Gym accident

[Swanson52]

Okay, here is a YouTube link of me benching 500lbs. This was about a year ago, I'm up to 560lbs now. I will try to video record that as soon my rips l

**broken link removed**

Dude. That is not a video of you benching 500. Oy vey.

 

[E.J.]

Not bad. Way better than I could do. Spotter didn't seem to do much to assist. I say good job.

 

[Swanson52]

Not bad. Way better than I could do. Spotter didn't seem to do much to assist. I say good job.

I fully disagree. The spotter did a ton of work. That's an awful press for a claim of "benching 500".

 

[Dr. Noe]

Not bad. Way better than I could do. Spotter didn't seem to do much to assist. I say good job.

Thanks bro, for the positive comment, it's appreciated.

 

[E.J.]

I fully disagree. The spotter did a ton of work. That's an awful press for a claim of "benching 500".

I'm not sayin he'd fulfill a judges requirement during a competition but pretty good for messin around in the gym.

If I tried to unrack it, I know what would happen. It wouldn't budge off the rack. Lol

 

[E.J.]

He's not repping to build muscle or attempting to enter a powerlifting contest. He's just sayin he can bench 500lbs if he had to. May not have been perfect but it went down and up in a pretty good manner. That's a lot of weight for someone who is near 60 years old. No offense to op about ur age.

 

[discohornet]

Tomorrow is legs and shoulders and I can't stand the thought of not going

There's a difference between dedication and compulsion. This is a good example. I'm a little weird like this though - in that I don't subscribe to the typical lift or die trying mentality. My motto is lift intensely and then live immensely. There is something to be said about the discipline of someone who can walk away from the gym for a day and be at peace with knowing it is a marathon, not a sprint. To lift beyond your safety takes self loathing, not self-discipline.

My suggestion to you is that you find a quiet moment in your day to ask the part of you who can't stand not going, what its motivations are, and what it wants more than anything for you.

and my wife is not supporting me at all. She younger and she tells me I'm to old to be lifting 560lbs and that I need to stop going to the gym.

1. You're not too old to be lifting 560 pounds. If you can do it safely, continue to do it until you do die, hopefully from natural causes and not a ruptured lung because you were using some tool that you knew was failing you, but you were so insistent on your compulsion you didn't stop to say something is wrong.

2. She wants you to stop going to the gym and is looking for an excuse to implement that decision. She is either insecure of your physical prowess and what it means to the safety of her relationship, or she is seeing the compulsion in you and doesn't know what to call it, so she calls it "going to the gym".

I love setting goals and Reaching them and I don't want to turn in to one of those guys who goes to the gym and puts in very little effort. There would be no motivation for me.

What exactly IS your motivation? Fear? It sounds like Fear is dictating your decisions, and not Love. I'm not trying to turn this into a Hallmark Valentines Card here. I'm just pointing out that when we indulge our Fear, we end up doing things that are not good for us, while believing what the Fear is telling us, that it's for our own good.

You will never be that guy, the one who puts in very little effort, so don't give into that argument. The ego is trapping you in an identification with its opposite, and nothing good can come from that. Only more goals out of your reach that would allow you to feel the Love that can come from being ok with where you are at on any given lift.

When we think of becoming better, stronger, faster, we find it fuels progress, up to a certain point. And then it can turn on you. Don't give in to the voice that tells you to stop trying, but simultaneously don't indulge the fear that drives you to make unhealthy decisions for yourself, in the name of trying to avoid becoming something you fear.

Let the motivation come from a place of Love rather than Fear. And when I say Love, I mean Love of your life, every aspect of your life, and the Love of lifting in general.

Let me put it another way for you. If you continue to operate from Fear you will undoubtedly hurt yourself again, and could potentially destroy your ability to lift at all anymore. It takes a strong man to press 560 pounds, and it takes an even stronger man to know when to rest and heal.

Besides the point - stop using those tools you're using. They're distracting, and let's face it - if your as old as you are and you can lift more than 500 pounds for even one rep, there's no reason not to just continue lifting heavy without the use of these contraptions that are forcing you into unhealthy movement patterns. Just get in there and lift like you love it and fuck everything else.

 

[GreenEarth]

Got stuck under the bar doing incline bench on Wednesday. My numbers were nowhere near the OP's, but I nonetheless tried going too far. I've always been a bit stubborn about asking people to spot me, I've just always preferred being in my own world and not being interrupted in the gym. But that certainly came back to bite me in the butt on Wednesday.

 

[Dr. Noe]

There's a difference between dedication and compulsion. This is a good example. I'm a little weird like this though - in that I don't subscribe to the typical lift or die trying mentality. My motto is lift intensely and then live immensely. There is something to be said about the discipline of someone who can walk away from the gym for a day and be at peace with knowing it is a marathon, not a sprint. To lift beyond your safety takes self loathing, not self-discipline.

My suggestion to you is that you find a quiet moment in your day to ask the part of you who can't stand not going, what its motivations are, and what it wants more than anything for you.

1. You're not too old to be lifting 560 pounds. If you can do it safely, continue to do it until you do die, hopefully from natural causes and not a ruptured lung because you were using some tool that you knew was failing you, but you were so insistent on your compulsion you didn't stop to say something is wrong.

2. She wants you to stop going to the gym and is looking for an excuse to implement that decision. She is either insecure of your physical prowess and what it means to the safety of her relationship, or she is seeing the compulsion in you and doesn't know what to call it, so she calls it "going to the gym"

What exactly IS your motivation? Fear? It sounds like Fear is dictating your decisions, and not Love. I'm not trying to turn this into a Hallmark Valentines Card here. I'm just pointing out that when we indulge our Fear, we end up doing things that are not good for us, while believing what the Fear is telling us, that it's for our own good.

You will never be that guy, the one who puts in very little effort, so don't give into that argument. The ego is trapping you in an identification with its opposite, and nothing good can come from that. Only more goals out of your reach that would allow you to feel the Love that can come from being ok with where you are at on any given lift.

When we think of becoming better, stronger, faster, we find it fuels progress, up to a certain point. And then it can turn on you. Don't give in to the voice that tells you to stop trying, but simultaneously don't indulge the fear that drives you to make unhealthy decisions for yourself, in the name of trying to avoid becoming something you fear.

Let the motivation come from a place of Love rather than Fear. And when I say Love, I mean Love of your life, every aspect of your life, and the Love of lifting in general.

Let me put it another way for you. If you continue to operate from Fear you will undoubtedly hurt yourself again, and could potentially destroy your ability to lift at all anymore. It takes a strong man to press 560 pounds, and it takes an even stronger man to know when to rest and heal.

Besides the point - stop using those tools you're using. They're distracting, and let's face it - if your as old as you are and you can lift more than 500 pounds for even one rep, there's no reason not to just continue lifting heavy without the use of these contraptions that are forcing you into unhealthy movement patterns. Just get in there and lift like you love it and fuck everything else.

Discohornet,

Thanks for the advice and wisdom. The reason I hate missing workouts is because it takes so long to build muscle and no time at all to lose muscle. I know everyone’s body responses differently and I’m not going to have a debate over this matter even thou some people gain more muscle by taking off longer between body parts. I know my body and it responses best to heavy workloads frequently. The more I train the stronger I get. I have tried it both ways and have documented my data which backs up my how my body best gains strength and muscle. Many of you would say that I am overtraining but my body has adapted and so has my CNS.

My biggest problem is rest because I only sleep 4 hours max a night. I worked as a supervisor on nights for over 37 years and my biological clock is way out of whack now that I am on days. As far as what motivates me, my wife and my 2 little girls comes first in my life. They are the reason I go to work and also the reason I want to stay in shape and injury free. I know lifting weights after the accident was really a dumb thing to do but at the time it felt no worse than taking a hard punch in the ribs and I didn’t think it would turn into a serious injury. Still I should have followed my own teachings, I knew better. Every morning and every night I start our pass downs at work with safety message so everyone starts their day off thinking about safety first. Or motto at work is safe, right and fast and I deviated from that plan.

As far as my wife goes, she made the comment about me staying away from the gym because I was hurt and she’s worried about my injury. She’s pissed at my spotter and she doesn’t trust him spotting me but once again I don’t blame him just the device. She blames him also for bringing in a device that was not custom made to our arms. We both have about the same size arms and he’s 55 and bench 450lbs on a good day. I don’t think fear motivates me in the gym but I do find myself thinking positive in almost every aspect of life and maybe that’s dangerous in reality because age is creeping up on me. I was raised to always think positive and I believe positive thoughts attract positive energy and negative thoughts attract negative energy. It drives my wife crazy, because I can find something positive in every bad outcome. This time thou it really hit me hard. I’m still hurting and it seems to be getting worse as each day goes on. I might go back to the doctor on Monday to get a CT scan.

The device is actually something used to prevent injuries had it been the proper size. It keeps your elbows tucked into your sides so that your triceps and lats do most of the work instead of your shoulders which are more susceptible to injuries.

 

[Dr. Noe]

Got stuck under the bar doing incline bench on Wednesday. My numbers were nowhere near the OP's, but I nonetheless tried going too far. I've always been a bit stubborn about asking people to spot me, I've just always preferred being in my own world and not being interrupted in the gym. But that certainly came back to bite me in the butt on Wednesday.

Sounds like you just got pinned under the weight but hopefully you wont be to proud to ask for help next time. It's a lot less humiliating then getting stuck with weight on you.

 

[Dr. Noe]

There are at least 3 dudes, in their 50's, that train for powerlifting at my gym and saw all of them do well over 500 lbs. With the powerlifting vest they were nearly 600. They are just built to bench press. All of them had huge barrel chests with a very short motion from bottom to top. They didn't look like they could bench that much but they did.

I believe you bro, I think there are a lot of guys out there that could beat
world records for their age but just don't care to do so.

 

[Dr. Noe]

shut everyone up and post a video Dr. Noe

I did bro, but have you noticed how all of the ones who talk shit just disappeared. That is because they are out there looking for new prey to insult or called liars and they dont have the balls to man up and say that they were wrong.

 

[brutale]

He's not repping to build muscle or attempting to enter a powerlifting contest. He's just sayin he can bench 500lbs if he had to. May not have been perfect but it went down and up in a pretty good manner. That's a lot of weight for someone who is near 60 years old. No offense to op about ur age.

:yeahthat: I'm 51 and would be pretty thrilled if I could ever lift that.

 

[Kaladryn]

As I suspected, another "with a spot" bench claim. I bet that guy took at LEAST 100lbs off the bar. I doubt you could get a single rep with 405 without that slingshot and without a spot.

 

[phatrr]

With all respect, and please note I am commenting about your lift, and not about you as a man: that was not a legit 500lb bench. The spotter. Your ass wasn't close to touching the bench. Let alone the slingshot. Or a pause.

I work with a lot of powerlifters, and I know only a handful who can claim a legit 500lb raw bench. None of those is an over-50 lifter.

A 500lb raw bench is a huge number.

I'd have much more respect for somebody posting a video showing a true 350lb bench: no lat-building spotter, ass on the bench, no slighshot, a real pause at the bottom.

That's just me, though.

 

[Dr. Noe]

As I suspected, another "with a spot" bench claim. I bet that guy took at LEAST 100lbs off the bar. I doubt you could get a single rep with 405 without that slingshot and without a spot.(quote)


You are very wrong bro but you are entitle to your opinion and I am not going to debate this any further with you. I actually enjoy reading the majority of your posting. It's not easy to find 3 spotters like the powerlifters have in my gym. 1 behind you and 1 off to each side. I actually think I could do a lot better with that setup. When benching one wants to keep their body very tight. The shoulder blades should dig deep into the bench but because I have just 1 spotter I have to unset my shoulders by pushing the weight up and out of the holder. If I had 3 guys, I could keep my shoulders blades tight on the bench and instead of pushing up, I would just try to slide the barbell forward off of the hooks. Having the 3 spotters there allows that to happen. My shoulders would stay tight and not unhinged as in using 1 spotter and my bench press pounds would improve going down and back up. Try this with a lighter weight and you will see an increase in the number of reps that you can bench all because your able to keep the shoulder blades set.

 

[Dr. Noe]

With all respect, and please note I am commenting about your lift, and not about you as a man: that was not a legit 500lb bench. The spotter. Your ass wasn't close to touching the bench. Let alone the slingshot. Or a pause.

I work with a lot of powerlifters, and I know only a handful who can claim a legit 500lb raw bench. None of those is an over-50 lifter.

A 500lb raw bench is a huge number.

I'd have much more respect for somebody posting a video showing a true 350lb bench: no lat-building spotter, ass on the bench, no slighshot, a real pause at the bottom.

That's just me, though.

Bro, I said from the get go, read my post that my form was not perfect. This video was also taken about a year ago and my form has improved a lot since then but My spotter really didn't do much to assist me no matter how you might perceive it in the video.

 

[anarchocapitalist]

hey bro that was a decent lift from someone who looks like they don't know shit about benching. those are some heavy weights. i wouldn't say, judging from that vid, that you could legit bench 5 plates, but if you took an afternoon to learn how to bench and watch some westside/markbell/etc vids i'd believe you could legit bench those 5 plates without a sling.

some tips. don't take your ass off the bench. if you're going to have more than 4 plates on the bar get someone who knows how to spot ... choose to live ... that guy could have slipped the bar off your hands easy. keep things tight from the feet to the shoulders. if you spent 30 seconds getting set up for the bench (setting your feet, shoulders, etc) you could handle more weight.

i do think you have the potential to legit bench 500lbs.

 

[anarchocapitalist]

take the sling off and work on your rack presses. a rack press is like a deadlift of benching. set the safety bars on a squat rack low. put a solid bench in the squat rack. the bar should rest about 1" off your chest. add some weight and press the bar from the bottom position, a dead-weight. it'll help build power off the chest so you dont need the sling.

 

[phatrr]

Bro, I said from the get go, read my post that my form was not perfect. This video was also taken about a year ago and my form has improved a lot since then but My spotter really didn't do much to assist me no matter how you might perceive it in the video.

Fair enough; I won't argue.

I'm trying to be constructive and help you with this. Again, based on me working with powerlifters and strongmen.

Take this event as a sign. Based on what you've posted, it really sounds like you've been lifting with your dick - ignoring form, adding the Slingshot in just to be able tack more weight on your PR, taking chances with spotters. Here's the thing. Dropping 500lbs on your chest, your throat, your face - well, it could have killed you or maimed you.

You got lucky this time. Now is a good time to start lifting with your head.

If you want to push this kind of weight, start working in a power rack. Set the safeties, every time. If your gym doesn't have one, find a new gym - this is your life we're talking about.

Oh, and one thing we've found about the slingshot: it's great for some overload work, after you've already done most of your work without that as an assist. Sort of like the concept of doing overload work with squatting: you put more on the bar than you can squat, and just unrack it and hold it for a bit. You overload the weight.

During your main work sets, focus on your form, work hard, and then toss in some overload work at the end.

Best of luck to you.