Stafon Johnson

[Daaah]

Yeah, a horrible accident, but even being right there, the spotter should have his hands ready to catch the bar and be paying close attention. This could have been avoided, if not entirely, "mostly."

My point is that if a spotter has his hands ready to 'catch' a 280# object, it doesn't matter because he hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of grabbing it if an unexpected slip happens.

 

[somebody]

I think it was "mostly" avoided...he lived and he will recover.

I don't think crushing the guy's throat such that he's spitting blood qualifies and mostly avoided, more like mostly executed (for lack of a better word).

My point is that if a spotter has his hands ready to 'catch' a 280# object, it doesn't matter because he hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of grabbing it if an unexpected slip happens.

I get that, but if it's too much weight, there should be a guy on each side of the bar and yeah, a big reason they are there is to avoid accidents - it's not just to coax the bar up.

 

[DBT]

I took a weight lifting class a long time ago and the teacher told us to leave the retaining nut off when doing the bench. The premise was that if something happens, all you do is lower one end and let the weights slide off then of course, it'll tip the other way and the weights will fall off the other end. Now, has anyone ever heard that? Seems kind of dangerous to me, especially if you have a lot of weight on.

 

[The Monk]

If you have to tip the bar in an emergency the force of the plates should push off the clip anyway. To be safe on the bench you just need a spotter; your grandma could spot you as long as you arent using a suicide grip.