Terrified of the bench press.

Nama_Slay wrote: »

Polybius1981 wrote: »

Hey guys,

So I'm about 30 days into the gym, finally starting to get a routine going and I'm really wanting to try the bench press, but if I'm honest, it scares the crap out of me.

Until now I've primarily been doing DB Press and chest press (machine) to sort of make up for it but does anyone have any suggestions on where to start with the bench press?

I don't have anyone I go to the gym with and I'm worried about hurting myself with it.

Thanks in advance.

I bench alone, without a spotter usually, I use the Smith Machine, slide a bench under it, and press away!

I would definitely not use the smith machine, since you are a new lifter, it's a good idea to start off with proper mechanics, bar path and exercise stabilization muscles as well, and a smith machine does not allow any of these points. The other problem is, if you dont set it up properly, or forget to rotate your wrists if/when you get into trouble, the smith machine will stick you in place with weight on your chest since you cannot dump weights off the sides if necessary.

Watch some of the trainer's videos online mentioned above, use the bar at first to go through the mechanics of it, then start light on a flat bench, you should be fine.

sgt1372 wrote: »

MistressSara wrote: »

Don’t put clips on. You can dump the weight if you have to.

This is a common suggestion but it doesn't work in practice.

If you are benching alone, fail and can't lift the bar, what makes you think that you'll have enough strength to tip up the bar so that 1/2 of the weights fall off?

Just think of the mechanics of this.

You have to use one hand as a fulcrum and then push the bar up w/your other hand with ALL of the weight still on the bar until 1/2 of the weight on the lower end falls off (which isn't guaranteed because they could get stuck) and then, assuming the weights on the low side fall off, reverse the movement to push the weightless side up to flip the bar off your body.

If you are totally spent having failed a rep, it's highly unlikely that you'd have enough strength to do this w/o the help of a spotter.

I've actually tried doing the no-collar routine by myself in my rack at home w/the safety bars placed right at my neck and it is much easier said than done.

The ONLY way to safely bench alone is with the assistance of properly positioned safety bars in a rack or attached to a bench or separately placed safety bar towers.

Please don't try to do it alone otherwise.

Please ignore the advice above, but keep this in mind for bench press lifting: if you are benching alone with a free bench ALWAYS bench without collars, and if you are lifting with safety bars, ALWAYS make sure the weight is not going to be on you when the weight comes down to land on the safety bars, or the safety bars are too low and therefore useless!

The advice above sounds like it comes from someone who means well, but failed on a lift with what sounds like a safety bar in an improper position, and improper path for a bench press lift, making for a possibly dangerous situation. You should not have weight right at your neck with the weight on the safety bars, and the path of the weight should not come down right over your neck!

Remember: bench press lifting in a rack with safety bars and lifting on a bench are very different, and you need to set the bars at a height where the weight is OFF you for safety bars to be effective (this also means that lifting with safety bars is not optimal in most situations since you cant get full range this way). If not, in a smith machine or setup with safety bars you are setting yourself up for a possible dangerous situation and pinning yourself under the weight if you fail!

That sounds scary, and it is scary if you set yourself up wrong in a cage or smith machine, but its not scary at all if you are using a free bench: you simply just tilt to the side and weights come off one end, then it swings back quickly to deload the other end. Make sure nobody is next to you when you are doing bench and especially deloading...