to the point where I can actually do the movement is the hardest part. What I'm talking about is when the weights are on your knees and getting the weight into the shoulder press position. As you mentioned, you had to help a lot during the initial set, but after getting him into position it was easy from there.

Now if your talking about dumbbell bench press, maybe he messed up at start, but you really shouldn't need as much assistance at the start of the set compared to seated shoulder press. I can understand messing up and the elbows starting below normal.

Most of time, when you lift heavy with dumbbells (shoulder press and bench press), its not that people cannot do the movement, its just they cant get into position to execute the movement.

So to answer your question, if you just struggled to help on the first and last rep its perfectly fine, 80 lbs dumbbells is above normal weight. If it was 40s and you struggled really hard, than yes your weak. Also, spot at the wrists, but don't squeeze there wrists. When you spot at the elbows you can mess them up by pushing too hard and one arm will go across there stomach or something and it wont end well. Don't push in or out when you spot either, just push the weight up, let them control if they want to do closer or wider unless you can tell they are messing up. So, no your not weak, its 80 lb dumbbells, and of course you struggled during the start and finish that's when they need a spot, and probably took a long time to get weights up because he messed up starting or something.

[rtm0004]

No, what it sounds like he was lifting a weight that was way too heavy. It is not that hard to place even 30-40lbs of pressure on a bar when lifting it up. If he was strugglinh with help, he was using a weight way too much for him.

I bench 155 for reps. Im 5'9'. I spot a buddy of mine who benches 405 for reps. Trust me, spotting doesn't require strength.

Don't spot that guy again, he's screwing off and going to hurt himself or others.

I agree with this post

spotting should not be hard work for the spotter if the lifter is using a weight that is reasonable for them

[Illusional]

For spotting I like to do one overhand and one underhand. It really doesn't matter but even if he pushed most of the weight it still counts as a rep on his part so you're good.

[Mdenatale]

Weight lifting isn't supposed to be a team sport. If the spotter has to assist through the entire range of motion then the weight is too heavy. He is basically doing a drop set at that point and the right way to do that is to lower the weight. A spot is supposed to be for safety, to get someone out of trouble if they hit muscle failure and to help unrack and rack the weight.

When I get a spot I always tell them how many reps I'm shooting for so they know what to expect and I ask the same when I'm spotting someone.

[Get-n-fit]

Weight lifting isn't supposed to be a team sport. .

Are you sure?


lol


Ditto what everyone says, anyone should be able to spot you...even a child (theoretically speaking) that's how little a spotter should be helping. A bad spotter can leave you thinking you are stronger than you really are, which in turns leads you to attempting way more weight than you should even think of.

[cgibsong002]

You really shouldn't even need to use more than finger pressure to spot someone. That said, also always be ready to take the entire bar in case something happens to the lifter. It's always best to have someone capable of handling the weight just in case.