Can you bench without spotter

Rest one to two minutes in between sets. United States. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. So you need to prepare for what happens if you fail. With barbell bench press, if you fail, the weight could crush your chest, neck, or face. You can avoid the situation entirely by pressing dumbbells instead, like we discussed last week , or by using a machine that mimics the bench press movement like a Smith machine, or a chest press machine.

But if you want to do a genuine barbell bench press without the help of a human being, all you need is a power cage with adjustable stops. Relax and be free from anxiety Take back good sleep and help alleviate pain. Lying on your back, feet planted on the floor, you exhale and begin to press the weight up — but it suddenly feels so much heavier, like gravity has intensified.

You muscle the bar up, but it stops moving an inch shy of the safety pins. You panic. The weight falls back to your chest, and you lay there, contemplating death by overloaded barbell. A failed deadlift is uncomplicated — the bar simply drops straight to the ground or never leaves it.

A failed squat may be loud and a bit unsettling, but the bar will usually either fall to the ground or be caught by a set of safety pins, spotter arms or safety bars. These are all sturdy horizontal fixtures that can be set up to catch a barbell. The technique of the bench press also provides no easy way to dump the bar. Your buddy can simply help hoist the bar off you and put it back onto the rack.

But failing a bench press without a spotter will likely leave you trapped beneath an unforgiving, heavily-loaded barbell. At best, a failed bench press bruises your ego and perhaps your torso.

Beyond the scenario where the lifter's unable to press the barbell back to the lockout point, there's also the "bar drop" failure. A suicide grip sees your thumb wrapped over the top of the bar rather than underneath it.

This makes the bar far more likely to slip out of your sweaty palms. We strongly advise against utilizing a suicide grip, as the potential downside can be catastrophic. But if you really want to try it, you better make sure you've got a pair of safeties in proper position. Yet there are any number of reasons why you may find yourself wanting to bench press without a human spotter.

These factors are why so many people seek a method where they can safely bench press without a spotter.