I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the football player at USC (Southern Cal, not South Carolina) that had the horrific bench pressing accident during one of the team’s weight room sessions. If you haven’t click here.
I had too many thoughts go through my head when I first heard (and read about the details) about this terrible accident.
- I hope Mr. Jackson is alright, or will be soon.
- Was somebody really spotting him, or just standing near by?
- How can the strength coach dismiss the accident by saying he’s only seen barbells fall on players’ chests?
- Why are people still bench pressing in this fashion?
- Does USC have the proper equipment available to prevent this from happening? If so why didn’t the strength coach insist that his players use that equipment when training?
Now for starters, it is good news that Mr. Johnson will only miss this season. It seems the surgery was a success, and he will make a full (or close to a full) recovery. That at the end of the day is what matters most.
However…
This should have never happened!
I’ll get to the real reason why this should have been avoided in a second, but here are some points I want to make:
- I will not blame the spotter. Even though it is his responsibility to stay focused on the bar, I don’t know of too many people with reaction time quick enough to see the bar slipping. That being said, spotters are taught to have their hands under the bar, just in case something happens. The fact that he didn’t, suggests that this set was one of the warm up sets, and he took the weight for granted. Again, I’m not blaming him. I’m just saying…
- I wonder what type of grip Mr. Jackson had on the bar. Considering that the bar fell, I’m pretty sure he was using the ‘no thumb’ grip. I myself (when I used to think bench pressing meant something) found this grip more comfortable than wrapping my thumbs around the bar because it kept my elbows from flaring out to the side and took some stress off my shoulders. However, as the weight gets heavier, ‘wrist comfort’ is replaced by stress on the wrists. Also, it’s VERY easy for the bar to slip out of this grip.
- The very first bench pressing story I ever heard, was about a guy a few blocks from my house that died with the barbell on his neck. (He was lifting by himself in his garage.) I know of more than a few more of these stories (not resulting in death, but serious injury), and I know of several other guys I used to talk lifting with that can share similar stories. How does the strength coach at a major DI university claim he NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING HAPPENING? I don’t know if he thought that statement would make it seem like a one-in-a-million type of accident, but c’mon!
In any event, this accident should have never happened – especially with the supervision and ‘know-how’ of today’s strength and conditioning coaches. Here’s why:
- There are plenty of safer alternatives to the bench press that allows you to get more out of the exercise than just pushing weight off your chest while lying down on a bench. To name a few:
- Using dumbbells (one or two) on a stability ball
- Standing cable presses
- Weighted push ups
- Using high resistance rubber tubing, etc.
They may not be as ‘sexy,’ but they do the job… actually a better job than ‘traditional’ bench pressing.
- The equipment of benches with no stoppers or ‘built-in’ spotters are a thing of the past. That alone should have made it impossible for the weight to fall on any part of Mr. Jackson’s body. When I started lifting more weight, my ‘traditional’ bench press was replaced by a cage (see in the pic below). I had a ‘situation’ bench pressing one day, and this cage saved me from further injuring myself. (I had a spotter too, but the weight was already on it’s way down when my injury happened, so dropping the weight on the stoppers was the only option.)
In any event, I feel terrible for Mr. Jackson, but I am also shocked that this injury could have happened in the first place. Bench pressing does NOTHING for any athlete that does more than stand around and pose on stage (or at the beach, or the club, or in front of the ladies, etc). The fact that is still a staple of training for any sport that doesn’t involve the Mr. Olympia Trophy is completely beyond me.
But… I know from experience that benching is a very tempting one. So if you really think the barbell version will help your game as a baseball player (it won’t), make sure you do it inside a cage.
Then when you come to your senses and retire from the sport of bodybuilding, ask me what you can do to really become a better baseball player.
Coach Bones
P.S. – Here’s another post I made about benching and other waste-of-time exercises: Bench Press BS and More.
