The One-Armed Spot (Or The Fugitive Spot)

The typical bench press spot is bad enough: some egomaniac loads his barbell with far too much weight for him to handle, forcing the poor spotter to deadlift the barbell off the lifter’s chest. What I saw yesterday, however, has to qualify as spotter’s revenge. Turned sideways, with his hip nearly touching the lifter’s head, this spotter reached out, grabbed the middle of the barbell, and proceeded to spot with one arm.

Now, the spotter’s intent was not create an incredibly dangerous situation, where he has no leverage in the event of an emergency (while also increasing the risk that his arm gets torn off). He also did not plan to cause a serious imbalance for the lifter, with his tenuous grip pulling unevenly somewhere near the bar’s mid-line. No, the spotter thought he looked like a real bad-ass, so powerful he can’t even be bothered to spot with two hands. Like I said, spotter’s revenge.