5 ms·

So what do you do if your gym only has a smith machine and dumbbells? It's dangerous and hard to bench without spotter.

by mhp 14y ago

dave1619 14y ago
You might want to try out low weights but lots of reps. See my reply above about trying out low weights, high reps to the point of exhaustion.
cathustler 14y ago
If your gym only has a smith machine it certainly isn't dangerous to bench; dumbells also offer many exercises, you can even bench with dumbells. Needless to say though, if that's all your gym has, change gyms.
icey 14y ago
Benching with dumbbells is fine, and potentially a better workout than a barbell bench anyways.
andrewingram 14y ago
You can bench without a spotter pretty safely up to about 75kg, at which point the roll of shame starts getting challenging. It's different for women though, because rolling a large amount of weight over breasts is apparently quite painful.
cncool 14y ago
Benching without spotting is easy if you aren't going to one rep maxes. If you are doing sets of 5, then don't do rep N if rep N-1 was too hard that you think you will fail the rep. Also, if you stop before the 5th rep, you should be doing sets at a lighter weight.
- ErikAugust 14y ago
  I would always suggest at least doing one set to failure. It's not hard to find someone to spot for 10 seconds.
refurb 14y ago
Leave the collars off the bar. If you get into trouble, dip the bar to one side and drop the weights. Note: I haven't tried this with a huge amount of weight, so it might still be dangerous if you're benching 300 lbs+
vidarh 14y ago
I bench 120kg+ without a spotter (at 95kg body weight). If I were to fail disastrously, I might have a broken rib, but without collars on the bar the chance of a severe failure that cause me to drop the fully loaded bar on my chest is pretty much 0. I've put it down on my chest and rolled it off more than once, and it only causes a light bruise that's gone in a few hours. I probably wouldn't do much more than 1.5 times body weight without a spotter, but I'm assuming you're not there yet, as I suspect you wouldn't be asking those questions if you were. And use the dumbbells. You can bench with them. Do sumo deadlifts (legs flared much wider than usual, and lift the weight between your legs - you can start with one dumbbell, and increase to two). Learn to clean the dumbbells for overhead presses and front squats. Back squats are tricky with dumbbells, so there you'll have to resort to the Smith machine, thouhg it is considered somewhat evil amongst many lifters (it is easy to end up lifting with bad form and an unnatural movement, and very easy to fool yourself by leaning into the bar), but it is better than nothing. Frankly, until you start getting to dumbbells that add up to more than your body weight on every main exercise, there's not much reason why the lack of a proper bar should impede you, and dumbbell exercises have much to be said for them for stability.
- gadders 14y ago
  I'd agree with this. I've been pinned under 80-90kg weights a few times. The first thing is, unless you're not concentrating, you don't really drop it. For me, it's normally not being able to lift the weight back up when I've brought it down to my chest. Without collars, you can just tip the weight to the side, the plates fall off, and the bar (fairly rapidly) pings upright. Makes a bit of a noise, and you feel like a fool, but that's all :-)
  - cage433 14y ago
    I've had my bodyweight (110 KG) stuck on my chest with no ill effects other than embarrassment. As the parents say, simply slide the weights off, or ask anyone nearby for a hand. One thing that is extremely dangerous is using the 'suicide grip' when benching - i.e. having the thumb and fingers on the same side of the bar and simply resting the bar on the palms. It's stupid, but a surprisingly large number of lifters use it.
eru 14y ago
To be frank: you switch gyms. You don't need to bother benching without a spotter, if you feel uncomfortable. You can load those muscles with body weight exercises. (Push up variations, dips, handstand push ups, etc.) Alternatively, benching dumbbells won't leave you trapped below a barbell, even without a spotter.
aedocw 14y ago
Consider getting the Free Spotter (http://www.shermworks.com http://www.shermworks.com). Its about the safest way to go, and is endorsed by a few professional lifters. Nothing in your way to corrupt the motion, and you simply let go if you get in trouble. You don't even need a rack for bench or shoulder press, as you can set the empty bar at your chosen height, load the weight, and lift!

So what do you do if your gym only has a smith machine and dumbbells? It's dangerous and hard to bench without spotter.

by mhp 14y ago

So what do you do if your gym only has a smith machine and dumbbells? It's dangerous and hard to bench without spotter.

You might want to try out low weights but lots of reps. See my reply above about trying out low weights, high reps to the point of exhaustion.

cathustler 14y ago

If your gym only has a smith machine it certainly isn't dangerous to bench; dumbells also offer many exercises, you can even bench with dumbells. Needless to say though, if that's all your gym has, change gyms.

icey 14y ago

Benching with dumbbells is fine, and potentially a better workout than a barbell bench anyways.

andrewingram 14y ago

You can bench without a spotter pretty safely up to about 75kg, at which point the roll of shame starts getting challenging. It's different for women though, because rolling a large amount of weight over breasts is apparently quite painful.

cncool 14y ago

Benching without spotting is easy if you aren't going to one rep maxes. If you are doing sets of 5, then don't do rep N if rep N-1 was too hard that you think you will fail the rep. Also, if you stop before the 5th rep, you should be doing sets at a lighter weight.

ErikAugust 14y ago
I would always suggest at least doing one set to failure. It's not hard to find someone to spot for 10 seconds.

refurb 14y ago

Leave the collars off the bar. If you get into trouble, dip the bar to one side and drop the weights. Note: I haven't tried this with a huge amount of weight, so it might still be dangerous if you're benching 300 lbs+

vidarh 14y ago

I bench 120kg+ without a spotter (at 95kg body weight). If I were to fail disastrously, I might have a broken rib, but without collars on the bar the chance of a severe failure that cause me to drop the fully loaded bar on my chest is pretty much 0. I've put it down on my chest and rolled it off more than once, and it only causes a light bruise that's gone in a few hours. I probably wouldn't do much more than 1.5 times body weight without a spotter, but I'm assuming you're not there yet, as I suspect you wouldn't be asking those questions if you were. And use the dumbbells. You can bench with them. Do sumo deadlifts (legs flared much wider than usual, and lift the weight between your legs - you can start with one dumbbell, and increase to two). Learn to clean the dumbbells for overhead presses and front squats. Back squats are tricky with dumbbells, so there you'll have to resort to the Smith machine, thouhg it is considered somewhat evil amongst many lifters (it is easy to end up lifting with bad form and an unnatural movement, and very easy to fool yourself by leaning into the bar), but it is better than nothing. Frankly, until you start getting to dumbbells that add up to more than your body weight on every main exercise, there's not much reason why the lack of a proper bar should impede you, and dumbbell exercises have much to be said for them for stability.

gadders 14y ago
I'd agree with this. I've been pinned under 80-90kg weights a few times. The first thing is, unless you're not concentrating, you don't really drop it. For me, it's normally not being able to lift the weight back up when I've brought it down to my chest. Without collars, you can just tip the weight to the side, the plates fall off, and the bar (fairly rapidly) pings upright. Makes a bit of a noise, and you feel like a fool, but that's all :-)
- cage433 14y ago
  I've had my bodyweight (110 KG) stuck on my chest with no ill effects other than embarrassment. As the parents say, simply slide the weights off, or ask anyone nearby for a hand. One thing that is extremely dangerous is using the 'suicide grip' when benching - i.e. having the thumb and fingers on the same side of the bar and simply resting the bar on the palms. It's stupid, but a surprisingly large number of lifters use it.

eru 14y ago

To be frank: you switch gyms. You don't need to bother benching without a spotter, if you feel uncomfortable. You can load those muscles with body weight exercises. (Push up variations, dips, handstand push ups, etc.) Alternatively, benching dumbbells won't leave you trapped below a barbell, even without a spotter.

aedocw 14y ago

Consider getting the Free Spotter (http://www.shermworks.com http://www.shermworks.com). Its about the safest way to go, and is endorsed by a few professional lifters. Nothing in your way to corrupt the motion, and you simply let go if you get in trouble. You don't even need a rack for bench or shoulder press, as you can set the empty bar at your chosen height, load the weight, and lift!