+ 3 Breaker Bench Press station
Morning ALL on this fine Saturday!!! 
I am interested to know how many of you guys have used one of these Breaker Bench press stations - where the uprights that hold the Barbell pivot forward like an arm, meaning you don't have to reach behind you to unrack the bar and then bring it forward using your lats?
The main Advantage of it being that the Barbell is straight above you and already in the starting position, so all you have to do is lower it down and press it back up. It also means that you can begin the lift in an ultra tight, already braced position with your shoulders retracted - often when you reach back to the fixed upright it can bring your shoulders out of position and knock them forward meaning you are in a much more prone position and more like to sustain a shoulder injury. I think there are a lot of these kind of stations over in the US, although they are catching on over here.
Main thing I would like to know is can you bench more when using one, I am thinking you may be able to get another 5 to 10kg using one of these on your Max? Hopefully they will design at some point with safety catches/racks at either side as it still looks like a spotter is required if the uprights don't fall back properly or you simply cannot press it back up!!
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They’re nice for keeping your shoulders packed when unracking without a spotter. Otherwise the spotter could lift it up and out for you. I absolutely can lift more on one of these than a normal bench even with a spotter. Because even them lifting up and out for you still does cause you to loosen your shoulders some.
As far as a spotter goes I’ve dumped literally hundreds of squats, bench reps, jerks, cleans, and snatched without a spotter and have never hurt myself. Definitely a skill that isn’t taught and it should be.
I haven't had a workout partner, nor a spotter in over 2 decades. Granted I do primarily heavy dumbbell work. My take on it is this, if I need to ask for help whether it's to kick up a set of dumbbells or rack/unrack a bar for me, then I've no business touching that weight. We can achieve prs, hypertrophy, strength increases, tissue growth, etc. without the need to push ourselves to the point of needing assistance from others. The mind is a powerful thing and will always stop before the muscle will. I prefer not to rely on others, as I feel the chances of something going wrong is multiplied with the presence of someone else. Maybe I'm just an ignorant prick? I just prefer the solitude and the mental push of myself, on myself.
I know nobody asked, but that's my 2 cents.
I’ve never had a serious injury in 14 years of lifting with no spotter. Maybe a dozen times I’ve had a spotter. And the only time I had a serious injury I had a spotter . I was on barbell incline doing 335 and was in a deficit so I asked the manager at crunch. Well he spotted me and when we went to re rack he told me we were good and the bar was on the barbell holder things and it wasn’t on one side so it immediately fell , my right arm went to stop it from crushing me and the sudden stopping of the weight , it tore my triceps completely off. I was out nine months of working out , surgery required. , rehab a lot of $ out of my pocket.
I hope you made them pay or are in the process of? And that was a trainer from their gym? Hell no!
But that's exactly my point. If there's no partner or spotter, there's no margin of error other than our own. I'm 50 and have been lifting since I'm 16 with a few breaks in between. Not once have I sustained an injury from lifting. If I need help to lift it, I have no plans touching it in the first place.
I have always trained alone at home and in a power rack - if a Deadlift goes wrong then it can only really fall on the floor, if a Bench press goes wrong or I cannot re-rack it then it falls down onto the safety catches at either side.
But I would have to disagree with you on using a spotter if one was available, or a training partner if in the gym and benching on a normal bench station. I have seen it many times where people are coming to re-rack the bar and are in no mans land (bar hovering over the throat) and they either cannot get it back up and racked or an injury happens where a shoulder or pec gives out and then the bar comes down and breaks their neck - or severly fucks them up. You just have no idea what can happen once that bar is airborne, and if someone is behind you to help take some of the load and ensure (pretty much) that it will get racked again then I'd take that option any day. Its also a fact that you can lift more with a hand off from a spotter than unracking it yourself because there is less wasted energy and loss of body position under the bar - its perfectly legal even in benching competitions to have a handout and help back in so sure if my bench can be 10kg's higher with extra help then I would definately encorporate it if I had it available.
I mean you could also say that you have no business in using a weightlifting belt when doing Squats and Deadlifts because effectively it is a lifting aid and helping you move more weight, which I would disagree with too. Sure I think there are things that totally take the piss like Elbow sleeves and wraps which give a lot of extra triceps pressing power, Wrist wraps I also think are a pussies way out because if you wrists aren't strong enough to lock a barbell in position when pressing it then something is wrong somewhere.
I lift alone and enjoy lifting alone with my earphones on and a mean look on my face so people don't talk to me. I grunt and moan loudly when I'm feeling it hard-core. Get your hand out of your pants...
On the real, last month, I asked a big dude in the gym to spot me on a dumbell press pr attempt for reps, in hopes to get a couple extra reps for assistance. My dumb ass figured this dumb fuck knew how to spot. I get to rep 4 and struggled my dick off, thinking he would see me shaking and veins bursting out of my forehead and also me telling him "hey, I usually get 3 to 4 reps, I want to go for 5 or 6" prior to the lift what my goal was. This dumb fuck, Instead of grabbing under my elbows or grabbing my wrists to assist the push, he grabs one fucking db out of my hand and the other goes crashing to the floor. I could have lost my shit or even worse torn the fu k out of my shoulder or pec. Moral of the story, just because someone is big in size or looks like they lift doesn't mean they know shit about spotting. Tren rant complete
I learned my lesson and learned that I need to tell people exactly what I expect of them in the instance of going for a pr attempt .
I work out in my basement all alone. I’ve never needed others to push myself. And I hate crowded gyms
100% brother! Total clarity, no tripods or wanna be influencers, just some motivational music, yourself and the drive to push out the best possible version of yourself. I feel like a partner or even a spotter is just clutter in the way of my goals. Much respect brother! I took you as that kinda dude. You can almost tell who on here is on that same page.
Most I ever had to roll off me was 150kg before I got a power rack back in my natty days - and bro it hurt really bad Lol I honestly was worried for a few days after as I thought I had ruptured something in my stomach area and all the skin became red and chapped. Granted I didn't just get up and dump it on the floor as such.
I've had a look around over here and you can buy them for £1000 - but I need one with safety racks on the side which they don't seem to make yet.
Oh I’ve never rolled. Crash pads on either side and I dump side to side.
My dad taught me that when i was a kid he said never put clamps on benching by yourself so if you get stuck just let the weights slide off one side.
I watched a brother in the prison yard (like 30 years ago at least). Benching 315lbs but bouncing it off the chest, same as all his boys. Only, I visually witnessed him snap his breast plate in half on his third rep. Then to have to watch him wail in pain as a few guys lifted out back off him. Never saw him again after that day. Hope he made it?
Anyhow, there's a ton of those bench setups over here. It's beginning something that's being put into most places. Not like replacing all the old equipment. But throwing a few on the floor to see how it goes I guess? I don't ever use a typical bench press. Not one with uprights anyway.