USC RB Stafon Johnson drops weight on him while bench pressing

[Syringer]

http://blogs.suntimes.com/spor...ack_stafon_johnso.html

USC running back Stafon Johnson suffered a serious injury this morning when he lost control of the bar during a weightlifting session.

The bar came down on his neck, causing him to cough up blood. He was rushed to the hospital for surgery.

Yikes, I can't imagine how traumatizing this must be, or begin to think how it feels.

Even with just two 45 plates on there, 135lb slipping and dropping on your neck has the potential to kill a person.

And while Johnson isn't the biggest running back in the world at 210lb, he must be capable of benching in the 300+ range.

 

[SpanishFry]

ouch

 

[AznAnarchy99]

No spot or what?

 

[ChanHo78]

Originally posted by: AznAnarchy99
No spot or what?

real men dont use spots

 

[coldmeat]

no video? fail

 

[Kyle]

Originally posted by: AznAnarchy99
No spot or what?

According to this site, he had a spot

 

[Gunslinger08]

Dropping it on your throat would be hard if you weren't trying to re-rack the weight. I bet they thought he had it racked, but it slipped off. Not sure what he could have damaged. Maybe a crushed larynx?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Kyle

Originally posted by: AznAnarchy99
No spot or what?

According to this site, he had a spot

would suck to be the spotter who has to live with failing miserably at spotting and putting someone's life on the line.

Wonder if it was a freak thing, like his wrist buckled and the spotter couldn't react in time.

 

[jinduy]

he probably held it like an rtard with his thumbs not opposing his other fingers

 

[Howard]

Bad form, probably. Sucks to be him.

 

[abaez]

http://laist.com/2009/09/28/us...stafon_johnson_hos.php says 275 pounds. Ouch.

 

[her209]

Yikes!

 

[TallBill]

Wow, hope he's alright. Sounds like a thumbless grip.

 

[Queasy]

Ack...holy crap that is scary.

According to this ESPN article, an assistant strength & conditioning coach was standing over him when the bar slipped from his hands. Not sure if that means he was the guy spotting him or not. He also wasn't trying to rack the bar but he was at the end of his set.

 

[slayer202]

if the weight slips it isn't easy to just grab all that weight if youre the spotter...

 

[SludgeFactory]

The spotter can't save you if you completely and instantly lose control of it. Unless there's a damn good medical reason (passed out, shoulder dislocated during the lift, etc), the lifter is a total asshole if he completely loses control or gives up on the weight and lets his spotters have 100% of it, because they're at huge risk of a major back and/or shoulder injury. Attempting to catch 275 pounds without warning is begging for a devastating shoulder injury that will require surgery and never really be the same again.

Who knows what happened, but to blame the spotter isn't fair at this point.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Accidents happen, it's the risk you take using free weights.

 

[0roo0roo]

always fascinated that a simple solution isn't implemented to prevent such accidents. any of us could come up with several possible cheap solutions to prevent such a thing from happening but i guess its not manly to use anything other than a bare bench setup

 

[CRXican]

he was probably thinking about his math test tomorrow

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
always fascinated that a simple solution isn't implemented to prevent such accidents. any of us could come up with several possible cheap solutions to prevent such a thing from happening but i guess its not manly to use anything other than a bare bench setup

Meh, you're making assumptions too. The only time I've heard of weight "slipping" from someone's hands is if they are using a thumbless grip.

Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSJCDcAKShA

It's impossible to catch the weight as a spotter.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Originally posted by: CRXican
he was probably thinking about his math test tomorrow

Why would he worry? I tutored football players that didn't know a darn thing but miraculously passed their classes.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...MCIKAY&feature=related

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
always fascinated that a simple solution isn't implemented to prevent such accidents. any of us could come up with several possible cheap solutions to prevent such a thing from happening but i guess its not manly to use anything other than a bare bench setup

Meh, you're making assumptions too. The only time I've heard of weight "slipping" from someone's hands is if they are using a thumbless grip.

Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSJCDcAKShA

It's impossible to catch the weight as a spotter.

its inherently risky to have a heavy weight over your neck like that. you can't dodge, you either get crushed or hope the spotter is up to task. a safety device/guard should be rather easy to make part of a bench.

found one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3sED9fUvIg
simple simple.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.pro-fitness.com/pow...ch_w_spotting_arms.htm

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

its inherently risky to have a heavy weight over your neck like that. you can't dodge, you either get crushed or hope the spotter is up to task. a safety device/guard should be rather easy to make part of a bench.

found one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3sED9fUvIg
simple simple.

Sure, when doing max lifting maybe. 275 really aint a lot and I doubt that he was doing 1 rep lifts.

606 is a whole different world than 275. I get what you're saying, and I won't say that you're wrong. But I've seen a lot of benching in the 200-300 range and never seen an accident like that.