Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Several days ago a young lifter was training
alone and got pinned under a bench press bar.
He died.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing happens more
often than you would imagine. And sometimes it
happens to some pretty strong, pretty experienced
lifters.
Heck, it almost happened to me once. I was
lifting by myself in a college weight room one
Saturday afternoon -- and I was hitting what I
thought were some "easy" benches -- but I missed
my last rep with 295 or 305 pounds pounds, and
I got pinned under the bar.
Luckily, I was able to roll it down to my
hips and sit-up -- and wrestle it to the
floor. But my upper body was black and blue
for weeks -- and it could have been much
worse.
I was 22 or 23 at the time -- old enough to
know better -- but I didn't.
And I'm not the only guy who's had that
experience. I can think of half a dozen
Dinos who are strong, serious, dedicated
and intelligent lifters -- who made the
same mistake. (Most of them got out from
under the bar by tipping it to let the
plates side off one side. Good thing they
weren't using collars!)
So let me throw out some suggestions that
just might save your life someday:
1. NEVER bench alone without a spotter unless
you use a power rack or safety bars set to
catch the weight at your chest if you miss.
1A. NEVER means "never."
2. If you don't have a power rack or safety
bars, then do dumbbell bench presses.
2A, Reg Park did lots of heavy dumbbell bench
presses. Worked for him -- and they'll work
for you.
3. If you don't like dumbbell bench presses,
try incline dumbbell bench presses.
3A. Favorite exercise of Clancy Ross and
George Eiferman -- and they had pretty good
chest development!
4. If it's too hard to clean a pair of heavy
dumbbells and get into position for dumbbell
bench presses or dumbbell incline presses, try
a one arm version of either exercise. Use two
hands to lift the dumbbell into position and
use one hand to do the presses. Then use two
hands to return it to the floor. Alternate
arms from set to set.
5. Do pushups. No one ever died doing pushups
without a spotter.
5A. See Dinosaur Bodyweight Training for tons
of great pushup variations:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
5B. Don't do dips. They're too hard on the
shoulders. Do pushups instead. I get plenty
of emails from readers who hurt their shoulders
doing dips -- and some of these have been pretty
bad injuries that took a l-o-n-g time to heal.
6. Skip the benches and do overhead presses
or push presses.
7. Skip the benches and do some extra leg or
back work.
8. Important: even with a spotter, don't bench
with a thumbless grip. It's too easy for the bar
to roll out of your hands. I've seen this happen
at National Powerlifting Championships -- and once
it happened so fast (to a National Champion and
American Record Holder) that the spotters didn't
catch it.
8A. Related point -- same reason -- never do
bench presses to the neck. if the bar falls on
your chest, that's bad. If it falls on your neck,
that's real bad.
9. Also important: the typical guy at the gym
is almost as bad as no spotter at all. Always
lift with a spotter you know and trust.
10. And finally: Thick bar benches are great,
but ONLY if you do them in a power rack or with
safety bars. Why? Because your spotter is not
going to be able to catch a falling thick bar
if it's loaded with a heavy weight.
10A. Think about it. Does your spotter really
have that strong of a grip?
This is important stuff, so feel free to share
it. Let's get the word out. It saves lives.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. The power rack is not only a safety device,
it's a terrific piece of training equipment. See
Strength, Muscle and Power and Dinosaur Training
for details on how to incorporate rack work into
your training:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and my
Dinosaur Training DVD's -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Rule number one in
training is not to kill yourself. Rule number two
is not to hurt yourself. Rule number three is to
train hard but intelligently. Most people have
never heard of any of these rules." -- Brooks
Kubik
