Working out alone

[sadburger]

Hey Guys, just wanted to ask you how you handle doing workouts without a partner (or if you do). I've lived in Vegas for about 9 months now and haven't really met any "guy" friends to hang out with that would be potential workout partners, most of my friends are from work and are computer programmers like me and aren't really into working out, to say the least.

I'm doing the starting strength program and increasing my weight all the time as far as my lifts go, but the one that concerns me is bench press... yesterday I just couldn't get my last rep on my last set up, and after struggling with the bar for a few minutes it just came down on top of me. I'm not using enough weight yet to be really dangerous (155 lbs) but if I keep increasing I can only imagine that I will run into this again.. I mean, how am I supposed to keep upping the weight each week until I am not able to if being "not able to" means the bar is coming back down and laying on top of me...

luckily there was a dude nearby that came over and helped me out from the bar, but i don't want to have this problem...

 

[sadburger]

yeah I like working out alone because I can just go in and bang out my sets and really focus, my only concern at the moment is that not having a spotter is going to kill me on bench press.

How much worse is the smith machine for benching than just doing straight barbell benches?

 

[Create Reality]

can't you ask the gym employees to help spot you?

 

[EFFORT]

Go down to whatever weight you can do 3x5 without failing. Stick with that for a week or two then add 5lbs. Just take your time, bench isn't gonna go up as fast as your squats and deads. Working out alone is great, just grab yourself a spotter, it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[Kerpal]

Just use dumbbells on the bench press.

 

[bman]

ask someone working out next to you to spot you on the bench. ive asked about a thousand times and i NEVER had someone refuse to spot me.

 

[Kerpal]

^ I can't tell you how many times I've seen one guy bench pressing while the other guy deadlifts, lol.

 

[stronglifts]

I'm doing the starting strength program and increasing my weight all the time as far as my lifts go, but the one that concerns me is bench press... yesterday I just couldn't get my last rep on my last set up, and after struggling with the bar for a few minutes it just came down on top of me. I'm not using enough weight yet to be really dangerous (155 lbs) but if I keep increasing I can only imagine that I will run into this again.. I mean, how am I supposed to keep upping the weight each week until I am not able to if being "not able to" means the bar is coming back down and laying on top of me...

luckily there was a dude nearby that came over and helped me out from the bar, but i don't want to have this problem...

*) Ask someone at the gym to spot in case there's a problem
*) Know yourself. You should be able to predict if the rep will be hard or not.
*) Bench in a power rack & use the safety pins. Set them high enough. In case there's a problem, you can lower the weight to your abs, then put it on the pins. Weights of 220lbs can be handled this way (own experience) without problems.