Accidents can happen anywhere to anyone and I’m not exempt from that. I’ve been fortunate enough to have not experienced any serious injuries in my nearly six years of lifting.
Two weeks ago on Wednesday, the bar missed the rack and fell on one side of my face whilst benching. Although I came away with a small scar and some swelling, I also left that session with lessons learned i.e. get a spotter & better positioning on the bench.
It’s easy to be scared to attempt a sport, drive a car or go back to the situation that injured you. If we run away from it, we will never learn how to prevent it from happening again.
After giving myself some pep talks the following day, I encouraged myself to get back on the bench and ask someone to spot me as I lifted. I have always trained alone and never had someone spot as I always felt that I was disrupting their workout. As I am coming closer to meet day and the weight is continuously increasing, I’ve learnt to suck it up and make sure that someone spots me.
If you train, do you usually bench with a spotter? What are your experiences with bench pressing?

Until next time,
Folakemi Olamide 💓