The Training Partner

The Training Partner (spotter)

Often a good training partner is a good friend, or will become one. I met my last training buddy when I changed gyms, I knew him from a powerlifting team we both competed in. For many years he came to my house with his car to pick me up for our work-outs. When one us of us didn’t feel well or didn’t feel like training heavy, we pushed each other to the limit.

A good training partner (spotter) feels when you need help, and he keeps out when you do not need it. A good training partner knows also about what or how much you can manage, and he knows above all, if you really can no longer lift it, without some help. And a good training partner can deal with the weight with which you train also in an emergency. What does it help, if you do not only have the weight on your chest, but also your spotter?

When do you need a spotter

Exercises with free weights, pushing above the head (shoulder press), back (back squat), shoulders (front squat), or above the face (bench press, lying triceps extension) are more difficult to perform correctly, or if the weights for it held next to the body (barbell curls, shoulder lateral raise). This makes that these exercises ( when performed with heavy weights) always need one or more spotters.

Spotting exercises above the head, back or shoulders

You'll always find some bodybuilders and powerlifters training to failure . In doing those exercises to failure without a spotter, is highly dangerous. Even if you use safety bars as seen on the picture. If you really want to go heavy without a spotter, then you should secure the safety bars, to prevent them from moving or falling. The same goes for support boxes, used to make heavy half-movements.

To increase the safety of the lifter it is important to always perform this kind of exercise in a power rack with safety bars. All weights, clamps and wheels must out of the way so that the athlete cannot trip over here when he gets back. Since the weights in this type of exercise can run well on it is advisable to take a spotter that is at least as strong as the athlete who lifts. When this is not possible, there may be a second spotter be achieved in order to assist.

Spotting exercises over the face

This small video shows where it can go wrong. The spotter has to communicate with the trainee. When pressing heavy, the spotter helps the trainee to lift off the bar from the brackets, because there the lifter is not so strong. They put the bar in position, above the chest, and then the spotter should ask: “are you ready?” before he lets go of the bar. If he isn’t 100% sure that the trainee can handle the barbell downwards or upwards, he should keep his hands on the bar, just in case something goes wrong.

Partner training (spotting) with the example of chest training

One of the most outstanding exercises for the breast is bench pressing. However, if you really want to do it well, you need an experienced spotter for help and security. The novice needs it because he does not yet master the exercise perfectly and needs both help and correction. However, learning to bench press is very important that the trainee is controlling its breathing, this is also the task of the training partner. He also must pay attention to whether the grip range is correct, and if the bar is correctly directed downwards and upwards. Beginners on the bench often do not even have a clear idea where "up" is.

I've seen already experienced athletes who, in the first few weeks and even months, have the barbell not really pushed up but rather slightly forward, toward the legs. N ow the barbell does not actually describe a straight line, but a slight curve when the point at which the dumbbell is fixed is too far forward, then one cannot even hold the intended weight, let alone press.

Is the breathing correct? For beginners that is almost never true. The training partner hears this, thus can intervene correctively. Experienced athletes make a light pressure breathing.

Many powerlifters make a hollow arch. This is not recommended for beginners. If you're not competing you probably don't need a giant low back arch when you're benching. That can just lead to low back pain and being "arched-out" constantly.

What the seven-liter lung of an advanced athlete can tolerate can easily be the beginning of the end for the beginner. An experienced spotter will make sure your position on the bench is according your needs.

The advanced bodybuilder needs the training partner for a completely different reason. If one wants to make one last push after the actual last repetition, one needs the securing of the training partner. This applies even more so to so-called "forced repetitions” or “forced reps”, in which the training partner helps just as much as is necessary for the complete handling of the weight. Especially advanced lifters, and powerlifters. To train at maximum weight, it always feel a little dangerous when pushing the limit at the power bench. What happens when the shoulder strikes, a muscle fiber tears, the circulation does not play, a dumbbell slips ...? When you have someone spotting you, you’re able to push past your own limits confidently and safely. And after the last successful press the spotter helps you to safely lay back the barbell in the squat-rack or on the bench. Psychology (placebo) effect – Sometimes, simply touching the bar is good enough to trick a person that you are supporting whereas you are there just to provide a level of comfort for his mind. With a spotter, a person normally dares to push the heavy weight for another few more repetitions beyond what he is normally capable. The potter may motivate you to perform better with words of encouragement. I often hear people shouting, “Come on, you can do it!” “One more, one more.”

At barbell exercises over the face, it is important that the spotter grabs the barbell with an alternated grip. This makes less likely the bar slipping and falling on the face or neck of the athlete. Here are exceptions. In exercises with a curve, as in the lying triceps extension, it is not convenient to use an alternated grip. Here is a supinated grip used because the path of the movement then easier to follow.

At dumbbell exercises over the face, it is important that as closely as possible is spotted on the dumbbell. Often people spotting these exercises at the elbows. This is not safe because the dumbbells may fall inside, on the face. In this case and by novices (rookies) the spotter assist by holding the trainee by the wrists (A), to ensure the right movement. More experienced lifters are often spotted by the elbows (B). With some exercises, such as the dumbbell pullover, it is necessary to spot the dumbbell itself.

Do you know what a good training partner is?

However, there are also opportunities for the training partner in the exercise with dumbbells. However, the size of the dumbbells often does not permit common access. In contrast to the barbell, therefore, the weights are generally not considered here, but supports, for example, In the flying movement on the flat bench by a handle from left and right under the elbow

Good spotting helps your training in three important ways:

* To assist you with lifting the weight when you can lift it no further, e.g., when the bar stalls during a bench press ascent.

* To provide the minimum assistance to ensure that the last rep of a set is done in good form. In this case, you probably could get the rep out under your own power but your form would break down. Consider the last rep of a set of bench presses when one hand gets slightly above the other, and you feel like increasing the arch in your back in order to get that rep out. This is a dangerous situation. A spotter can make the difference between safety and injury.

* During a set you may forget a key point of form. A spotter can alert you to key form pointers while ensuring that you put forth maximum effort. You need excellent exercise form and intensity of effort.

Back Squat

Spotters should use a widened split stance to create a larger base of stability. To do this, you set one foot in front and the other one staggered behind. Maintain a tight and upright trunk and core, and adjust your hand placement according to the lift. Make sure both you and your lifter know what you are about to do by establishing the rep range and the goal ahead of time.

There are two ways to spot a back squat. You can spot by the sides of the bar (one person on each end and outside of the rack) or from behind the athlete. I am a huge proponent of spotting from behind the lifter. In addition, squat racks with sidebars are a great benefit with and without a spotter as they catch any failed rep or falling bar and thus save the spotter and the lifter from injury.

Let the lifter back away from the rack and settle into the starting stance or set up. Stand behind your lifter and follow him or her down (in a similar motion as the squat itself). Have your hands up and under the armpits and on or near the chest (not touching unless necessary). Your role here is to help the lifter maintain a raised chest as the tendency when fatigue sets in is to collapse the core or trunk forward over the quads. By your guiding that chest up, the lifter has the advantage of maintaining form while still fighting for those last important strength-building reps. Also, help the lifter re-rack the weight by guiding the bar back with him or her into the proper rack position and securing it into place.

One of the hardest movements to spot is the back squat. More often than not when you see someone spotting a partner on the squat, you'll see the spotter with their hands about waist high, fingers open and ready to wrap their hands around a failing squatter's waist as if to lift them up by the hips. If you've ever seen anyone actually fail squatting, you'd know that this would not be an effective way to spot this movement.

Squats supported by a spotter or without, is many times safer in a squat rack. In a squat rack you can also make half or quarter squats. It is very stupid if you train in the rack and do forget to stab the safety bars in the rack (see red circle). On the left you can see that even an professional bodybuilder like Jean Pierre Fux forgot that, and ended up in the hospital.

If the squatter truly fails, you'll need to wrap your arms around the person from the back with your arms basically through and under the person's arms nearer the armpits and toward the front of the shoulders so you can lift up and back. A failing squatter will fall forward, not downward, so the waist grab will do nothing, but a pull from behind will [hopefully] lift him or her back upright and past the failure point.

The spotter can support the body of the lifter with the forearms and stabilize, it is thus possible to help the trainee a little to make a smooth upward movement. Because usually there is after some heavy lifts or a dead end, often especially deep, just before the upward movement begins. Bovenkant formulier

Strength and motivation

The best doping is an increased will

Despite the prejudice of the fact that athletes do not need a "head" for their sport, the success in the sport of sport depends to a large extent on events that take place in the head of the athlete. Only those who have sufficient motivation and concentration will be able to achieve remarkable achievements in the sport. A desire to win over the weight, a psychological approach to the exercises, and the will to achieve a determined goal are the unconditional prerequisites for the final success.

Thus, Hollmann and Hettinger report that they had made experiments with their students on the maximum contraction of certain muscle groups. All the participants in this experiment had been invited to do their best, and the performance was then recorded. On the next day, when they were invited to the same investigation again, they were told that measurements of sports students in the Soviet Union, which was still existing at that time, had resulted in significantly higher performances, and the German results would be disappointed.

The forces registered on this day were 13% higher than the previous day. When, on another day, a particularly charming student took an admirable look at the efforts of the male participants, the performance rose again by 8%! Within two days the student's performance had risen by more than a quarter. Since adaptation processes can be virtually excluded in this short time, this success can only be attributed to the factor motivation.

Another Fun Study

UA students in an evidence-based medicine class are trying to replicate the experimental results their peers from a previous semester found, where having a woman on a man’s lap while he bench pressed allowed him to do more repetitions.

The inspiration behind the original experimental project was a circulating Internet meme that claimed women helped increase testosterone levels in men, which led to the increased repetitions. However, there was no data to back up the claim.

The goal of the former students was to test the validity of the meme, and they found positive results; the goal of the current class is to follow up and test the validity of those results. “If you can’t reproduce results, you can’t tell if they are true or not,” said Samantha DiBaise, a senior studying molecular and cellular biology, physiology and Spanish, and the leader of the project. “You can’t say anything about it.”

UA students in an evidence-based medicine class are trying to replicate the experimental results their peers from a previous semester found, where having a woman on a man’s lap while he bench pressed allowed him to do more repetitions.

The inspiration behind the original experimental project was a circulating Internet meme that claimed women helped increase testosterone levels in men, which led to the increased repetitions. However, there was no data to back up the claim.

The goal of the former students was to test the validity of the meme, and they found positive results; the goal of the current class is to follow up and test the validity of those results. 

“If you can’t reproduce results, you can’t tell if they are true or not,” said Samantha DiBaise, a senior studying molecular and cellular biology, physiology and Spanish, and the leader of the project. “You can’t say anything about it.”

Reproducibility is a major issue in science today, said Joanna Masel, an associate professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and instructor of the course. For example, Masel cited the work of John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, who took a set of research studies and looked to see whether they had been reproduced and what happened if they had been. What was found was a lot of the studies could not hold up — the results of the study could not be reproduced or had smaller effect sizes than what was originally claimed.

The scent of an ovulating woman. Watching sexually arousing films (porn), or just being sexually aroused, can increase testosterone secretion in men watching 4 minutes of erotica can also increase subsequent performance on a 3 rep squat, etc ….females bring us men to great heights.