I vouch for the many suggestions of racks, boxes, stands, etc. in absence of a capable or confident spotter. Not dying while benching is the primary concern, but there is something to be said for having the confidence to fail a rep. There's no telling how many last reps of a set I may have left on the table if I thought I might get pinned on a failure.
Probably alot of people here like me. I have never ever ever used a spotter for a normal workout. Probably over 20 years, so far lucky. Now wondering if if I have been taking too much risk. I really never felt any angst until now. I feel pretty confident if I have one left in me or not. But now I'm wondering what about some odd injury. I always squat in the rack with pins etc.
But then my friend might get to say "I was right", and we can't have that can we?
Yup. Another way to phrase what you said: chances are likely I could lift forever and never need the safeties, but what's $700 or so if I do happen to need them one day?
Thanks for all the thoughts and feedback everyone. Prior to this discussion I was considering a power rack anyway, just to have a convenient chin-up bar. Now it's settled. I can't remember now why I didn't buy a power rack in the first place.
Anybody in the Chicago area looking to buy some squat stands?
Yup - it's settled, then. You've need a chin-up bar and the one you're buying just happens to have a power rack on the bottom of it. Hopefully your wife is in favour of the power rack too(?), so everyone wins!
Assuming you aren't trolling me, I'm not suggesting that. Considering he posted the topic, I would suggest he is suggesting his wife may not be capable and/or he is not confident in her ability. Otherwise he tells his buddy to piss off and he doesn't ask a bunch wangs like us what we think.
For me, the point isn't the 'normal' and regular scenario of a failed rep. In this situation, where the failure is predictable and you can lower the weight in a controlled way, your wife will probably be fine, or you can dump the weight sideways (with no collars) or even the roll of shame.
But don't listen to anyone who tells you this means you don't need safeties/a power rack.
The unpredictable situations are the one where you need 2 or more spotters, or a rack, or both. What about if you lose your line, and the bar veers off over your head? You will have no control over it. Could your wife catch it in a 'free fall' in this situation with no help from you? I've spotted a lot of bench presses at my barbell club over time, and something like this has happened even to national record holding lifters there. Not regularly, but it happens.
It's almost certain that, sooner or later, something like this will happen to you. If you have 2 spotters capable of catching the bar, or a rack, then you'll just shrug and carry on. If not, your wife will be ringing an ambulance.
I've never been in a serious car accident, but I still wear a seatbelt.
Buy a rack!
I have a power rack and it has saved me several times with both the squat and bench press when I failed in the last rep, would have been in a bad situation otherwise.