Forced Reps

Yesterday during my floor shift, a member asked me for a spot on bench. If you're not familiar with this practice, the job of the "spotter" is to assist with lifting the weight off the rack for the lifter, keep an eye on form, coach and motivate the lifter, and most importantly, to make sure the lifter maintains safety, especially when lifting heavy weight. People don't necessarily need this all the time, but when lifting for strength, a forced rep or two can make a huge difference.

When doing a set of a given number of repetitions, it is important to exhaust the muscles which will cause more breakdown and result in more rebuilding and hypertrophy. (There is much more of a scientific explanation, but it's not absolutely necessary to get into that much detail here.) When not utilizing a spotter, we may tend to stop before full exhaustion has taken place, but when safety can be assured, you will be able to at least try for one or two additional reps that you may not have attempted otherwise. These are arguably the most important reps you need to progress! Also, in the case of bench, the lifter is pushing that last one out and when he/she is failing to get the weight back up, the spotter can very lightly pull up or tap underneath the bar allowing just enough assistance for the lifter to exert the rest of his/her energy to finish the rep. This is what is meant by "forced reps". I encourage all of you who are strength training to utilize a spotter for safety and results! Keep a fitness journal and track your progress and you will find yourself squeezing out more reps and eventually more weight! Keep pushing yourself, and you'll get where you want to be! Don't forget the post-workout recovery drink, and please comment on your results/questions, etc. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for reading!