Barbells for Dumbbells

Posted By elissa on May 11, 2011 | 3 comments

Today’s rant brought to you by the Cleveland Clinic… which sent me the following well-intentioned, but muddled “safety tip” this morning.

See if you can spot the problem:

Gym Safety Tip: Using Barbells? A Spotter is a Must!

Do not use barbells at home unless you have a spotter. Many people with a hectic schedule feel it is best to make a quick trip into the basement to lift weights.

If that is the case, go for dumbbells, calisthenics, machines, pulleys, balls or bands for resistance training. Lifting heavier free weights, such as barbells, at home without a spotter increases your risk of having a traumatic injury.

In 2009, former University of Southern California football star Stafon Johnson suffered critical injuries when a barbell smashed onto his throat and larynx. At the time, he was doing a routine bench press with a spotter. Experts suggest that had he not had a spotter, the injuries would have been even more life threatening. In this instance, this was a high level athlete doing his regular lifting routine with a spotter. Many people do this at home alone in their basements.

Accidents can happen. Safety precautions should be implemented to prevent potentially tragic outcomes.

I have to ask… has the author of the above ever even picked up a barbell before… let alone worked out with one?

First of all, let’s define our terms. There’s more to “lifting weights” than just bench pressing. Likewise, “barbell” can refer to a range of bars with different lengths, weights and uses. Does the person who wrote this “tip” really believe that a spot is needed to do EZ-bar curls safely? Or upright rows with a fixed-weight barbell? They’re “barbells,” too.

Ok, I “get” that s/he is referring to a standard or Olympic barbell. This – of course – leads us to the second point: even these longer, heavier bars are useful for a lot more than just bench pressing. Yes, benching can be hazardous when done solo… but I certainly don’t need (and have never used) a spotter for barbell shrugs, deadlifts, curls, rows, cleans or front/Zercher squats. Sure, you can get hurt doing these exercises too, but I don’t see how that might be mitigated by switching to dumbbells.

So increased “risk of having a traumatic injury” and “barbell” don’t automatically go together. As the Stafon Johnson example implies, it depends on the exercise. But even higher-risk barbell bench presses can still be done solo if a power rack is used. Lee Hayward demonstrates how it’s done:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOo3RtKu1E]

And yes, the folks I know with well-equipped home gyms own power racks – they’re expensive, but worth the investment. I use ’em all the time in the gym. And if I had room for a home gym, one would be at the top of my list of “must haves.” And if the Stafon Johnson example is anything to go by, he’d have been better off using one, too. If nothing else, a power rack is more capable of supporting a heavily-loaded bar than many spotters are.

Now, I’m not knocking the idea of using a spotter, per se. For one thing, a spotter can help improve your performance. And if an injury does occur, it’s good to have someone on hand to help you out. But these considerations are hardly unique to barbell work – at home or in a commercial gym. The notion that a spotter is needed to ensure the safety of every barbell exercise done in a home gym – just because it’s done with a barbell – is absurd.