Tragedy strikes again

[selters]

I do happen to bench alone in my basement sometimes when I have no spotter, but I always wrap my thumbs around and put clips on the bar. During the times I've failed when no one was there, all I have to do really is just teter the bar to one side and just sit up.

This doesn't sound safe to me at all. If you're benching <150 lbs, sure you can just sit up, but once the weights get heavier, you're in for some real trouble if you're stuck and you don't have safety pins or a spotter.

isn't the whole selling point of the smith machine that you can rack at any time and train alone (along with destroying any semblance of usefulness and fully functioning joints, obviously)

That might be how manufacturers market it, but you can only rack the bar every 4 inches or so. If the bar is stuck on your throat in the middle of to pins on which to rack the bar, you won't be able to rack it, because moving the bar 2 inches downwards would just choke you more, and the reason why you're being choked is that you can't lift the bar upwards, so that rules out the option of moving the bar up to rack it there.

[elVarouza]

I do happen to bench alone in my basement sometimes when I have no spotter, but I always wrap my thumbs around and put clips on the bar. During the times I've failed when no one was there, all I have to do really is just teter the bar to one side and just sit up. Any time I can get someone down there though (My girlfriend, a friend) I definitely do. That is definitely a tragedy though, and could have been avoided.

Terrible idea. I was once doing 3x5x225lbs on the bench press. I was benching in a power rack with the pins set appropriately. Also, I had a spotter. I got 5 reps on the first set and it wasn't too grueling. On the second set, I made the first two reps. On my third rep, I lowered it to my chest and started driving up. The bar drifted a tiny bit back toward my head and I lost control of it. The bar came crashing down on the pins about 2 inches in front of my face. It was very sudden and my spotter had no time to react. If I hadn't set the safety pins I'd have been pretty fucked.

Don't just think a failure means the bar slowly drifts down to your chest. Use safety pins people.

[Michael Loucas]

Terrible idea. I was once doing 3x5x225lbs on the bench press. I was benching in a power rack with the pins set appropriately. Also, I had a spotter. I got 5 reps on the first set and it wasn't too grueling. On the second set, I made the first two reps. On my third rep, I lowered it to my chest and started driving up. The bar drifted a tiny bit back toward my head and I lost control of it. The bar came crashing down on the pins about 2 inches in front of my face. It was very sudden and my spotter had no time to react. If I hadn't set the safety pins I'd have been pretty fucked.

Don't just think a failure means the bar slowly drifts down to your chest. Use safety pins people.

Yeah, I've never experienced anything like that. Although chances are if I had I wouldn't be typing right now. I guess I'll start benching without clips from now on.

[Michael Loucas]

This doesn't sound safe to me at all. If you're benching <150 lbs, sure you can just sit up, but once the weights get heavier, you're in for some real trouble if you're stuck and you don't have safety pins or a spotter.



That might be how manufacturers market it, but you can only rack the bar every 4 inches or so. If the bar is stuck on your throat in the middle of to pins on which to rack the bar, you won't be able to rack it, because moving the bar 2 inches downwards would just choke you more, and the reason why you're being choked is that you can't lift the bar upwards, so that rules out the option of moving the bar up to rack it there.

It wasn't <150Most I've failed with is 245. All I've had to do was just tip the bar and bring the one side down below my hip so I can sit up. But as I said in my previous post, I'll start ditching the clips. Maybe I'll put some pillows next to the bench on either side to dull the noise.

[Grumpypeon]

A power rack is probably the best investment to make if you're creating a home gym and are most likely training by yourself. Like others have said, I too have the safeties set so that the bar hits my chest every rep, but if I lay it on my chest and roll it towards my neck I have about a three inch clearance. Continue rolling it passed my head and sit up no problem. Same thing for squats- find a height an inch or two below your squat and you'll be just fine. Poor kid

[Doug]

I talked to a guy at my gym about this subject who said he dropped a bar on his chest.

He said the bar bounced off his chest and he caught it in mid air...over his throat.

He also said he can still feel the effects of it in his chest when he benches, 7 years later.

I think my $500 worth of 2 years of pre paid gym membership were more than paid back on October 11th.

[johnreynolds]

I feel sorry for the kid. Among the many stupid things I've done as a kid was benching alone in my basement. I remember routinely rolling off my chest weights in the mid 200lb range, never thinking it was dangerous. I may have been faster and stronger back then, but I sure as hell wasn't very smart.