Spotting at the Gym

you wish you looked that good

edit: my first official thread kill...BooYa!

Charles Kinbote wrote:How exactly is a spot going to save someone's knee or ankle in a gym with good, seamless padding?

It's not just about how hard the surface you land on is. The foot-knee distance is a lot of leverage, and if you land sideways it's more than enough to rip out an ACL, no matter how good and seamless the padding. Same goes for shoulders and even necks. There is much more nuance to mechanisms of injury than mere padding will address. Land on rock but in a good position, and you'll be bruised. Land on padding in a bad position and your climbing - and walking - days could be over. The spotter's job is to guide your landing to one that allows the energy to be dissipated in structures meant to take it, not in side-loading knee joints or vertebrae. Definitely spotters in gyms!

There are two ways to get injured bouldering in the gym. One is if, typically on a roof, you do a big move to a jug, don't quite stick it, and swing out, landing on your side and breaking your arm. When you're almost horizontal and flailing your arms and legs uncontrollably, the spotter won't be able to make you land on your feet.
The other way to get injured is by breaking your ankle. There are a few ways that this can happen; all involve landing on the side of your ankle. One way is to land between two pads or on the side of one. Unless your spotter can predict your trajectory mid-air and push you away (probably not going to happen), he won't help you. Another ankle twister is you suddenly slip and start flailing your legs, or in any way take an unexpected fall, and either land with your ankle facing sideways. If the fall is too sudden, the spotter won't react in time. And yes, you can break your ankle by missing a move and landing wrong, where a good spotter can save your ankle. The bottom line is I've known people to get injured bouldering in a gym with a spotter, and IMO the spotting is mostly a waste of time.

There are two ways to get injured bouldering in the gym.

There are many, many more than two. Even in the falling-sideways scenario, the spotter can't make you land on your feet but can affect your trajectory enough to make the difference between "thud, oof, no biggie", and "that shouldn't be sticking out that way, let's go to the ER". It's easy to be complacent in the gym because most falls are fine with spotter or without. It's those ones that aren't "most" that suck.

Joshw97 wrote:There are two ways to get injured bouldering in the gym. One is if, typically on a roof, you do a big move to a jug, don't quite stick it, and swing out, landing on your side and breaking your arm. When you're almost horizontal and flailing your arms and legs uncontrollably, the spotter won't be able to make you land on your feet. The other way to get injured is by breaking your ankle. There are a few ways that this can happen; all involve landing on the side of your ankle. One way is to land between two pads or on the side of one. Unless your spotter can predict your trajectory mid-air and push you away (probably not going to happen), he won't help you. Another ankle twister is you suddenly slip and start flailing your legs, or in any way take an unexpected fall, and either land with your ankle facing sideways. If the fall is too sudden, the spotter won't react in time. And yes, you can break your ankle by missing a move and landing wrong, where a good spotter can save your ankle. The bottom line is I've known people to get injured bouldering in a gym with a spotter, and IMO the spotting is mostly a waste of time.

you sure do come off as a know it all. If you are gonna spray every body like you do know it at all least get a clue. There are many more than 2 ways to get hurt in then gym and definetely more ways to break your ankle other than just landing on the side of it. Get a clue gumby.

Stop preaching to everyone if you have no idea what you are talking about.

Noah Doherty wrote:My sister got a concussion because a guy fell on her. Spotters would have prevented this. I feel like an idiot.

Maybe she shouldn't have been standing under someone who was climbing?

IMHO A spotter is nice when ever I'm climbing overhanging problems where I could blow my hands with a bomber heal hook and fall back/ head first or similar situations where my fall trajectory could be changed to a me landing on my feet. Otherwise having one is probably not necessary.

in a related note I feel foam is to blame for many of the injuries I have witnesed while bouldering in the gym. I have always felt that pea gravel is the best bouldering substrate to have in the gym as it conforms to the shape of the climbers body while dissapating the fall force (eg I saw a girl dislocate her elbow in a short fall at a gym that uses foam which could have been prevented by a good spot or a substrate that would have allowed her arm to sink in instead of stick and twist)

alexdavis wrote: Maybe she shouldn't have been standing under someone who was climbing?

word, i tend to fall extra hard when i notice some lackadaisical hipster chick chatting it up, clearly in the path of my fall trajectory.

bet sis wont make that mistake again

but hey, at least she cushioned the guy's fall a little. he could've twisted an ankle, and that woulda sucked

In a lot of gym situations, I rarely have a spotter. The reason is that I have less trust in a novice spotter than on none at all. I'd rather hit the pad than take a stiff arm to the head. The gym I boulder at is really a rec center with a wall that a few climbers and I commandeered. There have been times when I was told to have a spotter by a staff member, but both times I was making the first move barely off the ground. In a situation like that, the spotter would be more in the way than helpful and it takes practice to learn those things. So, I agree with JesseT. It is a great place to practice spotting and pad placement. I know that outside I can pull much harder when I know my spotter is competent. If I have to be worried about how I will land after that big throw, I probably won't throw as hard.

Charles Kinbote wrote:How exactly is a spot going to save someone's knee or ankle in a gym with good, seamless padding?

And you answered your own question, here:

Charles Kinbote wrote:but you are changing their natural trajectory.

Carefully read what you write.

Taylor Ogden wrote:I also know a girl who fell awkwardly while bouldering and fractured several vertebrae. I'm sure she would have appreciated a spotter as well.

Yeah . . . Same happened at a comp back here in CT and she even fell onto the mats. Landed on a seam i think.

I watched a girl about three weeks ago crush a vertabrae on the big fluffy floor. I also think knowing how to fall plays a big part in getting hurt with or without a spotter. I like the towel idea...I never ask for a spotter inside, but outside I rarely have trust in my spotters, although admitedly I`m not the best spotter either.

Does a spotter help or hurt the falling climber? Has this really been tested?

People are very heavy masses.

So, unless a spotter can put his or her hands just a few inches from the climber's shoulder, or if the climber is much, much lighter than the spotter, can a spotter really do much to slow a part of a falling body?

I mean, if someone dropped a 100-lb bag of sand from 4-feet above you, do you think you could actually divert it's fall? I couldn't. Most climbers are heavier than 100 lbs.

Or does a spotter tend to make the falling climber less likely to flail his or her limbs to reorient before crashing? Or could the spotter's hit to the shoulder cause whiplash? It could be that in many cases, the spotter makes things worse.

Anyway, I've wondered about this.

I like the idea of putting down a towel, and I agree that pea gravel is better than foam for landing feet down. For landing flat on my back, I might prefer foam though.

The best strategy for a climber might be to practice landings.

Jon, you have to take into consideration the overall size of the object/person falling. A 100 lb bag of sand is going to be a lot more dense than a 100 lb climber. In the case of a falling person, you aren't trying to change the path of their entire body. It should be totally possible to divert someone's head or shoulders towards a pad.

Dan Bachen wrote:IMHO A spotter is nice when ever I'm climbing overhanging problems where I could blow my hands with a bomber heal hook and fall back/ head first or similar situations where my fall trajectory could be changed to a me landing on my feet. Otherwise having one is probably not necessary. in a related note I feel foam is to blame for many of the injuries I have witnesed while bouldering in the gym. I have always felt that pea gravel is the best bouldering substrate to have in the gym as it conforms to the shape of the climbers body while dissapating the fall force (eg I saw a girl dislocate her elbow in a short fall at a gym that uses foam which could have been prevented by a good spot or a substrate that would have allowed her arm to sink in instead of stick and twist)

Thread revival!
I agree with these comments. Last Friday I completely dislocated my elbow falling from the top of a problem at the gym.
1) A spotter would not have prevented the arm injury. No way they could keep me aligned as I was falling. And my head was fine.
2) A substrate to sink into may have helped, like the Ball-pit at McDonald's play area. I loved those.

Alex Swan wrote:Along with what has already been said.. Spotting is a sport in it's own right. May as well 'practice' for the real deal

climbing friend,

yes, people should prehaps for probable make an effort to be better spotter. most are terrible yes. most idea of spotting is standing the wrong place, halfheartedly holding up one hand only, while checking out climber of opposite sex and/or trolling for sneaky fancy foot beta while stoned out of the gourd and not watching the climber's center of gravity.

if someone rolls their own ankle or hurts themselves while landing vertically on a pad and not from highball, shame on them and two slaps to their face for improper falling technique.

if someone falls onto their back or head and becomes injured because spotter did not protect head and spine and help climber land for verticle, shame on spotter and three slaps to their face plus a nipple flick and wang slap.

Jon Nelson wrote: ... unless a spotter can put his or her hands just a few inches from the climber's shoulder ... Or could the spotter's hit to the shoulder cause whiplash?

climbing friend,

do not aim for the climber's shoulder, aim for the "tramp stamp" area by the center of gravity near their waist, or if they are horizontal and need to be vertical, aim just above this area, but shoulder would be too high... you are not really slowing a falling body you must protect the head and spine and keep them hopeful on the pad landing and more rather than less vertical.

also keep in mind most spotters are worthless, have no idea how to spot, and should not be trusted and will not help you at all, yessssss, myahhh, hyahhhhhhhhhhh, my precioussssssssssss s

Spotter or videographer? You make the choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuhNu8npgsI

James Sweeney wrote: Spotter or videographer? You make the choice.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!! That looks awful!
Although, how could a spotter have prevented that?

No spotter could have prevented my injury, but someone could have caught the incident on video! Then I could slo-mo it to see what I did wrong.

Ana Tine wrote: OUCH!!!!!!!!!! That looks awful! Although, how could a spotter have prevented that? No spotter could have prevented my injury, but someone could have caught the incident on video! Then I could slo-mo it to see what I did wrong.

No guarantees, but a spotter could have stopped her forward rotation which looks like what caused her to snap her ankle. I spot my girlfriend all the time from that height and can easily "catch" her and at least slow her down or stop her rotation. Its not rocket science.