Thank you rack safeties

[HeavyIron8]

I'll be receiving spud inc's suspension straps later today. Planning on hanging them on my multigrip crossmember on my RM-6. I was originally intending to use these for SSB goodmornings, but I think it's nice to have 2 pairs of straps spotting you lol.

[JustTheDad]

BP is definitely the most dangerous exercise you can do (especially solo). I went with pin & pipe safeties myself and set them about an inch over my neck, so I don't have any interference as I lower to my chest. Never could figure out how to get straps set up for bench, but straps seem ideal for squats. No one should be benching without a rack and safeties - veterans or newbs.

When I bench, I use the Rogue straps set 1 or 2 inches higher by my head. Let's me touch my chest lightly, but not my face or neck. Thing is, I bench with minimal arch. If you lift with a lot of back arch, I don't know that straps would have any advantage over a straight safety. I prefer the pin and pipe safeties for squats, but I'm usually too lazy to change to them.

Bottom line is that any safety that prevents a serious injury is a lot better than nothing.

Glad Chad's incident didn't cause any injury!

[matrix563]

is the bar ok? glad you are okay!

[chadsalt]

is the bar ok? glad you are okay!

Yep, it was the Kabuki bar. Made out of unobtainium or something, and those magnificent end caps......

[matrix563]

Yep, it was the Kabuki bar. Made out of unobtainium or something, and those magnificent end caps......

in before "nice kabuki bar for sale. Never abused, always gentle. never ended up using but a handful of times due to traveling too much for work. Now i am moving out of the country so cannot take with me"

[litljay]

Glad you're ok chadsalt. That's one of my biggest fears.

When I was still a commercial gym goer, I developed a BP anxiety where I never pushed the weight or reps too far for fear of failing.

Now that I'm in a safe rack at home, the anxiety is pretty much gone.

[Farley1324]

People literally die doing bench press...never bad to be reminded that it happens, not always because the operator was an idiot.

These flukes freak me out.
So the majority of you guys want or have straps as your primary safety?
I've been tempted to actually get straps that hang from the top of the rack so I can adjust them perfectly, depending on the type of bar I'd be using.

I'm glad you're alright, Chadsalt. That's startling!

I don't want straps, and bench press is why. I want to know exactly how far down the bar can go before it is caught, no matter how much weigh is on it, where it was when I went down, or any other reasonable variable. In fact, I just re-tested where the bar would go to during CGBP warmups today, for peace of mind.

I wouldn't mind them for squats but the pin and pipe or saber type work just fine for squats too.

If I put my 1/2 rack into action this is what I had in mind to do as well, thought this would offer protection if I fell backwards on a squat for example.

Why I have no interest in a half rack. Don't want the bar coming down on my torso that much either, plus the degree of backwards protection for squats.




Related: Something I really really really do NOT understand, never have, don't think I ever will...powerlifting competitions that refuse to use actual safeties for anything. How many times do we need to see a bar crush a guy's chest, see a video of a guy who literally died, watch four little spotters try to catch a bombed squat and Armageddon results...how ****ing hard is it to to use some safeties? Esp the squats, monolifts abound with straps that wouldn't even need adjusted they could just be left low and at least keep the bar from crushing you all the way to the floor.

Why do gyms almost never have benches with the safety spotter arms?

What do we have against such simple, potentially life saving stuff?

/rant

[murphyreedus]

Related: Something I really really really do NOT understand, never have, don't think I ever will...powerlifting competitions that refuse to use actual safeties for anything. How many times do we need to see a bar crush a guy's chest, see a video of a guy who literally died, watch four little spotters try to catch a bombed squat and Armageddon results...how ****ing hard is it to to use some safeties? Esp the squats, monolifts abound with straps that wouldn't even need adjusted they could just be left low and at least keep the bar from crushing you all the way to the floor.

Why do gyms almost never have benches with the safety spotter arms?

What do we have against such simple, potentially life saving stuff?

/rant

I've heard this rant from too many powerlifters. There is absolutely no reason for it other than the stupidity and stubbornness of those organizing the competition.

As for gyms not having safeties, you'd think insurance companies would require them as a CYA, but I wonder how many people would trouble them selves to set them up correctly in the first place.

[HeavyIron8]

Related: Something I really really really do NOT understand, never have, don't think I ever will...powerlifting competitions that refuse to use actual safeties for anything. How many times do we need to see a bar crush a guy's chest, see a video of a guy who literally died, watch four little spotters try to catch a bombed squat and Armageddon results...how ****ing hard is it to to use some safeties? Esp the squats, monolifts abound with straps that wouldn't even need adjusted they could just be left low and at least keep the bar from crushing you all the way to the floor.

Why do gyms almost never have benches with the safety spotter arms?

What do we have against such simple, potentially life saving stuff?

/rant

There was a discussion on Mark Rippetoe's forum about a couple of months ago regarding this topic. The wisdom is that safety can present a hazard in itself. If a lifter falls sideways backward/forward, his arm/hands can get caught between the the pins/straps and the heavy barbell, possibly amputating his fingers or severely injuring his arm/hands. So Mark's idea is that spotters are the best form of safeties, and safety straps/pins are only the best option for someone lifting alone.

[Farley1324]

There was a discussion on Mark Rippetoe's forum about a couple of months ago regarding this topic. The wisdom is that safety can present a hazard in itself. If a lifter falls sideways backward/forward, his arm/hands can get caught between the the pins/straps and the heavy barbell, possibly amputating his fingers or severely injuring his arm/hands. So Mark's idea is that spotters are the best form of safeties, and safety straps/pins are only the best option for someone lifting alone.

Interesting. Still, I would have to disagree, citing the degree of magnitude of smashing your fingers or hands or even your arm vs your chest or throat or face and, if necessary, looking up the videos demonstrating that time and again human spotters are, in practice, simply not up to the task.

And it's not like we don't have a whole hell of a lot of chances for people to smash themselves in a safety rack as, clearly, people lift in racks with safeties all the time, and as of yet, I have not ever even heard of that happening.

Seatbelts can kill you if you are trapped in your car, but we still wear them, purely on odds of helping vs hurting. I guarantee safeties are more likely to help than hurt, and they are surely THE most effective way of saving you from the life-changing or ending stuff.

[HeavyIron8]

I think human spotters are the best for the Squat, and I can understand Rip's logic in that regard. But having only human spotters for the bench press is idiotic.

The thread which started that discussion on Mark's forum was this video I linked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCRH0RDe2c

I can see how in this case, maybe having safety pins for this guy might've been more of a detriment given the angle of his fall.

My argument was for actual safety straps, and NOT attempting a lift clearly beyond your capability, but I got shut down by a barrage of arguments from various people.

[Farley1324]

I think human spotters are the best for the Squat, and I can understand Rip's logic in that regard. But having only human spotters for the bench press is idiotic.

The thread which started that discussion on Mark's forum was this video I linked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCRH0RDe2c

I can see how in this case, maybe having safety pins for this guy might've been more of a detriment given the angle of his fall.

My argument was for actual safety straps, and NOT attempting a 1 RM clearly beyond your capability, but I got shut down by a barrage of arguments from various people.

I'd love to see the video of human spotters catching 750+ pounds when the lifter just suddenly gives way like that

People are just stupid and confused stupidity with, IDK, hardc0re? IDK.

[chadsalt]

I think human spotters are the best for the Squat, and I can understand Rip's logic in that regard. But having only human spotters for the bench press is idiotic.

The thread which started that discussion on Mark's forum was this video I linked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCRH0RDe2c

I can see how in this case, maybe having safety pins for this guy might've been more of a detriment given the angle of his fall.

My argument was for actual safety straps, and NOT attempting a lift clearly beyond your capability, but I got shut down by a barrage of arguments from various people.

Human spotters are useless for SQ. You can't effectively get more than one person per side under the weight. I'm a medium size guy, In an emergency drop the possibility of me catching even 200-300# side of the barbell in freefall would be a crapshoot. I suspect odds go down as weight goes up.

Suspended straps pose almost no risk of catching a body part, and with my wide grip is why I use them for SQ vs the rack swing in safeties.

[keyboardworkout]

Safety straps in a monolift seem like obvious answer for powerlifting meets.

[Farley1324]

So, how old is that SS forum thread...?

[HeavyIron8]

So, how old is that SS forum thread...?

Maybe late October I believe

[murphyreedus]

Rip is far from the first person I'd ask for an opinion regarding proper gym equipment.

[Farley1324]

Rip is far from the first person I'd ask for an opinion regarding proper gym equipment.

I was waiting for this lol

[DesiredDad77]

It was my GPR378 and it's swing in safeties. No pain anywhere other than the scrape. It will be one of those things I go to the grave not understanding. How did it get over my thumb without at least a minor sprain?

I have the same rack with BWTG J-cups and possibly will be adding one of Dean's pull-up bars. Rack has saved me a couple of times now. Have been happy with my GPR378.

Glad you escaped injury.

[rajendra82]

After the Paul Jordan YouTube video finished playing, this one queued up next for me. Quite entertaining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghfGdEilxZg

[chadsalt]

I have the same rack with BWTG J-cups and possibly will be adding one of Dean's pull-up bars. Rack has saved me a couple of times now. Have been happy with my GPR378.

Glad you escaped injury.

I've got one of his pull-up bars. If you want, PM me your email/text my advice is free.

[emp1acur]

Been following along with this thread. I bench with a Swiss bar for the neutral grip (necessity due to wrist), and I've always thought my safeties protect my face, neck, and chest.

It just occurred to me today that the safeties will not do the job if the bar comes down vertically in some unplanned event like OP experienced.

Straight bar isn't an option, so not sure what the answer is - other than changing exercises. Seems crazy that this never occurred to me before, even the first few times looking in on this thread.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but I'll add it and maybe it will help someone out. If you are doing bench press type exercises and accidentally set the spotters one or two holes too low you can be in big trouble. This is because the barbell can go down far enough to crush/suffocate you, but you can't tip the barbell sideways off because the lower spotter bar will prevent that.

Once I was doing decline bench by myself at home (also in a GPR378 actually) and noticed the spotter bars were too low but finished my set anyway and struggled for the last rep. Then for interest I loaded the barbell light and tried to tip it off with the spotter bars like that and found it impossible. I also wouldn't have been able to roll the barbell down my chest because of the decline position. I probably would have been found dead the next morning.

So it makes you think.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

Been following along with this thread. I bench with a Swiss bar for the neutral grip (necessity due to wrist), and I've always thought my safeties protect my face, neck, and chest.

It just occurred to me today that the safeties will not do the job if the bar comes down vertically in some unplanned event like OP experienced.

Straight bar isn't an option, so not sure what the answer is - other than changing exercises. Seems crazy that this never occurred to me before, even the first few times looking in on this thread.

That's interesting. You possibly dodged a bullet there because you would be thinking you're safe. For some of the weird exercises I do I set the spotter so it just touches the chest when I am arched, and that means it would miss my face/throat in an unexpected drop, and the chest wouldn't be badly hurt because it would drop down when arch goes, so maybe you can try that for the bar in the vertical position.

[melDorado]

Same happened to me in that idk what happened but all of a sudden I lost control and the bar was on my teeth bc I didn't have safeties or a spotter. Luckily I kept my teeth but I was on a soft diet for a bit
Accidents will always happen benching

[Farley1324]

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but I'll add it and maybe it will help someone out. If you are doing bench press type exercises and accidentally set the spotters one or two holes too low you can be in big trouble. This is because the barbell can go down far enough to crush/suffocate you, but you can't tip the barbell sideways off because the lower spotter bar will prevent that.

Once I was doing decline bench by myself at home (also in a GPR378 actually) and noticed the spotter bars were too low but finished my set anyway and struggled for the last rep. Then for interest I loaded the barbell light and tried to tip it off with the spotter bars like that and found it impossible. I also wouldn't have been able to roll the barbell down my chest because of the decline position. I probably would have been found dead the next morning.

So it makes you think.

I simply hold the opinion that decline bench is stupid and dangerous and shouldn't be done, this would be another example why

[BenMcLeodNZ]

I simply hold the opinion that decline bench is stupid and dangerous and shouldn't be done, this would be another example why

You're probably right, it hurts so good though!

[chadsalt]

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but I'll add it and maybe it will help someone out. If you are doing bench press type exercises and accidentally set the spotters one or two holes too low you can be in big trouble. This is because the barbell can go down far enough to crush/suffocate you, but you can't tip the barbell sideways off because the lower spotter bar will prevent that.

Once I was doing decline bench by myself at home (also in a GPR378 actually) and noticed the spotter bars were too low but finished my set anyway and struggled for the last rep. Then for interest I loaded the barbell light and tried to tip it off with the spotter bars like that and found it impossible. I also wouldn't have been able to roll the barbell down my chest because of the decline position. I probably would have been found dead the next morning.

So it makes you think.

I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that improperly set safeties are useless.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that improperly set safeties are useless.

Yeah but what I mean is that they're not simply useless, they're more dangerous than nothing being there at all because they can stop you being able to tilt the barbell off if you get stuck.

[Farley1324]

I agree.

What do you agree with?