Being good at spotting is extremely valuable. When you’re at the gym, you have a duty to maintain a safe environment for everyone around you, and being able to spot someone when they need it is one of the most important ways you can ensure the safety of others. It seems straightforward enough; all you have to do is help lift the weight for someone if they can’t do it themselves, but it’s quite a bit more complicated than that. Essentially, another person is putting their safety in your hands, so if you don’t know how to spot someone at the gym, this can have very severe consequences for the both of you.
From personal experience, I can say that whether or not someone can properly spot makes an enormous difference. Therefore, I want to cover some important points regarding how to spot someone so that the next time you’re asked to be a spotter, you know exactly what to do.
Proper Spotting Technique
Although the overall goal of spotting is always the same, how you actually go about doing it varies for every exercise. Each exercise comes with its own spotting requirements in terms of how to stand and where to provide support, and it’s crucial to follow these procedures because that’s how you can provide assistance in the safest and most effective manner. For example, when you spot for a barbell bench press you do so by directly lifting the bar, but for a dumbbell bench press you actually support the lifter’s elbows and not the weights themselves.
Another thing to consider is whether you could, in a worst-case scenario, actually lift up all the weight being used. In the event the lifter completely fatigues and must rely on you to bring all the weight back up, you won’t be of much help if you aren’t able to do that. Even though you don’t want to come off as rude by refusing to spot someone, if you don’t know what to do or don’t think you can handle the weight, it’s better to be honest than risk injuring yourself and the other person.
Understanding Your Role as a Spotter
Another thing to clarify before you begin spotting is what the lifter expects from you.
Sometimes, in addition to spotting during the exercise, you may need to help the lifter raise the weights into the starting position. This is usually known as the lift-off phase of the exercise, and if you’re asked to assist with it, make sure you understand what to do and when to do it. The lifter shouldn’t have to waste excessive amounts of energy getting into the starting position, so when they’re ready to begin the exercise, you must be there to help them get the weight up as quickly as possible.
After the lifter begins performing their reps, your job will be to closely watch them and jump in if they’re struggling to bring the weight up. Something I want to emphasize here is that if you do need to assist the lifter, this doesn’t mean you should take on all the weight and essentially do the lifting for them.
Instead, they should still try to lift as much of the weight as they can, while you only lighten up the load as much as is necessary for them to complete the rep and return the weight to the starting position. This is because if you just pick up the weight for them, then the lifter doesn’t get to fully exert their muscles and push them as hard as they can, which is how muscles get stronger. You wouldn’t want that to happen to you, so it’s something you need to be aware of when you spot others.
Finding the Right Balance
Now that you know the fundamentals of how to properly spot someone at the gym, there are a few essential things to keep in mind.
First, always be fully attentive when spotting. Always stand in a ready position, and if it seems the lifter can’t raise the weight any further, you don’t need to wait for a verbal cue to step in. If the lifter does explicitly ask for help, immediately act on their command. You’re not doing the lifter any favors by having them continue to struggle with the weight if it’s clearly not going anywhere; you’re only increasing the chance that they strain or tear a muscle.
That being said, you also don’t want to be too proactive and preemptively spring into action at the first sign of a lifter slowing down. As I explained earlier, struggling with the weight to some extent is necessary for muscle growth, because that’s how you force your muscles to adapt to a heavier load.
If the spotter provides help before the lifter truly needs it, resulting in a “wasted rep”, it can actually be incredibly frustrating. As the lifter, you’re still left with some energy because you didn’t get to fully deplete your muscles, which means you didn’t get to maximize your muscle-building potential. At the same time, though, you might not have enough energy to do another full set with the same weight, which means you’ll have to decrease the weight or number of reps for the next set. Either way, this will decrease your total training volume and you won’t be able to get the most out of that exercise.
To avoid this, when you’re spotting you should only provide support if you see that the weight is no longer coming up or is starting to go back down. As long as the weight is still traveling upwards, even if very slowly, you don’t need to do anything.
An Underrated but Essential Skill
Knowing how to properly spot is something every lifter should learn. Having a spotter often plays a significant role in ensuring that someone can perform their best in the gym and stay safe while doing so. When you’re in the gym, you may be asked to spot someone at any moment, so it’s something that’ll certainly come in handy.
If the thought of having to spot someone makes you nervous, the fact is that if you’ve ever needed a spot yourself, you probably already have an idea of what it takes. Think back to how others have spotted you in the past and what things they’ve done that were effective or not. In the end, if you still aren’t confident in your ability yet, you can always just be upfront and honest about it. Others will understand, and if anything, they’ll appreciate that you’re taking their safety seriously.
