Messed Up Shiat

Ok, I’ve been training for about 5-6 years now and have not experienced too many bad things in the gym. Tonight was my not so unlikely night. I had two of the most screwed up things happen to me tonight.

First, I just got done doing a heavy set of bent over rows. I was putting back one of the 45 pound plates on the Smith Machine holder (no, I was not using the Smith Machine for them). Anyway, the top post on the Smith Machine to hold weights is about forehead heigh or so. Anyway, as I was putting the 45 back on the bottom, next thing I know is I’m about on the floor. A 10 pound plate that was barely hanging off the top post (over stacked) fell off from the vibration of putting the 45 pound plate on the bottom. It wacked me right in the back of the head. I was bent over when it fell, so it feel a good couple feet before it hit me. Needless to say, I felt a little woosey (sp) and stopped everything for about 30 seconds. Then I was just pissed as hell knowing the gym has insurance and it won’t do me a damn bit of good to complain. So I just put the weights back (rather violently) and went and did my next exercise of heavy lifting (felt pretty easy after that “woke me up”). Yada, yada, yada… on to the next weird thing. I’m doing some tricep extensions on the bench (back and tri workout). Anyway, the guy next to me asks for a spot and I said sure. He was doing 3 plates a side on bench press. He did 3 or 4 reps with ease and I had my hands near the bar but not on the bar (many don’t like you to touch it so I wasn’t). Next thing I know, in the blink of an eye the bar rolls out of his palms when he was about halfway back up. Anyway, the bar just bounced off his lower chest (it happened so fast I couldn’t even react). In any case, I grabbed the bar off his chest and racked it no problem. I just about shit myself after that. I kept apologizing to him as I felt I let him down big time. He said it was probably his fault and looked at his thumbs later seeing powder where it slid down. He even said he has had nightmares at night of that exact thing happening to him. I was not watching his grip that close as it happened, but I’m guessing he was using the grip without wrapping your fingers all the way around the bar. By the way, he did 3 more sets after that happened and actually added 20 pounds the last 3 sets. I guess he still trusted me somewhat. In any case, I felt horrible about it and just thought, “what else can happen tonight”… Oh yeah, earlier today my girlfriend basically said it’s over. Oh well, not much else can go wrong right? At least I’m still here typing. Those two events really shook me up. I’ve never really seen much nasty happen at the gym or had much nasty happen to me. Well, tonight I guess was the night for me to experience it all. I still feel woosey now and have a HUGE ass bump on my head from the 10 pound plate that hit the back of my head. Oh well, life goes on right?

315 Hit him in the chest and he’s still around to tell the story? Lucky guy.

dude…we ALL have days like that…Not much else I can say, man…except…

be glad for the good things in life (easier said than done, huh?)…just be glad that that guy is okay…that you are okay…(You ARE ok, right?)…and maybe something better will come by now that your away from your ex. Know what I mean?

Hang in there man…

Saxman,

Look at it this way. Based on your experience so far you can expect about 10 to 12 years before the next crazy event. That makes the gym about the safest place you can be for a while.

I used to train at an old gym over here and I turned up one day about ten minutes after a ceiling fan fell on top of the pec deck. Yes the guy using it was chopped up a bit but not too badly.

Another guy was stabbed by one of his girlfriends while he was decline benching. (different gym) Apparently he gave her an STD and she tried to cut his dick off. Almost did too.

That was his dumbass mistake.It’s not your job to catch the weight if he totally DROPS the bar! I wouldn’t have spotted the snapperhead again. You shouldn’t have apologized.

You’re lucky the 10 pounder didn’t crack your skull.

I have a tendency to drop things on my head.
I was doing close grip pull-ups with the V-attachement thingy, and whene I finished my set, my foot slipped and I took the v-bar in my face. It cut my eyebraw split open.

Another day, a “ez-bar” for pulleys drop on the back of my head when I was adjusting something on the low pulley… So, I spilled blood two times in the gym.

Sorry about your girl friend.

Look before you rack.

Always keep your hands on the bar when spotting a bench press. You don’t have to be assisting to do that.

It was time for an upgrade on the GF anyway. Now you can pick from about 3 billion women worldwide. :slight_smile:

I don’t think spotting is meant to be anything more than an insurance policy of sorts…in case you do fail, and the bar falls, someone is there to help get it off you and racked. That’s it, man! The spotter isn’t there to be superman.

As far as getting whacked in the head, I’ll put that up there with getting your feet crushed by a DB “thrower” or getting smacked in the face by a zoned-out freak doing lat raises and not looking around him before he starts the motion. Uhh…OUCH!

The girl thing does suck, though. Sorry 'bout that one…

saxman,

Come on you are kidding right? That’s not a bad day, (same way Crocodile Dundee says, "that’s not a knife). This is a bad day:

  1. Your twin sister foregets your birthday.

  2. You call suicide prevention and they put you on hold.

  3. Your mother actually approves of the girl that you are dating.

  4. You have to borrow from your Visa card to pay our Master card.

  5. Your boss tells you not to bother taking your coat off.

  6. You call your answering sercice and they tell you it’s none of your business.

  7. Your wife says “good morning Bill” and your name is John.

  8. You have to hitch hike to the bank to make your car payment.

  9. People send your wife sympathy cards on your anniversary.

Finally, you know your having a bad day when you see your wife and your girlfriend having lunch together!

Okay, okay Im finished, but there are other things far worse than you being a lousy spotter and bumping your wittle head…awww. Grow some hair on your ass will you! (I hate when I have to talk that way, don’t make me do it again).

Oh, and use some paragraphs next time. Your post was hard on the eyes. (I can see his next post: "I had a bad day I got attacked for not using paragraphs, waaa).

There I feel better now hope you do too >>> :slight_smile:

Man,not a good day,but it coulda been lots worse.Things happen in the gym all the time,usually it’s something minor.I’d call your spotting incident minor.Hell it wasn’t your fault.Tell the dumbass to hold onto the bar the next time.Plate to the head,ouch!That had to hurt.The girlfriend thing does suck.But take some time off from the women.They’ll still be there later,and you’ll be ready.

Thank you for the replies guys. I woke up this morning and the head is aching a little bit, but I seem to be fine. I know my day could have been worse, and I am thankful that it was not.

I appreciated the “worst bad day” from you Zeb. I usually do use paragraphs and fairly good grammar, but I was just kind of free-flow writing (letting the thoughts flow) when I typed that post. At least I used some punctuation. I have seen much worse. Anyway, I do appreciate the input, and I think I’ll be fine.

blows to the head tend to f*#$ up your grammar a bit, s’alright.

Saxman- Sorry about that stuff. That wasn’t your fault. How the hell does somebody drop the bar when they are benching? Just hold on to the bar. That’s his fault.

ahh i hate it when people put their hands on the bar when i’m benching. i even go as far as to say “i’m just going for 1 rep and i’m sure i can get it, don’t help me unless its crushing my chest” and they comply but still put their hands on the bar.

if they are touching the bar then they are helping somewhat either by shaving a few pounds off the lift or by stabilizing or controlling the path of the bar.

If you touch the bar when Im lifting, you get yelled at. Weightlifting is not a team sport.

I’ve nearly accidentally killed people in the gym on 3 seperate occasions.

I think speed is the only one who has said it. If you bench heavy and do it thumbless you are asking for trouble. Grip that bar and act like you are ripping it apart. I guarantee it will not slip out.

As far a getting beat up at the gym, I had a strap break on a cable machine when I was doing overhead cable extensions once and also had a 10 lb. plate fall off a rack. Instead of my head it hit my big toe. Bruised up and bleed like a stuck pig. Hey you gotta love war wounds!!!

thank you goldberg! i dont want anyone to touch anyhting when im lifting. actually i prefer if no one ie even near me because they piss me off.