How do you safely benchpress alone?

[Smurf the little pea.]

I added some more weight to my bar to see if I could lift it ok, and the first two sets went fine. On my third set I got to rep #8 and when I tried to push the bar up, no go. I was trying to put the bar back on its holder thing, but I could not lift the weight anymore. What happend next was, the bar slowly lowered itself, despite my best efforts to get it on the bar. In the end I kind of had to tilt the bar off my chest/face and let it drop on my floor.

This wasnt a very fun experience, and it would have never happend if I had a spotter. I work out alone though at home, so I was wondering what other people do so that they dont get crushed and die>? Thx

 

[Hoffmeister]

First, I'd never bench alone without a cage. Seriously, about every year you read about someone who kills themselves doing this shit.

Second, if you have to do this for some reason, leave the collars off the bar. At least you should be able to tilt the bar far enough for the weights to slide off one end, then the other. Not pretty, but better than strangling yourself.

 

[La0Tz3]

theres some kinda device you can buy or make yourself, its basically apparatus with two bars which run parallel to the bench out on either side of you, higher than your body but about the bottom of your press range. The idea is that when you can't lift the bar, the two ends of the barbell rest on the two bars of this apparatus. Does that make any sense?
It might be what Hoffmeister means by a cage.
If you are serious about benching at home you really should get something like this, especially as the weight you use starts getting high enough that it could hurt if it was lying on your chest or neck.

 

[Imnotdutch]

What you describe is the type of bench that I always use.....very useful if you do have to bail out.

Hoff means a power-rack/cage I think. Good gyms have them instead of squat racks.....very versatile.

theres some kinda device you can buy or make yourself, its basically apparatus with two bars which run parallel to the bench out on either side of you, higher than your body but about the bottom of your press range. The idea is that when you can't lift the bar, the two ends of the barbell rest on the two bars of this apparatus. Does that make any sense?
It might be what Hoffmeister means by a cage.
If you are serious about benching at home you really should get something like this, especially as the weight you use starts getting high enough that it could hurt if it was lying on your chest or neck.

 

[strengthmonster]

Put a standard bench in the middle of a power rack and put the bars at the correct height.

 

[Le_Vato]

does your gym have a smith machine? if so use it. i find it helpful on those days when the gym is almost empty and i don't have a spot.

 

[Advaik]

You can always use dumbbells, I actually perfer them because you can reach farther back and stretch your chest more

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

if you have no other way to get the bar off of your chest, leave the plates loose with no collar and dump each side off at one time. Actually, after you have one side off the other will be pretty much instantaneous. Last resort.

Better yet, get a neighbor or a relative or ANYBODY to lend a quick hand, even the 5 pounds or so that they can help will get it off of you. Push it!

Lastly, cut some saw horses down to make your own crude "cage" with the height of them being right below your arched chest.

Hope this helps!

 

[Enock]

Good thing I read this post today, I went to the gym and no one was there even my partner who said he would be.

So I built a rack putting an extra bench along each side of the bench then putting a stupid umm hmm wtf are those plastic aerobic fake stairs any way I put one of those on each bench on the side then on top of each those I put a woulden block (usually used for deads). Worked out perfectly, perfect height I was able to touch my chest with the bar but w/o any pressure.

Ofcourse later when some people showed up

"What the hell are you building a fort"

Hell I kind of liked it better than a spot just because sometimes the spotter assists too soon when you wanna fight still. Too bad it uses up so many benches.

 

[Smurf the little pea.]

I cannot afford a power rack, mabey I should have bought one in the first place instead of my bench. Any advice on how I could make a safety device type thing?