Thread: Ever drop the bar on your chest?

it has happened to me once or twice..it's not like i dropped the bar on my chest though..i lowered it to my chest and let the bar roll on to the ground...that's why i always have a spot at hand during benching..sorry to hear about that man..give it a few days and u'll feel better

I have done some silly things in the gym, but I cannot recall ever dropping the bar on my chest.

You probably just bruised your ribcage.

I dropped a dumbell @ failure on my left pec while still holding it, but I have never dropped a bar.

Guess I will be the volunteer to have a red face.

1965, using a thumbless grip and two spotters that decided to watch a girl working out. Dropped the bar from 3/4 extension. Result was a split sternum. Ended my bench pressing for a number of years and too this day it limits the weight I use because of mental blockage.

I bench alone and my biggest fear is dropping the bar so what I do is this: I leave the caps off the bar holding the weights. If I get in massive trouble (I cant get it back up) i'll trip the bar and the weights will slide off. I haven't had to tip the weights off yet (thankgod) but it's just a safety measure and eases my mind.

I can do a situp with 225 on my chest flat or decline bench, I have never had to do it with more than that

Never dropped the bar on my chest, but I got it stuck once when I was a NOOB. I had to squeal for help. One incident like that and you quickly learn not to use more weight than you can handle, or to use a spotter if you're going to push it.

I have gotten the bar stuck before and had to sit up with it when I was younger.....also, got stuck in decline once with 245lbs...someone ran over and grab it off of me. Also, drop a 95lb. dumbell on my chest going to failure.

Saw a freind drop 225 on the top of his head doing smith machine shoulder press....knocked him out for a sec.

Saw another friend pass out squating.....fell backwards and knocked himself out because he fell and kneed himself in the face....lol....only warming up with 135lbs...LOL

Still, even scarier, a powerlifter friend of mine passed out in the middle of a 20rep set of squats with 500lbs in his back...that was ugly. Luckly no one was hurt.

Originally posted by NickB
I bench alone and my biggest fear is dropping the bar so what I do is this: I leave the caps off the bar holding the weights. If I get in massive trouble (I cant get it back up) i'll trip the bar and the weights will slide off. I haven't had to tip the weights off yet (thankgod) but it's just a safety measure and eases my mind.

I was taught to do the same think when i first started. I have yet to let it fall on me but came close once. I was doing incline and was goin on one of my last sets and it started to give. I tried my hardest to keep it up and was stuck in one spot for some time. Luckily a guy saw it and came and grabbed it before I made a scene in the gym. He kept me from making an ass out of my self with the measly weight I was putting up. I'll never forget that day.

Originally posted by P-funk
Saw another friend pass out squating.....fell backwards and knocked himself out because he fell and kneed himself in the face....lol....only warming up with 135lbs...LOL

Sucks for him but man that sounds comical. I never would have believed anyone could fall backwards squatting, never.

The Monty Python workout tapes now can be yours right in your very own home - to watch again and again!

Yeah, he passed out and the bar fell backwards and he started to go back and then came forward a bit and hit knee hit him in the face and he knocked himself out for a couple of seconds...he also had a huge black eye.....lol

Originally posted by I Are Baboon
I got it stuck once when I was a NOOB. I had to squeal for help. One incident like that and you quickly learn not to use more weight than you can handle, or to use a spotter if you're going to push it.

First time I did that was when I first started out. I loaded up 85 pounds at home and wham, couldn't even get it up once. I had to let the plates slide off which was easy, because the collars sucked bigtime on that set.

It happened to me once doing some negitives with two spotters. One of them wasnt paying attention and his side ended up droping on my chest. I didnt have any problems other than a little bruise.

Originally posted by NickB
I bench alone and my biggest fear is dropping the bar so what I do is this: I leave the caps off the bar holding the weights. If I get in massive trouble (I cant get it back up) i'll trip the bar and the weights will slide off. I haven't had to tip the weights off yet (thankgod) but it's just a safety measure and eases my mind.

good idea... that's what i do when i feel the need to bench without a spot... i still remember the time i was doing a decline bench and brought the bar down close to my neck and couldn't push it up for the life of me... i just tipped the bar and the weights slid off... luckily there were only a couple guys in the room i was in at the time and i didn't make too much of a scene... but fuck, had i have left the pins on i would've been SCREWED... just the thought of me having a barbell fall on my neck sends shivers down my spine :P

Hell yea, In my home gym I have had to dump the weights more than once, thats why i don't put collars on the bar when benching. two days ago I was trying 355 for 8 reps, got to rep 5 hit the wall and had to dump. LOL

Originally posted by spartan
Hell yea, In my home gym I have had to dump the weights more than once, thats why i don't put collars on the bar when benching. two days ago I was trying 355 for 8 reps, got to rep 5 hit the wall and had to dump. LOL

I bet that was loud as hell.

Originally posted by TwoWalks
Guess I will be the volunteer to have a red face.

1965, using a thumbless grip and two spotters that decided to watch a girl working out. Dropped the bar from 3/4 extension. Result was a split sternum. Ended my bench pressing for a number of years and too this day it limits the weight I use because of mental blockage.

Friend was using a thumbless grip too...guess the bar was bent or something, just unracked 185, and guess the bar came out of his hands at full lockout...heard it bounced off his chest.
Yeah..he got knocked out...he was ok though..


I rememebr back when I was 16...I unracked a weight (not sure poundage..not sure, had just maxed out on previous weight, was burning down)
As soon as I told my sppotter I 'had it' and he let go, my arms failed and it did bounce off my chest. Didn't hurt/crack anything..but remember being sore for a few days..and got ragged on by friends for that..

One of my old workout partners and I were working out and on the ceiling of my other buddy's ( Marble ) basement it said TITECOAT one of the cool air ducts, and the kid had like 200 something locked out ; read the label ; Say's " TIT COAT " and dropped the fucking weight on his chest. Mind you this happened 3 sets in a row.

Got stuck with the bar once. Rested it on my chest and rolled it down to my thighs! Had a full body bruise for weeks!!

I was doing squats earlier today on the smith machine, and I thought I had the bar hooked on, so I let go and the weight just starts to drag me down and I'm shocked. The weight dropped a 3-4 notches on the smith machine, before I regain control and clip it in (flick of the wrist). My lower back is killing me I had about 210, 220 on it.

Originally posted by rock4832
Got stuck with the bar once. Rested it on my chest and rolled it down to my thighs! Had a full body bruise for weeks!!

Done this. No bruising though. Of course it was only about 165 lbs.

heh heh..I think many of us have done this one...
I did it with decline bench.
Thought I could get up one more rep.
it started up, up, u....p, u....down, down, down, till it rested upon my chest...
after a couple minutes of pondering my dire situatio, someone waslked past.
I looked at him, and mustering as much dignity I could, muttered: "A little help, please?"

Never dropped it. Had to put it on the second rack though instead of the top one because I couldn't get it up any higher. I then added 10 more pounds and finished my set fine.

I never use a spotter because I feel mentally it gives me more encouragement: either I get it up or I drop it and look like an ass and/or hurt myself.

Originally posted by BlackLabelSDMF
Never dropped it. Had to put it on the second rack though instead of the top one because I couldn't get it up any higher. I then added 10 more pounds and finished my set fine.

I never use a spotter because I feel mentally it gives me more encouragement: either I get it up or I drop it and look like an ass and/or hurt myself.

I don't know about this... Then you've got the feeling in the back of you head "what if I can't get one more up, I better rack it just in case". Where as if you had a spotter you'd be like "who frekin cares I can do one more rep if all else fails i'm safe, but i'm gonna try like a madman to get this". Ya know?

I would rather be able to do a 1/2 rep and a forced finish, I miss having a partner to help pump me up. For the same reason(s) I am on this forum, I like some kind of external stimulus.

true, that is also why I prefer to goto a gym, than work out at home.
seeing the other guys / women working out w/ intensity, helps to fuel my fire....

Ditto, its like going to work for me (except I look forward to it more).

When I first started, I too got stuck on the decline. Luckily there was someone in the gym cuz I was using collars. Scared the hell out of me, so it taught me a good lesson early on.

Never dropped the bar though. Just a couple of weeks ago I saw a guy struggle on flat bench with 185. The bar was going up extremely cock-eyed. He barely got the last rep and I noticed he was going for another. From across the gym I thought to myself 'he ain't going to make it'. He couldn't and tried to throw the bar back to the bottom set of pins. Well guess what? He got the bar on one side, but not the other. The bar dropped down on his throat! He was real lucky I was there, no one else was around...