Thread: This is impossible!

I'm willing to bet that your not quite training hard enough. And, one of the best ways to get training hard enough for your chest to develop, is to get some help.

Getting a spotter who can help you do that 2 or 3 more reps, after you think you've done enough, will go a long way towards you starting to realise some gains.
A good spotter also gives you piece of mind. Just knowing that if you get stuck your spotter will bail you out. It helps you try for that one or two more reps, that you wouldn't be game to do on your own.

Bodybuilding ain't easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

i beg to differ... i feel that when you workout by yourself you learn your limits and although having someone present could be a help if you always have the spotter there to help you with the extra few reps you become dependent upon him/her and you stop making gains... i used to always have a spotter and we used to do force reps and negatives but ive heard on the site and experienced first hand that negatives are useless... i found my gains easier and quicker working out without depending on a spotter to bail me out... even if you workout with someone without them directly spotting you should have them doing something else out of eyesight or something because your mind may subconsciously give up and think "o well if i cant get it, he/she is right there" whereas if you are alone your mind might give you that extra bit of energy because it knows it has to get the bar up....

just my 2 cents i may be wrong, but it just an opinion

Originally posted by TriZZle305 your mind may subconsciously give up and think "o well if i cant get it, he/she is right there"

Very good point but the flip side to that coin is that a spotter can allow you to focus your mind on MAKING that extra rep because you don't have to worry about having the bar drop on your throat. I've been lifting for over ten years and have never had a full time workout partner so I'm not DIS-agreeing with you, just offering another way to look at it.

training with someone and having a "spotter" can be two totally different things. many people do not know how to give a proper spot so they are useless. if you train with a partner communication is the key before you start you set so he/she knows what to do, how and when.

once you get older and working full time and out of school etc. the odds of training with someone on a regular basis are not good.

ALBOB...I hear ya on the training partner, I haven't trained with anyone on a regular basis in over 10 years myself.

Yeah, when I bench on my own, during the last couple reps, I think to myself, will I be able to get it up or will I not during a middle of a rep because I don't want to look dumb if I didn't make it, plus, putting that extra stress just trying to make it up to the bar can and will throw your technique out and could risk injury.