A reminder for us older guys - Man dies after barbell crashes on him benching

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ripped both pecs

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Almost everyone I know who has torn a pec (its a bunch) all did it with flat barbell bench. I quit doing them a longtime ago. Just not worth it especially if going heavy.

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I will never understand the thumbless grip. That video is the reason they call it the "suicide grip".

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its because it feels better on the wrist

I have been doing it for a decade now, but after this incident, i did some cals and even if a set my spotter arms like 1/2" below my chest, its still a shite ton of force hitting me and could kill me, so I am going to switch to thumb around now starting this week. RIP my wrist but better than me dying and leaving my kids fatherless.

A could have been me moment reading this. Back in maybe my early 30’s I was doing chest and for some reason started with declines. I remember this day vividly because I went to the gym on my lunch break so wasn’t lifting with my morning crew. We lifted pretty heavy back in those days and honestly that was my first mistake because I should have never went as heavy as I did without a trusted spotter. Anyway I used to use 315 as a gauge on how good my chest day was gonna be since that weight is usually the start of my working sets. Well I repped that pretty easy and wound up going to 455 as my last set. I actually did have a spotter. Older guy that I knew pretty well that was strong for a 60 year old but not really a meathead lifter kind of older guy that I really should have trusted going that heavy. Well I got the first rep clean and went for a 2nd. Bad mistake. I got it about halfway up and hit failure but the old man failed to grab the bar to rack it when I started struggling so it hit my chest and with it being a decline it pinched my elbows back so my pressing ability was severely compromised. To make matters exponentially worse, he put safety pins on the bar that I for some dip shite of me reason didn’t catch prior to this so we couldn’t dump plates to one side. He immediately goes bat shite crazy yelling help at the top of lungs and he tries to deadlift the bar up and gets it about 4 inches up then loses it and drops it right on my upper sternum and my elbows are even more pinched and the bar is rolling toward my throat. I am literally thinking this is it. I am about to die when a dude about my size runs over and helps get it off me. That dude literally saved my life.

Moral of that story is never lift more weight than you can handle without a trusted spotter because if something goes sideways on a barbell chest lift you need someone that can at least handle that weight and never ever use safety pins on a barbell bench press.

I switched completely to the below. Better on the wrists and shoulders.

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Almost everyone I know who has torn a pec (its a bunch) all did it with flat barbell bench. I quit doing them a longtime ago. Just not worth it especially if going heavy.

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Flat BB Press is a shite exercise. Do it with dumbbells or do incline.

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because it feels better on the wrist

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It does feel better and I have to fight the temptation every set. When I'm lifting off the rack is when I like to do it and then let my thumb wrap around in the 1st set. It takes effort to not do it, especially going heavy.

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I don't understand how someone thinks they can DL 455 from a disadvantaged position (balls over your face, bar too far from their legs, etc.) I get that people panic in a crisis, but it should take 3 seconds to realize to run to one side of the bar and hold it up so you could roll out from underneath it.

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There was so many mistakes that happened with that lift I am so lucky that I was able to walk away from it. It changed how I lifted moving forward forever. Honestly I have been caught a couple of times previously to that situation on flat barbell bench without a spotter where I couldn't get it and had to dump the weight but I never use pins. I learned that from when I first started lifting. Makes a hell of a racket doing that and you look like a tool in the process but you are walking away with nothing but a bruised ego. I should of caught that he put those on the bar before even attempting that lift, especially with a spotter I didn't know and especially with that weight. I will never make that mistake again. As for spotters, I learned that you damn well better trust that person can get that weight off you if shite hits the fan because you tear a pec doing flat barbell bench, you might not even be able to even see saw the weight off of you.

i lifted last night for the first time in a decade with the thumbs wrapped. Man it feels like a completely different lift and messes with my form.

I honestly feel really comfortable with suicide grip at my own house, not really anywhere else though.

but i have lost friends in the last couple years that had young kids like me, it has messed up the kids lives, i just cant chance it anymore.

just gonna take some getting used to.

still using suicide grip on Press though. I checked last night and even with westside spacing, i would still compress my chest an 1" or so if something happened. just not worth chancing.

The gym I go to has one that looks almost identical, it has two weight stacks at the bottom of the machine. One stack for the left attachment and one for the right.

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looks like you can get a lot of angles and good stretch using it

use it for more volume and not worry about pulling or tearing anything.

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Exactly. Wide grip, narrow grip, cross chest, light, heavy, does it all. Love it