Which types of lifts require spotters? Two lifts discussed!

Any exercise from which you can’t bail out safely should you fail complete the lift, requires a spotter! That leaves two exercises where spotters in such cases are essential.

When do you need spotters? For which exercises are spotters essential? In this article, I’m going to answer these questions for you based on my own experience.

When do you need spotters?

To make a long story short, you need spotters for any exercises where you can't bail out easily or safely. These are exercises where the weight (often a barbell loaded with weight plates on each side) can fall right on top of you if you fail to lift the weight.

Now when we're talking about spotters, we can talk about human spotters or metal spotters (safety bars) that are part of the device itself.

If a person is present who can spot you, it is that person's job to help you lift the weight when you are no longer able to. This person must therefore stand close to you and have his arms or hands near the bar, ready to catch it or help you lift it when necessary.

Human spotters versus safety bars (metal spotters)

Before we discuss for which exercises spotters are essential, I would like to indicate what I mean by ‘spotters’ in this article.

By 'spotting' I mean a way of training in which a person or other mechanism prevents you getting seriously injured in case you cannot fully perform a movement, for example, if a weight will fall on you if you cannot lift it.

I distinguish two types of spotters:

• a person who will spot you during an exercise,
• safety bars or metal spotters that are usually part of the equipment you're exercising on.

Human spotters

A human spotter is simply a person standing close to you while you're performing an exercise. That person's job is to make sure you will lift or re-rack the weight safely should you fail a rep.

A human spotter can be anyone ranging from your gym buddies to a random person at the gym you ask for help.

Safety bars (metal spotters)

Safety bars are usually metal bars that will hold the barbell or weight if you fail to lift the weight completely. These bars are often part of the equipment on which you're exercising. For example, many squat racks have these metal bars at the sides that act as safety bars.

Safety bars ensure that if you cannot lift a weight completely or cannot re-rack it, you can rest the weight (often the barbell with weight plates on both sides) on the safety bars so that you do not get crushed.

Although you can approach any person to spot you during an exercise, in the case of safety bars, these are not always present on all gym equipment.

Most bench press machines I've seen in gyms didn't have safety bars, although you could improvise by placing a bench in the squat rack and bench pressing in there.

I've also seen squat racks that didn't have metal spotters, although this was less common than spotter-less bench presses.

What I prefer

When bench pressing, I always prefer having human spotters, but during squatting, I prefer having safety bars at the sides instead of a person spotting me. The reason for this is that it's much harder to properly spot a squat compared to spotting someone who's bench pressing.

So far I have only met a handful of people who have been able to spot correctly during squatting, while the bench press can be spotted more easily, even by less experienced gym goers.

So let's see for which lifts spotters are essential if you're doing some heavy sets, especially when 1RM-ing.

For which lifts are spotters essential?

In my opinion, there are really only two exercises where it's almost essential to have a spotter if you're training at your limits, for example, if you want to do a 1-rep-max.

I'm talking about the squat and the bench press, because in these exercises you position your body right under the weight, such that the weight will fall on top of you and crush you should you fail to complete a rep.

Squats

There are two devices or "stands" that allow you to squat with a barbell resting on your shoulders. The most famous is the squat rack, a kind of cage with hooks on which the barbell rests.

The other is squat stands (aka barbell stands). These are two stands that you can adjust in height and on which you can rest the barbell. These squat stands are usually freestanding, but you also have variants where both stands are connected to each other for extra stability.

A squat rack is safer to squat in than squat stands, because a squat rack is more stable due to the large and heavy construction of the cage, and often also has those safety bars at the sides that I discussed previously.

Since the barbell rests on your upper back/trapezius when squatting, it should be clear that the weight will crush you should you fail to lift the weight. In that case, it's important to have some other person spotting you, or have metal spotters set up at the proper height to catch the barbell.

Bench press

With the bench press, you lie with your back on a bench and hold a barbell in your hands, which you have to push away from you. Again, the barbell will fall on you should you fail to lift the weight.

Some bench presses have multiple height brackets (where the barbell rests) so that if you find halfway through the lift that you can't fully push the weight back up, you can re-rack the barbell at a lower setting.

Although this method is better than a bench press with only one hook, it is not an alternative to a bench press that has proper safety arms at the sides. Neither is it an alternative to having another person spotting you.

These hooks are mainly to put the barbell at the right height, depending on the (arm) length of a person. So they are not spotters, but in an emergency, you can use them to bail out of the rep as a last resort (but only in an emergency and only if there are no safety bars or no person around to spot you!).

Are spotters required for other lifts?

The squat and bench press aren't the only exercises where a spotter can come in handy. There are also many other exercises where spotters can be used. Even when doing biceps curls, having a human spotter can give you that one extra push when you're training to (and beyond) muscle failure.

But spotters are not essential in many other exercises. This is because with most other exercises you are perfectly able to drop the weight or otherwise re-rack it if you can't lift it without being crushed by it.

For example, if you're deadlifting, you can just drop the barbell out of your hands. With the dumbbell shoulder press, your arms will simply drop and you can throw the dumbbells down next to you if you can't complete the rep. With the barbell overhead press, you can catch the barbell on your back or on your shoulders (or even throw it in front of you) on a failed rep.

In short, it's much easier to bail out safely in most other exercises when you can't lift the weight fully, so you don't really need a spotter for most other lifts unless you want someone to give you that extra push to train through muscle failure and beyond (and even that is not advised to do, because you might over exhaust your muscle and risk straining it, despite having a proper form).

Conclusion

When you're training hard and want to push your limits and get stronger, and if you like doing squats and bench presses, then I seriously advise you to let someone spot you in those exercises during your heavy sets. Even if you have a person spotting you while squatting, it's still best to squat in a squat rack that has safety bars set at the proper height, because it can be difficult to spot a squat properly. For bench pressing, however, having a good human spotter will usually do.

On the other hand, you don’t always have to have somebody spotting you as long as you’re stay within your limits, even if you’re going to bench press or squat. For example, there’s no need to have another person standing by to make sure you hit your reps properly when you’re just training for hypertrophy.

Only if you know you’re going to push your limits, such as when you’re going for a new PR or when you’re about to reach the point of muscle failure in the last few reps of your set, then it’s best to have a spotter for safety (or make sure there are metal stands on the squat rack or bench press).

In all cases, if no one can spot you and the machines, benches, or racks have no safety bars, then by all means don't push your limits. The last thing you want is to get seriously injured by weights falling on top of you.

So take care of yourself and have fun exercising and working out, just do it safely!