Anyone heard from theomen?

[videoholic]

Weightlifter\'s accidental death sparks warning

The death of a 20-year-old weightlifter who had been working out alone with free weights at the home of a friend brought a warning yesterday from a local fitness-equipment dealer.

Never work out alone with free weights unless you have the proper safety equipment. There should always be another person, a spotter, in the room to help if you get into trouble.

The King County Medical Examiner\'s Office said Kevin M. Moore suffocated to death when he couldn\'t lift a 135-pound barbell off his neck.

"People often come in and tell me they don\'t lift that much weight, so they don\'t need safety equipment," said Tom Woodman, manager of The Fitness Shop in Bellevue.

"But even if it\'s just 10 pounds and it\'s more than you can lift at the end of a set of repetitions, you\'re in trouble."

Free weights are the least complicated weight-training devices but can be deadly. Modern weight machines use 5- to 10-pound iron plates stacked one on top of another and threaded onto vertical pipes. The user pulls on a cable to lift the stack. If he lets go, the weights slide safely down out of harm\'s way.

"There is equipment available now that can make free weights just as safe as a weight machine if used correctly," Woodman said.

Woodman described a "cage" comprising four vertical standards, two on either side of the weightlifter\'s bench. Each pair is equipped with a horizontal bar that can be adjusted to a point just above bench/neck height.

"If, worst case, you happen to go just a little bit too hard, find yourself in trouble and can\'t put that bar back up on its stand, you can let it sit on the two (safety) bars," he said.

damn that would suck, a horrible way to die to say the least.  Not to sound macho but if you can\'t lift 135lbs off your neck then you really need a spotter.

I sprained my wrist while benching like 4 months back.  No spotter, dropped the weight onto my chest....always good.  Also, THX, no offense but seems like you haven\'t worked out very often.  If you worked out for hours and pushed yourself on a set it\'s very likely to not get up something like 135 even while maxing much higher.

If you\'re benching 135lbs it would be easy enough to push up on one side while it\'s on your neck, to angle it off yourself.  This happens all the time, but deaths don\'t.  If it landed on you neck though from a good height then that\'s a different story.

I could be at complete failure and sneeze a 135lb barebell off my neck, that is pretty sad.  The article shouldn\'t say a 20 yearold bodybuilder died, that\'s like saying someone who checks his email is a hacker.

On another note, when I used to work out at home, I would set up a folding chair nearby, so that I could rest one side of the bar on it and use two hands to lift the other side and slide out, if Igot into trouble.  I mean when you workout alone, you take your risks, you have to know you body and know your limits, obviously this guy didn\'t....btw, I broke my thumb a week ago squating, I got my thumb stuck between the bar and the rack when my legs cramped up, so maybe I\'ll just shut up.

True, something different between a body builder and a 145 pound man (me).