Popular highschool coach found dead under weightlifting bar by daughters.

[Dreamliner]

Terrible story. Never, ever, go heavy without spotters:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...daughters.html

[StrangeGator]

Very tragic. That's how David Little died.

[LeafUF]

Terrible story for sure. It must have been awful for his poor daughters. Still, I wonder about how this happens even when without a spotter. From reading the article it sounds like he just dropped the weight on to his chest and let go of it. Unless it slipped out of his hands I am not really sure how he couldnt get it off. I wonder if something else didnt happen to him to cause him to drop the weight.

I never use a spotter but I work out in a crowded gym, worst case scenario I embarrass myself. And I have had lifts where I got to the bottom and could not get it back up when I have either rolled the bar off of me or let the weights drop off the sides.

[Dreamliner]

Back when I was doing 5-3-1 I was working alone, which is why I didn't use the weight collars when bench-pressing. That way, at least in theory, I could just let the bar list one way or another and plates would come off. Glad it never came to that. And it would have been a terrible clatter.

[BossaGator]

Definitely tragic. Obviously we don't know what he was doing when the accident happened, but from his position it sounds like it could have been bench. Looking at the pics of the guy and reading about him being an endurance athlete, I have a hard time understanding what would have possessed him to work the bench with 305 lbs. and no spotter.

I bench with a bar without a spotter all the time but never even close to my max. If I'm really going to push it I'll grab a spotter, get in the cage, or use dumbbells. I also know people who do what Dreamliner is talking about, leaving the collars off so if they get stuck the plates can fall off.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by BossaGator

Definitely tragic. Obviously we don't know what he was doing when the accident happened, but from his position it sounds like it could have been bench. Looking at the pics of the guy and reading about him being an endurance athlete, I have a hard time understanding what would have possessed him to work the bench with 305 lbs. and no spotter.

I bench with a bar without a spotter all the time but never even close to my max. If I'm really going to push it I'll grab a spotter, get in the cage, or use dumbbells. I also know people who do what Dreamliner is talking about, leaving the collars off so if they get stuck the plates can fall off.

And unless you're a powerlifter, in my opinion, you don't have to EVER go close to max to increase your strength. In fact, that's one thing I liked about 5-3-1. I was rarely using more than 90% Max. and the emphasis was on increasing reps.