5 Rounds:
3 Rep Max Bench Press
Max Pull Ups
For Time:
1000m Row
30 Handstand Push Ups
1200m Run
A while back, I found myself yelling at some athletes in our gym who were making mistakes as spotters and lifters while bench pressing. Spotters were allowing athletes to fight to the death to aviod ruining the lifters PR, and lifters were quitting when the spotter stepped in to help.
I thought about it later and realized that I was yelling because I understood the danger the athletes were in. Having spent a lifetime in the gym and eye witnissing a good handful of scary things happen to inexperienced lifters, I sometimes take for granted than many of you may not have the same understanding of the catastrophies that can happen and how to aviod them. So I figured I would take this oppritunity to educate you all a bit on how to aviod unnecessary danger while bench pressing.
Before I go further, I will say that if your spotter touches you or the bar, they are helping you. No matter how little they helped you, you do not get to credit yourself with that lift. So, I understand that the spotter is in a tough situation, but the lifters saftey is far more important than the PR. As you can see in the video, when a lifter begins to fail, bad things happen.
It is good for a lifter to struggle, through a lift, but as a spotter, there are two situations you need to be ready for and you need to be close. The first is the catastrophic failure of a lift that requires you to jump in full force and get the lifter out of a terrible situation. The most common casue of dropping a bar on one's self is the false grip. In our gym you are required to wrap your thumb around the bar while benching or overhead pressing. False grip on rings, good. False grip on press, not allowed!
The second situation happens when a lift is going well, but comes to a slow stop where the lifter strains isometrically in the same position. This is typically followed by complete loss of form as a lifter squirms around trying to find some kind of strength that isn't actually there.
Allowing a lifter to fight isometircally in a sticking point is putting them in danger for injury. They may not drop a bar on themselves, but they are likely to sustain an injury while fighting for their lives. When you see an isometric sticking point, catastrophic faliure is probably one tick of the clock away and it's time to help.
As a spotter in our gym, and this goes for either bench press or squat, if the bar stops moving up or starts to veer of course, its time to help. I have often seen inexperienced lifters stop lifting when the spotter jumps in to help. Remember, as the lifter it is always your job to keep working as hard as you can to finish the lift. YOU CAN NOT rely on your spotter to lift the weight for you! You must continue to do as much work as you can. Do not assume that your spotter can lift the entire weight.
So go lift some heavy shit, but do so with care and respect.
