How to benchpress like a complete moron

Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.

And after I and another person came to this guy's help, he ddint even
bother to thank us. He started laughing like it was all a big joke.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2006, george wrote:

> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
> with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.

I was wondering about something - those things you use to put the bar on
when you do bench presses (what are those even called - bench press
racks?); why don't they have arms or something around chest level that
would stop you dropping the bar on yourself? They'd have to be adjustable
(or the bench would), since not everyone's chest is at the same level, but
it would stop people crushing themselves.

tom

--
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity -- Hanlon's Razor

"Tom Anderson" <twic@urchin.earth.li> wrote in message
news:Pine.LNX.4.62.0610262055320.24998@urchin.eart h.li...
> I was wondering about something - those things you use to put the bar on
> when you do bench presses (what are those even called - bench press
> racks?); why don't they have arms or something around chest level that
> would stop you dropping the bar on yourself? They'd have to be adjustable
> (or the bench would), since not everyone's chest is at the same level, but
> it would stop people crushing themselves.

That's the beauty of a power rack with adjustable safety bars. You can set
the safety bars low to support the bar for deadlifts (if you're not strong
enough to lift wheels, which get the bar up off the floor adequately), high
for squats (so you can dump to your rear instead of herniating something,
um, important trying to bear up under a too-heavy bar), and mid-level for
bench presses (so you don't crush your trachea or break your damn fool neck
pulling a stunt like the aforementioned moron).

ep

Edna Pearl wrote:

> That's the beauty of a power rack with adjustable safety bars.

And yet somehow those safety bars are never in the right place for
benchpress--the best hole is either a tad too high or too low. It'd be
great if the safety bars could be adjusted continuously.

"george" <223remi@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1161897555.420794.94720@h48g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com...
> Edna Pearl wrote:
>> That's the beauty of a power rack with adjustable safety bars.
> And yet somehow those safety bars are never in the right place for
> benchpress--the best hole is either a tad too high or too low. It'd be
> great if the safety bars could be adjusted continuously.

That's the truth. I figure if I set the pin just below chest level for my
bench presses, then I probably won't break anything too badly if I dump.

ep
(But I don't even have a cage -- my BF spots for me when I lift heavy.)

george wrote:
> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the
> gym, lift, and end up with your neck pinned under
> the bar squealing for help.

Hey, hey, hey! That wasn't a squeal! It was a gutteral bellow. And I
didn't need your help. Uh, it's the Weider Neck Pinch Technique.
Guaranteed to increase blood flow thus enlarging the sterno
somethingsomething.

I WAS BOMBING AND BLASTING, GEORGE! GET OFF MY BACK! I DIDN'T NEED THAT
"SPOT" AT ALL, PAL!

> And after I and another person came to this guy's
> help, he ddint even bother to thank us.

Okay, "thanks" for screwing up me set. >/

> He started laughing like it was all a big joke.

(So maybe I was the teensiest bit embarrassed.)

--
Curt

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:00:00 +0100, Tom Anderson
<twic@urchin.earth.li> wrote:

>I was wondering about something - those things you use to put the bar on
>when you do bench presses (what are those even called - bench press
>racks?); why don't they have arms or something around chest level that
>would stop you dropping the bar on yourself? They'd have to be adjustable
>(or the bench would), since not everyone's chest is at the same level, but
>it would stop people crushing themselves.
>
>tom

My last gym had rack mounts about 1/4 of the way up. These where
emergency pegs to place the weights if you couldn't get the bar up all
the way. That should help if you just couldn't get up the last rep
type of scenerio. It probably wouldn't help in the OP's scenerio
where the person could not even budge the weight.

On 25 Oct 2006 16:38:11 -0700, "george" <FlrnCt@gmail.com> wrote:

>Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
>with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.
>
>And after I and another person came to this guy's help, he ddint even
>bother to thank us. He started laughing like it was all a big joke.

I think I would have been laughing at him.

Edna Pearl wrote:
[...]

re setting adjustable safety bars

> <snip> and mid-level for bench presses (so you don't
> crush your trachea or break your damn fool neck
> pulling a stunt like the aforementioned moron).

IT'S AN ADVANCED MASS-BUILDING TECHNIQUE, EDNA!!!!!

> ep

--
Curt

"Curt" <curtjames@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1161903956.199482.87950@e3g2000cwe.googlegrou ps.com...
> Edna Pearl wrote:
> re setting adjustable safety bars
>> <snip> and mid-level for bench presses (so you don't
>> crush your trachea or break your damn fool neck
>> pulling a stunt like the aforementioned moron).
> IT'S AN ADVANCED MASS-BUILDING TECHNIQUE, EDNA!!!!!

Jeez, you sure are loud for a guy with a crushed trachea.

ep

Edna Pearl wrote:
I scribbled:
[...]

> >> <snip> and mid-level for bench presses (so you don't
> >> crush your trachea or break your damn fool neck
> >> pulling a stunt like the aforementioned moron).
> > IT'S AN ADVANCED MASS-BUILDING TECHNIQUE, EDNA!!!!!
>
> Jeez, you sure are loud for a guy with a crushed trachea.

(whispers)

no pain, no gain. ;o)

> ep

--
Curt

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006, Curt wrote:

> george wrote:
>
>> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
>> with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.
>
> I WAS BOMBING AND BLASTING, GEORGE! GET OFF MY BACK! I DIDN'T NEED THAT
> "SPOT" AT ALL, PAL!
>
>> And after I and another person came to this guy's
>> help, he ddint even bother to thank us.
>
> Okay, "thanks" for screwing up me set. >/

Happened to me! I was doing a dumbbell bench press, and went slightly
wobbly - just slightly - towards the end of the set, but still going, and
some guy jumps over to me and grabs my elbows. I guess he was worried i
was going to fail and drop the weights (yes, the dumbbells - was he
worried that i'd scratch the floor or something?); instead, he just
knocked my arm even further out of the groove, and i almost dropped a
chunk of iron on my chest. Clown.

tom

--
Tomorrow has made a phone call to today.

"Tom Anderson" <twic@urchin.earth.li> wrote
> On Thu, 26 Oct 2006, Curt wrote:
>> george wrote:
>>
>>> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
>>> with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.
>>
>> I WAS BOMBING AND BLASTING, GEORGE! GET OFF MY BACK! I DIDN'T NEED THAT
>> "SPOT" AT ALL, PAL!
>>
>>> And after I and another person came to this guy's
>>> help, he ddint even bother to thank us.
>>
>> Okay, "thanks" for screwing up me set. >/
>
> Happened to me! I was doing a dumbbell bench press, and went slightly
> wobbly - just slightly - towards the end of the set, but still going, and
> some guy jumps over to me and grabs my elbows. I guess he was worried i
> was going to fail and drop the weights (yes, the dumbbells - was he
> worried that i'd scratch the floor or something?); instead, he just
> knocked my arm even further out of the groove, and i almost dropped a
> chunk of iron on my chest.

Did he yell, "IT'S ALL YOU, MAN!"?

David

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:00:00 +0100, Tom Anderson
<twic@urchin.earth.li> wrote:

>On Thu, 25 Oct 2006, george wrote:
>
>> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and end up
>> with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.
>
>I was wondering about something - those things you use to put the bar on
>when you do bench presses (what are those even called - bench press
>racks?); why don't they have arms or something around chest level that
>would stop you dropping the bar on yourself? They'd have to be adjustable
>(or the bench would), since not everyone's chest is at the same level, but
>it would stop people crushing themselves.
>
>tom

A gym I went to many years ago had those very arms you mention on the
benches. They were adjustable to, I think, 3 different heights.
Convenient.

--
Is this thing on?

Cohen wrote:
> "Tom Anderson" wrote
> > Curt wrote:
> >> george wrote:
> >>
> >>> Load the bar with all the 10-pound plates in the gym, lift, and
> >>> end up with your neck pinned under the bar squealing for help.
> >>
> >> I WAS BOMBING AND BLASTING, GEORGE! GET OFF MY
> >> BACK! I DIDN'T NEED THAT "SPOT" AT ALL, PAL!
> >>
> >>> And after I and another person came to this guy's help,
> >>> he ddint even bother to thank us.
> >>
> >> Okay, "thanks" for screwing up me set. >/
> >
> > Happened to me! I was doing a dumbbell bench press, and went slightly
> > wobbly - just slightly - towards the end of the set, but still going, and
> > some guy jumps over to me and grabs my elbows.

D'OH!

> > I guess he was worried i was going to fail and drop the weights (yes,
> > the dumbbells - was he worried that i'd scratch the floor or something?);

Fiberglass gym matts? I musta missed that one in the flooring thread a
ways back.

> > instead, he just knocked my arm even further out of the groove, and
> > i almost dropped a chunk of iron on my chest.

Glad you didn't suffer a rotator tear, too.

> Did he yell, "IT'S ALL YOU, MAN!"?

EASY REP! EEEE-ZEEEEE!

(Ow! My trachea...)

> David

--
Curt