Funny Training Story: Afternoon Tea

I’ve been training with friends and clients on and off since I was 18.  It’s been a wonderful journey learning about my own training as well as learning how to train and motivate others.  There are always those moments in life that sit fondly in your memories and here’s a few learnings that I’ve collected along the way

Afternoon Tea

Your chest is one of the larger muscles on your body, so it’s sensible that one would want a spot while trying to push their maximum weight on the bench press.  Now there’s a proper way to spot and an not so proper way to spot.  Apparently, I chose the latter this time.

So my buddy decides he wants to press a full plate on each side for the first time, and being a good friend, I’m there to spot him while he achieves this milestone.  So I position myself by his head while he prepares on the bench.  He grips the weight with all his might and with my help lifts it off the bar.  He pushes through three reps without a problem and then suddenly stops and puts the bar back on the rest. 

I’m confused as to why he would do this, so I ask him what happened.  These were his words, “You are teabagging me each time I do a rep, I could feel your package on my forehead”.  I burst into laughter while he scowled in disgust.  Apparently, while spotting him, I was squatting with the weight and therefore “tapping” his forehead by accident. 

Lesson learned:  Bend at the hips and not the knees when spotting