I have just returned form the gym, where at one point I was spotting a guy there on his hack squats. At one point, there were two of us spotting this guy for safety. I was spotting from the side of the machine, facing the weights and just giving a little push through any sticking points, but the other guy was standing directly in front of the machine and its user, spotting on his KNEES, helping him to lock them out the same way you do when spottin on dumbbell presses! I had not seen this before, and was wondering if any of you guys know whether this is a safe practice or not??
Doesn’t sound safe to me. At the very worst the guy doing the spotting could push too hard and knock the guy off balance, or he could push too hard and the lifter could come up too fast hyperextending his knees.
That’s totally stupid!!! Not safe!! And if you haven’t found out by now I’ll tell you . Don’t do it just because you see it,most of the “people” you see in the gym are doing something wrong-form, spotting(most aren’t spotting they’re doing FORCED REPS)-Oh,by the way ,spotting by holding someone’s elbows(as in DB benches)is wrong, unsafe,and an inferior method!!! To correctly spot the DB bench is with wrist straps wrapped around the dumbell with the spotter holding the straps!! I once was anuninformed lifter and my spotter “helped” me with the old elbow method, until I hit total failure and dropper an 80lbs. DB on my chest/shoulder-they simply can’t help you when they’re holding your elbows ! Listen or learn the hard way.
I have to say I agree with the postings and fully DO NOT intend to practice the methods I mentioned myself! Personally, I rarely, hardly ever in fact, perform forced reps, as I train alone mostly anyway, and am not a great fan of the hack squat MACHINE due to the shearing forces it produces at the knee joint, as in the smith machine squat. I have had the pleasure (NOT!!) of an attempted spot during my flat dumbbell presses at the elbows, resulting in me nearly smashing my face and/or rib cage in with 160lbs of iron. The stupid thing is, I didn’t even request a spot…the guy just ran over thinking I needed help on the concentric and started pushing on my elbows!!!