Benching with out a spotter.

[AlBundy]

If you can comfortably bring the bar to your chest without over stretching anything you probably should.

[boostinggtir]

I normally do because I bench in one of those good ass-power cages, so I set the pins to an appropriate height if I need to dump the weight.

How does that work?

Cause my benches are literally paused on my chest, which means bars have to be lower than my chest, which means I could get stuck with bar on me...

or do you sacrifice that say last inch above your chest ?

You just set that safety bars just above your chest height, you can even bounce the weight off the bars for a rep or two extra.

[Sportsgirl]

I normally do because I bench in one of those good ass-power cages, so I set the pins to an appropriate height if I need to dump the weight.

How does that work?

Cause my benches are literally paused on my chest, which means bars have to be lower than my chest, which means I could get stuck with bar on me...

or do you sacrifice that say last inch above your chest ?

I arch a little, so all I have to do is drop the arch and it's on the bars and I'm able to wiggle myself out.

[Android]

i just today returned to bbell on chest day, and yea common sense prevails, you should know wether or not you def have another rep in you.BUT- to me any set where you can go TO or PAST failure(ie spotted) is more beneficial than sets finished on last complete rep (solo). you can get close to fail, but that little extra work on that last partial rep/s can be the difference between a little progression and alot of progression.imo. other thoughts?

Yes that's my opinion as well for almost every exercise.

For barbell press I find the lower half of the press the hardest, so on my last full rep I do partial reps at the top half and rack when I'm done. So I've exhausted myself of full reps, and continued pressing the chest...that's how I do it on my own. You can do the same with dumbbells, or you can drop-set.

I actually very rarely use a spotter unless I'm doing a P.B, I go until I can't do anymore full reps and then drop them. There's plenty of other controlled exercises (flyes, smith machine, dips) where you can take the chest past exhaustion not just the presses...my thoughts :-)

[alex_sh]

I had been working out for a year or so without a spotter. Even though I made quite remarkable gains, especially shoulders and arms, my chest was still lacking the size. I was trying exhaust my chest as hard as I could, doing partial reps after reaching a failure and followed by multiple dropset. At some point I was incorporating partial, drop and super sets in one series of exercise having no rest between them. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work for me, until I got a spotter. Now my pecs seem to catch up with the rest of my body.

So having a spotter for benching is a MUST, IMHO!

[lazyeye]

if your in a decent gym there should be a power rack you can set the pins just above your chest so you can shimmy out if you fail

problem solved

[Matrix]

Agree with Lazyeye here, a power rack is safe and preserves the free weight feel of a Barbell versus a Smiths Machine. Good for flat, incline and decline free weight presses.

Secondly a Smiths is a great tool if training alone as suggested by others here. Good for rest pauses as well.

[Lamborghinilova]

The bench press at my gym has a ledge mabye 2-3 cm above my chest, so usually, if i can't complete a rep, i can just pop it on that and not have to worry about getting stuck with a bar on my chest.

However, i find that when i use a spotter it is the difference between being sore for 1 day, and being sore for 3+ days.

But as i'm still a weakling i can use anyone to spot, but i am hoping to get a training partner soon (more like a cardio friend who i will borrow occasionally)

[vincent vega]

Personally i think that you must be mad to bench without a spot from someone. The extra gain from the hardest 2 maybe 3 reps is probably worth the first 8 reps alone.

However . . . . one could always not bother getting a spot and using your chest as a resting place for the bar and looking like a complete twat stuck on the bench. :pfft:

[SamWelly]

Are we talking a spotter to help take the weight for the whole rep range (as in their hands are touching the bar), or to rack the bar after?

A spotter shouldn't help you bench more unless your going for a burnout set... I fell into the trap of using a spotter for far too much of my training and my strength suffered. :evil: :doh:

[Lamborghinilova]

Are we talking a spotter to help take the weight for the whole rep range (as in their hands are touching the bar), or to rack the bar after?

A spotter shouldn't help you bench more unless your going for a burnout set... I fell into the trap of using a spotter for far too much of my training and my strength suffered. :evil: :doh:

So what you are saying is, be careful not to overtrain?

Or are you jumping to the conclusion that by using a spotter you will overtrain?

I think that if you use a spotter and arn't careful overtraining would be easy, but it is up to you to be a responsible judge of when you are ready to lift again.

you might onle be able to do chest once a week if t is too sore, but then you are obviously growing, assuming you have a proper diet. if this strategy doesn't work for tyou then change it! One of the worst mistakes you can make is to just do what works for others. it might not work for you, so you should try it, but if it doesn't work, then find something that does.

[SamWelly]

It has nothing to do with over training. :clap:

Yet another internet warrior with no real experience or knowledge it seems... :roll:

[Nane']

[Nane']

...

[Lamborghinilova]

It has nothing to do with over training. :clap:

Yet another internet warrior with no real experience or knowledge it seems... :roll:

I'm here to learn as well.

Since you claim i am wrong, can you please explain why?

I base my knowledge on my limited personal experience, and I appreciate it when i can learn from more experienced members.

...

Shouldn't stuff like that go in the playground? But i'm glad you feel i'm worth the time it took you to do that.

[Nane']

Shouldn't stuff like that go in the playground? But i'm glad you feel i'm worth the time it took you to do that.

Yeah probably does...my bad.

Sorry stud.

[boostinggtir]

haha

[SamWelly]

It has nothing to do with over training. :clap:

Yet another internet warrior with no real experience or knowledge it seems... :roll:

I'm here to learn as well.

Since you claim i am wrong, can you please explain why?

I base my knowledge on my limited personal experience, and I appreciate it when i can learn from more experienced members.

...

Shouldn't stuff like that go in the playground? But i'm glad you feel i'm worth the time it took you to do that.

[MOD EDIT]

I claim that you are wrong? Yes you are, clearly.

While you are learning how about not whoring the forums with stupid advice.

Big ups on the photo Nane, I never realized the salt and peper photo till now

[Marcus]

Samwelly, he's asking for your advice and your response is to abuse him? There was some good discussion going on until this point.

[severe]

but you have to make sure they CAN spot, IE don't grab the bar from the first rep, unless thats the kind of spotting your after :pfft:

And we have all seen those guys...

Have even seen two guys (one each end) spotting bench press, lifting each rep. the guy lifting must have only been pushing 40% of the weight.

shameless, yet he was proud.

[SamWelly]

Samwelly, he's asking for your advice and your response is to abuse him? There was some good discussion going on until this point.

It was a tough day in the office.

It frustrates me when newbies advise others on how to train when they have little or no real experience - Especially when they are so far off the mark. We are all here to learn, and unfortunately there is a lot of shit advise floating around at the moment. Freedom of speech I guess... :roll:

[Foundation]

Regardless of who is right or wrong, when one believes what one knows to be true then one wont know till one is told, then the perceived correction comes up for debate......

:-s

[Marcus]

Samwelly, he's asking for your advice and your response is to abuse him? There was some good discussion going on until this point.

It was a tough day in the office.

It frustrates me when newbies advise others on how to train when they have little or no real experience - Especially when they are so far off the mark. We are all here to learn, and unfortunately there is a lot of shit advise floating around at the moment. Freedom of speech I guess... :roll:

Everyone has an off day.

[startinfromscratch]

bump