A Good Spotter is like a Good Wingman...

Maybe one of my biggest pet peeves in the gym is watching two buddies get to the bench, load it up with some asinine amount of weight, and proceed to see-saw the bar from either end. "All you, all you!" the spotter shouts as he pulls the bar up to his friend's lockout. It makes me wonder whether the goal is for the guy laying to do a bench with a spotter... Or if the guy standing is doing a Romanian Deadlift with a guy on the bench "spotting." Worse yet are those skinny little folks who have the bar loaded with 95lbs who have spotters assisting in both concentric AND eccentric portions of the lift. Why did you even go to the gym?

You see, finding a good spotter is like finding a good wingman... It's next to impossible to do unless you train them upfront. There are times when I've asked for a spot from some random, and he just stands there not doing anything. That's a good wingman. Sometimes, he'll give me a perplexed look, thinking, "Why did this guy need a spot at all?" because he didn't even know he was being a good spot. But it's not just the spotter's problem... Many lifters have no conception of what a "spot" entails.

You ask for a spotter when you're unsure whether or not you can complete the set or lift. You do not ask for a spotter when you KNOW you cannot complete the set. If you know you can't do it, then... DON'T DO IT. What good is going to come out of forcing out a set when your spotter is pulling the bar up every time? Guess what? You're not doing any real work when you do that. A spotter's job is to just make sure you keep lifting. He's insurance in case you miss the lift and get stapled. Most importantly, he's only going to be doing anything - IF anything - during the last rep. If you miss the lift before your last planned rep, that's fine. You miscalculated. But I can't tell you how many times a guy told me he was going for eight, missed at four, and kept saying, "One more, one more!" Half the time, I want to leave the guy stapled right there.

I think one of my biggest pet peeves is when I ask for a spot and the guy touches the bar on the way down. I'll rerack at that point and explain to him that I only need help at the end. I've seen far too many spotters holding onto the bar the entire time, pulling it up... and slowly letting it down. Do they even understand that they're doing? Do the lifters get that there's no way they can get stronger like this? I've seen spotters spot every rep, every set, from the very beginning. WHY!?!!?? Maybe there's some kind of secret spotter conspiracy going on to keep lifters weak.

My last point is a simple one: a spotter should watch carefully and not interfere until it is clear that the lifter is no longer making forward progress. That does not mean to start helping him when he's struggling up. If he's struggling, then start shouting, "You can get it! Lockout! Lockout!" Only spot the lift when you see it start to go the OTHER way. When no progress is being made, then help him out so he doesn't get stapled. That is your job as a spotter, not to help him when he's having a hard time. It's to save him when he's failed.

Now, get into the gym and do some real work.

Muscle-Up!

Today, for the first time in my life, I muscled-up on a bar. I not only performed the muscle-up, I FLEW over the bar. Today was a leg day, but Jordan was about doing an upper body, and as we were chatting during his chin-ups, I said, "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get a muscle-up soon." The past few times I've done explosive pulls on the bar, I was getting up pretty high with consistency, so I was becoming more confident with my explosiveness even without a kip. And so I jumped up to the bar, kipped my hips, and saw myself flying over the bar. As soon as I was up, I turned around and gave Jordan the most shocked expression I think I've ever had. I hadn't expected it to be so easy. I was so used to struggling so hard to pull up high, flapping around, and being beaten by the bar.

Maybe the shock came because I hadn't tried even a muscle-up attempt in at least a month. No, I've spent the last long while doing pull-ups with as much power as possible, not even caring about the muscle-up. So when it came time to do it, it came easily, and I was just completely surprised... But really, I think the shock was how it felt. I, like many other frustrated strength enthusiasts here, have always felt like the bar is a barrier, some kind of impassable wall. Once you're under, you're under, and you can't get back over. Sure, you see other people swing over with ease and triumph, but that isn't you. You're too weak. Too slow. Too fat. Any number of things and reasons you can muster up as to why you CAN'T do it. So when I was moving over the bar, there wasn't a thought in my mind, except for one: "What the fuck?"

It felt like flying. I say I flew over the bar, because that's exactly the sensation I had. Moreso than any vault, any drop, any leap ever felt. I had absolute control, but I was floating upward at an alarming rate. The bar, the impassable barrier and a triumphant apostle of Gravity's decree, was descending below me quicker than I could process. And then I was at the top, staring down at the people in the gym, quite rightly feeling like I had climbed atop Mt. Olympus. I was Apollo watching the Greek common men from a lofty perch. And when I descended, there was glory, pride, all wrapped up in the knowledge that the bar was no longer impassable.