The Bench Press . . .

. . . is not a 2 person lift. It is not a partner exercise. It is not designed to be tag-teamed. And yet 90% of the lifting population is not aware of this fact. Frustrated sigh.

This past Thursday, after I was done with the WOD for the day, I decided to try a 5 x 5 session of bench press for a little extra fun. The first 4 sets were done without a spotter, which is not a good idea, but I didn't feel like giving anyone the "how to spot" talk unless I really needed to. On the 5th set, I knew I would need a spotter, so I asked a guy, and he willingly obliged (in fact, he was the same guy who came over at the end of the 4th set to make sure I was going to finish the lift). So this is where it becomes partly (and probably mostly) my fault - I didn't give the "how to spot" talk, the "don't touch the bar unless it's actually going back down" talk.

He started helping on the 2nd rep. I have no clue how many reps I actually could have done, and I know I only did 1 of them by myself.

Upon further reflection, maybe we could design a new event - the "partner bench press." One person pushes and the other person pulls - we could even have uniforms for the teams. I wish I had known beforehand that we were going to be teammates. We could have tried to psych each other up, maybe do a chest bump or two. We could get team socks, team shoes, maybe even team lifting gloves. And cheerleaders. We would definitely need cheerleaders. I'm not sure if this would be a fall, winter, or spring sport.

Sarcasm aside, below are links to a couple great videos on how to spot the bench press. I've posted these links before, but I'm a bit grumpy about Thursday's episode, so I'm posting them again. Coach Rippetoe knows what he's talking about, plus he has a great Texas accent and is funny. That alone makes the videos worth watching.

Spotting the Bench Press, Part I, Mark Rippetoe

Spotting the Bench Press, Part II, Mark Rippetoe