[quote]goochadamg wrote:
I now make it very clear that I do not want help lifting the bar. I ask my spotter to not touch the bar at all unless it is going down or I specifically ask for help. I also tell them it is important to me to make the lift all on my own.
[/quote]
That’s the only time I ever touch the bar. Even if they stop, I won’t touch it unless they say so.
oh yeah you think you got it bad…
not trying to hijack your thread…but today I was doing leg extensions and there was this fat chick on there before me who looked very orange…lol…
long story short i do my first set and look down at my shoes and legs where the pad touches and they had fake tanning lotion all over them, and the pad…
so i’m walking around with orange shins and shoes for the remainder of my workout…
DG
…on your topic, i just hate to ask somebody for a spot in the first place, i’m thankful to have a few good training partners on days when i need a good spot.
I just make sure to tell people beforehand not to touch the bar at all unless I tell them to. Never had any issues so far.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
I just make sure to tell people beforehand not to touch the bar at all unless I tell them to. Never had any issues so far. [/quote]
Pretty much what I do. I tell them if I need help I’ll say help or grab it or something along those lines. Usually I really just want the lift-off and nothing else.
Oh well I lift at home now in my power cage, so its all on me.
[quote]elano wrote:
Listen to this, I go to this LAME health club called edge fitness.
This guy was under the smith machine on his back on the floor doing 1/4 leg presses with like 225 on there.
I kinda though this was a little duchey because there was 2 leg press machines and a power rack 5 feet away. Anyways I figured he would know how to give me a spot right.
I asked him and he was like “how many you TRYING to do?” i said “Im going to do 5 reps” he said “think 6 man think 6!”
He put his fingers under the bar on every rep and I shouted at him “Don’t touch it!” and I kid you not, he kept doing it!!! So after racking the weight I was pissed and completely ignored him but then since Im a nice guy I said “Thanks” just to be polite.
Anyways the next(last) set I asked a different guy to give me a spot and he did the same thing!!! He freakin’ touched the bar while it was moving slow on 2 of my reps! He even had the balls to say “Its all you mann!” while he was doing it!
What is so hard about giving a spot? When the bar STOPS for a few seconds, then help but if its moving slow on its own dont touch it![/quote]
Realistically, faster eccentric movements are more beneficial to your gains than slow, struggling efforts. Most people (like you) don’t want spotters to touch the bar but honestly, if you’re sticking on weight or slowing down that much, you shouldn’t be pushing that much weight.
The only instance I wouldn’t help bring weight up in a fluid, quick manor would be on a 1RM. Other than that, stick to movements that are fairly quickly eccentric.
Don’t get so mad.
i also work out at a gay health club so im lucky if there is anyone in the freeweight section to give me a spot haha. i dont know if this helps but my old teacher/lifting partner used to ask me to spot like that depending on how difficult it was because it would piss him off and he would work harder to get the weight up without help. that same idea works for me fairly well so maybe try channeling your anger towards your spotter into getting that weight up.
That kind of shit would bother me too, but most of the people who spot me are buddies who know not to help unless I can’t get the weight up.
What bothers me more though is the “motivational” bullshit people scream at you while your trying to focus on lifting. All it ever does is end up distracting me and ruins the set.
[quote]naughtybox wrote:
elano wrote:
Listen to this, I go to this LAME health club called edge fitness.
This guy was under the smith machine on his back on the floor doing 1/4 leg presses with like 225 on there.
I kinda though this was a little duchey because there was 2 leg press machines and a power rack 5 feet away. Anyways I figured he would know how to give me a spot right.
I asked him and he was like “how many you TRYING to do?” i said “Im going to do 5 reps” he said “think 6 man think 6!”
He put his fingers under the bar on every rep and I shouted at him “Don’t touch it!” and I kid you not, he kept doing it!!! So after racking the weight I was pissed and completely ignored him but then since Im a nice guy I said “Thanks” just to be polite.
Anyways the next(last) set I asked a different guy to give me a spot and he did the same thing!!! He freakin’ touched the bar while it was moving slow on 2 of my reps! He even had the balls to say “Its all you mann!” while he was doing it!
What is so hard about giving a spot? When the bar STOPS for a few seconds, then help but if its moving slow on its own dont touch it!
Realistically, faster eccentric movements are more beneficial to your gains than slow, struggling efforts. Most people (like you) don’t want spotters to touch the bar but honestly, if you’re sticking on weight or slowing down that much, you shouldn’t be pushing that much weight.
The only instance I wouldn’t help bring weight up in a fluid, quick manor would be on a 1RM. Other than that, stick to movements that are fairly quickly eccentric.
Don’t get so mad.[/quote]
Are you sure you aren’t confusing eccentric with concentric. Concentric being the lifting part of the lift, and eccentric being the negative. You want a fairly quick negative? Even though I think it was a simply mistake I still disagree with what you said.
OP, I know what you mean and I’ve told them how I want them to spot me and it doesn’t matter. I few times they’ve even slowed down my eccentric portion of the lift because they were holding on so tight, and they usually feel the need to say afterwards “I didn’t help, all you man.” BS it was all me I can clearly feel the help, even if it doesn’t seem like it on there end.
I hate spotting for strangers. If you wait until they get in trouble most end up quitting and you have to take the whole weight off them.
Don’t ask a stranger for a spot or don’t complain when they ruin your rep. All they care about is that you don’t get hurt and they don’t have to lift the whole thing off you.
[quote]Scott M wrote:
Hey do you guys like your spots the same way as me and 100 other guys in the gym on a Wednesday night?
Oh wait you wouldn’t know unless we talked about it would you… Did you talk to him about what you wanted before hand?[/quote]
Exactly.
[quote]elano wrote:
…
When someone touches my bar while Im lifting it as in pulling up on the bar with their fingers, it cant count it as a true rep because i was not lifting it on my own. Therefore I don’t know for sure if I will be able to bump up the weight next workout.[/quote]
There are so many other factors that also go into determining how much you should lift next workout. A log of what you lifted is a loose guide, not a program for the next week. Trust your instincts and don’t worry about 2 pounds of assistance.
OP How do we know your not that guy who thinks your moving the bar and it’s not going anywhere so your spotter decides to help and you get mad?
I ask for a spot when I think something is dangerous. When getting a workout the same thing can be accomplished with a slightly lighter weight and more reps, hammer machine, or some alternative method. I’ve learned to adjust to the type of spotter I have, if I do use one. If I get a spotter that touches the bar too much I just go for extra reps or I’ll do a pause, an eccentric rep or something. Spotting is too different across the board to worry about if my workout is going to be f’d up because somebody doesn’t spot me the way I want them too.
I can’t lie I used to get pissed like you, but after working out for a while I’ve learned I can either get mad and fuck up my workout, or work my muscles.
This is why I like power cages, and dumbbells.
If it bothers you that much just use a power rack for benching.
Then you can avoid bad spotters and having to whine on an internet forum about random idiots not living up to your expectations.
When i spot people i dont touch shit. i ask how many they want, if they want a lift off, etc and let them go at it. even if theyre stuggling i wait a few seconds because i know that a lot of times when i struggle i still can get it up on my own even if it takes 15 seconds.
There was this dude at my gym squatting like 465 i think it was. He comes up to me and says “hey man you mind giving me a spot, I tend to passout when I go this heavy”
I know it probably doesn’t make a difference in my workout, but I hate it when a spotter touches the bar before he needs to as well. Just annoying.
HAHA at slash. I could never spot a stranger in the squat. You either have to spot them under the chest or at the hips… both of which are pretty gay.
Has anyone spotted a very attractive girl in the squat?
well, IMO, some don’t put alot thought into spotting. They just kind of lift the bar for you. When I spot someone I know that I potentially have that man’s life in my hands but I also don’t want to rob the lifter of the stimulation.
My job as a spotter is to allow the lifter to lift beyond their max. If Big John can push out 6 with 325 I help him get 8. All the while yelling at him. A couple “come ons” and “this is chickenshit weight” to piss him off.
Throughout the set, I’m watching him, barely touching the fucking bar mind you, and through this process of observation I adjust the amount of aid I give him.
The point was that both guys gave me spots on reps that obviously did not need a spots. The bar was moving at a decent rate tho it took hard work. I even made an attempt to move the bar faster with the second guy so that he wouldn’t even think about spotting.
When you spot somebody on bench press your supposed to just stay back until its obvious you need assistance or the lifter tells you. I ALWAYS tell my spotter when I cant make it because I know within the first second whether or not i can make the rep.
I just thought most people knew this. And also I wasn’t so pissed that the first guy touched the bar, I can understand that some people don’t know however when I told him not to touch it, he didn’t listen to me and thats what got me pissed about the whole thing.
Is it possible to touch your chest with the bar in the power rack and still have it set to catch the bar if you fail?