Bench press risk - wife as spotter, no safeties?
I'm 35 and weigh 210 lbs. My lifting goals are general physical fitness and long-term quality of life. This morning I benched three sets of five at 190 lbs. My same-aged, 135 lb wife spots me in our garage gym. I don't have any kind of safety apparatus. Lately on the bench, I've been going up 2.5lbs/workout on the work sets (initially started out going up 5 lbs/workout). Typically, if I need a spot, it's only on the last rep of my last set. I believe my form is good given my participation in the Milwaukee SS Seminar last year.
My friend believes that the risk I'm taking on far outweighs the benefits of doing the exercise. His rationale: there is a high likelihood that I will experience some particular failure such that I will put so little force on the bar that my wife will not be able to pull it off me.
I think everyone agrees benching without a spotter and no safety apparatus is dangerous (and in fact, for a long time I didn't bench because my wife wasn't available to spot me). Best obviously is one (or more) strong spotter(s) and safety pins.
But what about the middle ground? Without safety pins, no matter how strong and experienced the spotter, there is always a risk of suddenly dropping the bar (spotter can't react in time). How prevalent is that? (I suspect not very.)
My friend's basis comes from his college experience, where during a bench press workout, at the bottom of his second rep, he felt a "popping" in his shoulder, and basically lost all strength. Another friend had to pull effectively all the weight off him. Presumably he sustained a minor muscle tear, but it was over 10 years ago and details are foggy at best. If that were to happen to me, he argues, my wife wouldn't be able to pull the weight off me. I probably wouldn't die, but would likely sustain serious injury.
My argument is that the risks presented to me in ordinary daily life are greater than that of a freak accident under the bar while benching. He disagrees, arguing that I'm taking an outsize risk, compounded by the fact I have two young children and am the sole provider for our family.
Are there any stats on this?
A couple related threads from using the search function:
- Bench fail -> Death ( Warning, disturbing content )
- On Spotting Bench Press