Spotting in the gym

‘Spotting‘ is the gym term used to describe helping someone lift through a portion of the exercise that they can not manage by themselves. For example pushing them up slightly in a chin up, or helping lift the bar up in a bench press.

There reaches a point however where spotting just becomes a bit ridiculous. Basically, when you as the spotter is contributing just as much or more to the lift than the person lifting is. I am always humored by people who ask me to spot for them a weight they have no chance of lifting near their desired number of repetitions.

For these people I have a rule to use:

If your spotter is grunting more than you then it is probably about time to stop the exercise.

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2007 at 6:44 am and is filed under Athletics, Bodybuilding, Exercise, Fat Loss, Fitness, Gym, Health, Sport, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Weight Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Spotting in the gym”

Marquis Chapman Says:
August 14, 2007 at 7:29 am | Reply
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. You see this type of thing the most when guys are bench pressing.

http://alltalksports.wordpress.com/
vitalstreak Says:
August 14, 2007 at 8:02 am | Reply
Interesting! I see that in Bally fitness center a lot particularly amongst egomaniacs engaged in a juvenile display of testosterone surges. This usually with the bench press. I think they simply lose sight of the whole purpose of weight training!
Bart Says:
December 16, 2009 at 10:10 pm | Reply
Hi there. Another great blog post, i love coming back at your place and reading your recent excerpts.

Bradley Simpson