Was working chest today and was on my third set of flat dumbell press. I was squezzin out my last few reps. I dude comes up behind me to spot so I was like cool I can get another rep. Well I am pushing and pushing stuck in my dead spot. Well hello spotter are you helping or what I can feel you on my elbos but please help. Ah fuck 80 lb dumbell comes crashing down on my chest. The thing still hurts when i breath deep and laugh. If people do not know how to spot do not offer. Now I am stuck with chest pain. I just hope I did not crack a rib. Damnit.
did you start a rep you couldn’t finish?
In my experience inexperienced spotters can make dumbbell presses more dangerous. Even experienced spotters will fuck up occasionally… if they push on the elbows incorrectly it can force you into a position that is biomechanically unfavourable and cause the weight to come crashing down.
Unless i have someone i know well spotting i would do them by myself… not that i regurarly train to failure or do forced reps anyway…
Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to trust strangers?
I hope it feels better when you wake up. Good luck.
I’ve had my elbow give out under 95’s beforeon incline and have both come crashing down. just last week my wrist gave out and I dropped 315 on my chest. Since it was an easy weight and dropped so fast my partner didn’t have a chance to grab it. It shocked him more than me.
Did you read my post? Then the answer would be I started and it fell on my chest.
Taking advantage of a DB press spot demands even more from the presser. You can’t force it on chest alone and expect to maintain perfect form.
To avoid this in the future, move your hands closer to in the insides of DB, maintain constant tricep tension, and use a motion that keeps your elbows at least 90 degrees away from your upper arms.
Do all that, and you’ll have a better chest workout anyway.
DI
Controlling the load when going to failure w/ dumbbells is a very dangerous thing. Regardless of whether or not the spotter is “pushing,” it’s far too easy for your elbow to give out and for the load to come falling inward towards your face or chest.
Hopefully nothing overly problematic will result from what happened, but learn the lesson to never start a rep you wont perform by yourself in near perfect form. Training to failure is worthless and as you can attest to, puts you at greater risk for injury.
Joel
I really can’t add anything more to what Joel said. That thar was sound, sound knowledgeable advice; and advice you should remember next time.
There’s only one person I trust to spot me during a chest training session and that’s Ko. If he isn’t going to be around, I lighten the load and train for reps instead rather than ask someone I don’t know to spot me.
Okay, I’ve asked this before, but what is the common definition of “failure”?
As far as the titty-destroyer, sorry, that had to hurt. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. If anything ever gives on DB presses, they fall to the side. I’m always worried while spotting a stranger on it, as I don’t know what their “bail-out” tendency is. After you spot someone a few times, though, you know what you need to do.
I also don’t push DB presses to failure. My form gives out way before my ability to get the weight back up. So, I guess I push to “form failure”.
Jared, here is a section from an article Chad and I wrote together; it should shed some light on your question as well as add to what has been said already:
Disclaimer: I know this is not the only way to define failure (for instance, failing to meet the prescribed tempo/rep speed for advanced athletes may be considered failure even though they complete the rep), but for the purpose of this discussion and defining the term for the general bodybuilding public, I feel this is the best way to do so.
Joel
Most strength coaches (myself included) will define failure as a noticable degradation of form. This can come in the form of a slight loss of control, inability to maintain tempo or other forms. If you use this definition of failure you’ll find that you should always have one or two “bounce and heave” reps left in you at the end of the set.
STU
Thanks, Joel, once again.
I had the same thing happen about 5 years ago. My wife slipped and pushed on my forearm and the dumbell came crashing onto my chest. I had pain in my sternum that lasted for months. No dips, no benching, pulldowns even hurt. Everytime I sneezed it would re-aggravate it…Give it some time to heal and you will be ok. good luck.
reminds me of a guy who dropped a DB on his face while doing inclines. He had half the dumbbell brand stamped into his forehead for a couple of days, funny shite. imagine walking around with something like WEIDER stamped on you melon
Improper spots fucked up my shoulders…but mine was because I wasn’t getting help when leaning back trying to get set for my first rep.
Here’s a story that happened to me.
Last time I did King’s Super Strength, I was doing the close-grip bench at the end of part II. I told the guy it’s likely that I’ll fail midway through my reps so please be careful, and keep your hands on the bar. Well I push out 3 reps, and half way up for the 4th my tri’s give out…the jackass didn’t have his hands on the bar and it hit me in the chest. I tell him to lift it off (but still had my hands on the bar)…he lifts it half way and lets go again and so it hits me on the chest a second time before hitting my chin. Thank god I asked a guy on the university track team to spot me…I’d hate to know what would’ve happened if I asked a guy who wasn’t serious about training.
Just as an additional comment: whenever I spot someone on DB presses, I usually grab their wrists rather than push on their elbows. This allows you, as the spotter, to exert far more control over the path of the DB and will help avoid accidents like the one described above.
If you find yourself with an unknown spotter AND you decide, for whatever reason, to go to failure, try having them spot you in this manner. It works pretty well.
Excellent posts. I had never thought of failure in those terms. Makes more sense that way. And I will always will be wary of any spotters. Thanx fot the info
Same thing happened to me except the guy tried pushing up on the dumbbell.I dropped both on my chest(90 lbs).Luckily I didn’t get hurt but I was pretty pissed.
I think when under tension such as when performing dumbell presses having someone grab the forearm quickly cuts circulation off to the hand making it go dead which is why this tends to happen. For this reason when spotting someone on the exercise I always try to get a grip on the dumbell rather then the arm.