I have only been squatting for around a month now, and I am moving up at a decent pace… but I am wondering how does one spot the squatter properly, my workout partner and I don’t know, so we don’t try to spot, we just make sure that we can handle the weight we have on the bar.
But I figure I can do more if I am confident that if I start to fail I wont be crushed and my partner can help me finish.
I used the search function but couldn’t find anything… maybe I am blind.
-Dave
Dave,
Whenever i get a spotter for my squat i usually get the person to stand behind me and should i begin to struggle the spotter will steady me by stabilising my waist.
When I box squat I just set up in a power rack and set the pins a little lower than my lowest point. If you fail just set the bar on the pins.
Have him stand behind you and squat down as you squat down. As you both squat down his arms should be forward and wrapped slightly around your body with his hands close to your chest. Now if you fail, he would grab ahold of your upper body (as if he was hugging you from behind) and squat up, helping you up with the weight.
I’ve had good luck with a spotter standing behind me and, when needed, he’ll stick is arms out straight in front of him (about 4-6 inches below my armpits) and squeeze my lats together. He doesn’t even have to lift up really, just squeeze in with medium pressure. This stabilizes your body and allows you to concentrate fully on pushing up, giving you the extra power to complete the squat.
Thanks guys, I figured it was something along those lines but I wasn’t quite sure.
Now I can squat bigger with confidence.
-Dave
There are a couple of people in my gym that I trust for a spot when I squat and they always stand behind me with hands slightly below chest level at my sides, without actually touching. If failure should occur spotter will
grasp you from the side/ribcage area and assume some of the load from this position to assist you back to upright position. My understanding is that the spotter should never spot from the bar. I don’t know if this is the correct way but it is the only way I have seen it done. It definitely makes a huge difference in my being comfortable squatting heavy.
Yeah, just pretty much picture your favorite gay position.
Actually, I liked Sabrina and xmas’s descriptions. Dat’s how we do it.