How To Bench Press Safely When You’re Alone
Oct 4th, 2007 by Mehdi Tags: Bench Press, Exercise, Strength Training, Weight Lifting
Posted by Nick in reply to How to Bench Press With Proper Technique:
“I’m on your Beginner Strength Training Program. Doing 5×5 with 165lbs on the Bench Press. But I’m close to failure on the later reps in the 4th and 5th set.
I Bench Press on a smith machine because of this. I know you don’t approve the smith machine for Squats but what about the Bench Press?
My gym is open 24 hours. I go late at night or early in the morning. I’m often the only one lifting weights. I don’t want to get stuck with a bar on my chest. How can I Bench Press safely when I’m alone?
Ask For Help. You train alone so a training partner is out of the question. What you can do:
- Ask someone training at the gym to help you
- Ask the gym manager to help you
- Take someone with you to help you
- Schedule your Bench Press at times people are there to help
My advice is to schedule your Bench Press session when someone is there to help. You have your reasons to train in the morning or late at night. Unfortunately you’ll have to sacrifice. It’s either this or the smith machine.
Stay Away From Failure. If you think you can’t do another rep: stop the set.
Example, you’re in set 4. Your goal is 5 reps, but you feel after the 3rd rep another one will be hard or impossible: stop. Set 4 is over. Do your 5th set. Try to get as many reps as you can. Stop again when you think you’ll fail.
Take note of the number of reps you achieved & try to beat this the week after. As long as you’re a beginner: stop when you think you can’t do another rep. It’s better to stop too soon than to get injured.
Bench Inside the Power Rack. Know what you’re doing for this one: this isn’t 100% safe. Rule number one: learn to Bench Press correctly: press the weight above your chest, not towards your face.
Power racks come with safety pins. Set the pins at about the same height the bar touches your chest. Not too high so the bar doesn’t hit the pins. Not too low so you can put the bar on the pins in case you miss the lift.
If you fail the rep: lower the bar back to your chest. Let it rest on the safety pins by pulling your stomach in & get under the bar. You’ll look like a clown doing this: don’t care about it. Being a clown is better than getting injured.
You can’t use this if you’re pressing 200kg. I used this method for weights up to 90kg. I wouldn’t trust anything above 100Kg as it becomes too heavy. But for weights lower it works if you use your head & know what you do.
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It’s also important to lock the elbows out when you are done and racking the weight. If you are doing your last rep, don’t try and take a shortcut by pressing from your chest to the pins. If you can’t get that last rep out, the weight is now over your face and you are at your weakest.
Push the weight all the way up, lock your elbows and then move the weight over your face to the pins.
I usually bench alone, as well. But I don’t worry about needing a spotter. If you’re benching alone and you can’t complete a rep, there are a couple of things you can do no matter the situation:
1 - return the bar to your chest, push or roll it down to your waist, and sit up. This won’t work if you’re going for a single rep max, but I can do this pretty easily with my 5×5 weight.
2 - Dump the weight. Just make sure NOT to use clips on the barbell, and when you’re stuck, just slowly lean to one side until the weights on that side of the barbell slide off. You’ll then be jerked back the other way by the weight on the other end of the bar, and those will slide off, as well. It’s not a pleasant experience, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re really in a bind, but it’s better than sitting there with 200 lbs on your chest until somebody happens to stroll by.
Some people won’t feel comfortable with these options, and that’s fine. I’m not certified in any way, and I’m sure that doing these things could somehow increase your chance of injury. But if I was looking for a way to feel safe while benching alone, I’d practice rolling the bar down to my waist and sitting up with a light weight a couple of times to get confidence that you can handle it, and then feel free to go for that extra rep when you’re training alone.
Mehdi-
I appreciate the new post! It all makes sense now.
Nick
Main problem with unknown people spotting your bench press:
- They don’t know what’s train hard, so, when you are about 3 or 4 reps away from failure, when it gets though, they start helping you, like doing forced reps. Sh&t! I really hate that!
Great tip Anthony. You’ll often see that & it’s very dangerous to try to take a shortcut, especially when the weights get heavy.
Solution 1 works well indeed Lucas. Solution 2 would work if you have 10kg plates on the bar, but with 20kg plates the shock would be too great when the bar falls off, I don’t advise it.
You’re welcome Nick. If you have more questions: shoot!
What I always did 1) explain them how the lift is going to happen in details 2) what they should in details again 3) while lifting, if I see them trying to help while I can finish the rep: just yell hard “AF!” which is dutch for “Don’t Touch”. Always works.
I’d amplify Mehdi’s comment on staying away from failure. You should lift until you can no longer complete your reps with good form. This usually comes somewhat before absolute failure. If you find yourself having to do all sorts of contortions to complete the rep, you are done. Rack the weight and log your reps. If it was less than the goal, you repeat next session- no harm, no foul.
One other alternative I’d probably try before going the Smith Machine route is dumbbells. Still with the other suggestions, it shouldn’t come to this.
For English speakers, a good short alternative to Mehdi’s “Af!” to warn a well-meaning spotter off is “No!” Just tell them before hand that if I yell “no” they should back off whatever they are trying to do. Always thank them afterwards, as some less experienced gym mates may feel a bit hurt or that you are pissed off at them because when you are straining on that last rep your command may sound angry to a newbie. Good will usually pays returns. The newbie may ask for advice and will be more open to learning how to spot for you in the future should the opportunity arise. I have a lot more people around that can lend me a reasonably good spot, and who are happy to do so.
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Hahahaha but i dont think he’s gonna be happy to spot you again after that…at least you really know him.
Anyway, it sucks when you dont have a good training partner…
BTW, nice Job dude, this site is a very serious place to find useful things. Its better to read this than those stupid commercial magazines…
Salutes from Venezuela (Y)
If I’m spotting, and the guy looks like he might not make a rep, he gets 2 fingers from each hand under the bar from me. The amount force I can provide easily from that position (maybe 10-15lbs) is really all you should need unless you’re lifting significantly more than you can handle. Plus, from that position, it’s easy for me to get both hands on the bar quickly and bail him out if the bar starts heading downward.
The other day some guy asked me for a spot when he was doing standing bicep curls with a preset curl bar. I didn’t really understand. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? Only an idiot would drop the bar on his feet. If he can’t finish a rep, he’ll drop the bar back down to resting against his thighs. Big deal. Plus, to be of any use I had to stand face to face with him in a position that is awkwardly close for 2 strangers to stand…
There is also an issue of barbell work hurting peoples shoulders. I have never been able to barbell bench press without pain. That means my whole entire life of lifting (34 years). Dumbbells work much better for me and I can get a much better range of motion, especially in the bottom position.
I don’t ususally go so heavy I’m down to 5 reps per set, but stay between 6-12 reps usually.
ROFLMAO! ahahaha
That’s ridiculous, spot a biceps curl?
Damn, thats really absurd.
Thanks a lot Vassili. Doing my best with this site.
Yeah they’ll often be surprised because you yell at them
But they’re used to it and of course you’ll help them out afterwards, give them tricks on the way, maybe learn them to Squat. They’ll come back. Most will start to ask you “Do you want me to spot?” afterwards 
Maybe he wanted to do forced reps on the Biceps Curls? Only reason I can see to spot.
The Bench Press is safe. With barbell or with dumbbells. If you have nagging shoulders from doing a Barbell Bench Press:
1) Your technique is not right (you’re probably not keeping shoulderblades back & down)
2) Something is wrong with your posture. Desk job?
Tell me more about your problem Mike, I’ll give you some tips.
Ok when working out alone do simpler exercise body weight exercises with a weight vest would be great.
Yeah but you’re not doing the bench press anymore
I don’t quite get how these “safety pins” work… I’d think that if they were too close to the edge of the power rack you wouldn’t have room to get your hand past the hooks you grab the barbell off of. Do they just stick out far? And can they really handle it if you were to drop a lot of weight with your arms fully extended upward?
That’s my power rack. You see the two black safety pins (not the uprights where the bar starts in). You can put these safety pins at the height you want.
with regard to spotting bicep curls, well, I’ve requested spotting in some instances, for some forced reps. Of course they weren’t your usual girl curls that most people do. More in the order of 70kg ez-bar curls. But yeah, leaves the two people in quite an awkward position, lol.
A question though Mehdi:
Why do you suggest not using the power rack’s safety bars for when pressing more than say 100kg?
I’m about to start investing in my own equipment this year, with a power rack in mind especially for bench pressing when alone.
Cheers,
Sorry for commenting twice: cant edit my previous comment.
Just like to speak out that more often than not, most pople would be better off staying atleast 1 or 2 reps shy of failure anyway. Particularly those focusing on strength, but also bodybuilders too. Training to failure should be kept for periods of stagnation - for something different.
So this will help keep things safer when you’re alone anywayz.
@Patmanpato
It’s hard to control weights above 100kg (depending on your body-weight of course) in case something goes bad.
Hmm, I’m still not clear what you mean. I would have the safety bars set up just above my chest, so that the barbell could rest on it without it touching me. So if anything goes wrong, such as dropping the barbell, it will only fall to the level of the safety bars and can just rest there an inch or so above you.
Though you might sacrifice 1 or 2 inches of range of motion for the bench press having the bars high enough that your chest is below it.
So I don’t see what you mean by having to control the weight.
@Patmanpato
You answered the question yourself: you can’t put the safety pins at the exact height where the barbell will get stuck. So usually you end up with the bar on your stomach anyway, and have to start rolling it. Easy to do with a 100kg barbell, but try to do that with 200kg.
You can also buy a Free Spotter from http://www.shermworks.com. I have no affiliation with the website or the guy selling them.
I have not yet purchased a free spotter, but it looks like a fool proof method of totally safe bench pressing when at home alone.