Current Events > An influencer died doing squats the other day.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Graphic description: He was squatting in one of those crossfit style racks that have no safeties. He clearly couldn't manage the weight at all, I'm, not going to watch it again but it must have been like 500lbs or more, and he crumpled under it . He might have been fine and able to dump the weight backwards off his back, but unfortunately he had a spotter who basically tried to "help" by keeping it pinned on his back, and so he fell down on his butt, the full weight of the bar landed on his neck and snapped his spine.

I wish I hadn't watched the video, that shit is going to haunt me forever. I am never squatting outside a rack ever again. I am definitely never squatting with a spotter standing behind me, that shit is worse than useless.

lifting heavy things can be dangerous

I saw that story on Facebook. I didn't know there was video. I won't watch, I hate that kind of stuff.

I've always been afraid of heavy squatting, it always seemed to me the most dangerous of the big 3.

AceAttorneyist posted...

I've always been afraid of heavy squatting, it always seemed to me the most dangerous of the big 3.

Depends. You could make arguments for any of them. I think with any lift it's about loading and mechanics.

The loading on deadlifts is so heavy that if you allow too much spinal flexion you can herniate a disk. But I think the dangers of deadlifting are vastly, vastly overblown.

Squats have the same problem but most people just can't squat that much because it's so difficult. If you squat in a squat rack with the safeties on then it's pretty safe, most damage done will be to your ego.

Seems to me that most deaths are from benching. Doesn't even have to be that heavy, if you drop 200+lbs on your chest you can cave your chest in.

And then there's weightlifting. I don't do weightlifting, but I hear that heavy cleans are one of the scariest things imaginable. I've seen people snap their wrists losing balance and falling back onto their back still holding the bar.

Never squatted with a spotter. Yeah that sounds really stupid that the spotter did that.

I use bars that rotate with a hook to use as a spot with squats.

The story doesn't surprise or scar me though I will be doing them.

The video/story showed the actual accident/death? Why?

Yeesh that description is enough for me that's pretty terrible

I don't wanna see the video but who died?

Secret_Asian_Man posted...

The video/story showed the actual accident/death? Why?

Since it's an influencer, I would not be surprised if it was a live stream.

Karovorak posted...

Since it's an influencer, I would not be surprised if it was a live stream.

That's true. Ah, fuck. I'd need therapy if I saw that.

I recently saw a video where this guy was using a barbell that was extremely heavy. He had a spotter and ended up dropping the barbell directly onto his chest which caused it to cave in. Somehow, he was able to sit up and drink water but I imagine he died very shortly after.

Were they trying to break a personal record or something? I see little gain in someone pushing themselves like this.

Had they been able to work with weight close to that limit before?

Why do people watch snuff videos

Just read that the spotter was his father....

ultimate_reaver posted...

Why do people watch snuff videos

Morbid curiosity in part. In another part, people may think "it can't be THAT bad".

Found this video of it for those curious minded.

https://youtu.be/A2XN9WihEaA

its not graphic really..

Prismsblade posted...

Were they trying to break a personal record or something? I see little gain in someone pushing themselves like this.

Yes, but he was a bodybuilder. Theres really no point in doing a one rep max unless youre a power lifter. However, a lot of gym regulars have an ego and like to spit big numbers when asked how much they can lift. You can be strong and look great without having to dabble into one rep maxes.

This influencer really should have used the safeties in a squat rack or had three spotters instead of one. Tragic what happened to him honestly.

Damn, that's terrible. That description was haunting enough. I'm glad I didn't see the video.

I have a Rogue "fold away" rack without safeties. However, I never do 1 rep maxes in it.

If that guys spotter was his Dad, I couldn't even imagine the anguish he's feeling.

That sounds awful... I'm sorry you had to see that, OP.

Thats a terrible tragedy.

Bunch of people blaming him for putting too much weight, squatting without safeties for his IG, saying he was doing it wrong, etc.

Sexypwnstar posted...

Bunch of people blaming him for putting too much weight, squatting without safeties for his IG, saying he was doing it wrong, etc.

okay..? its true..

Yeah I've always been afraid of squatting with weight because I fear my legs and knees will just snap. I didn't even think it could break your neck tho. RIP

He was attempting 210kg, which is around 462lbs, all of which crushed his neck because he couldnt bail on the attempt due to the rear spotter. Im sure the poor guy feels awful. But, he made the same mistake many people do and it ended very badly. Unfortunately this isnt the first video Ive seen of spotters doing this and the lifter being put into a bind. Ive seen the bad spotting video of the IPF competition and one of the competitors couldnt bail on an attempt due to the rear spotter locking him in with his arms under his and holding him. There is also a fail video of an elite power lifter in a similar situation during training with a 900lb attempt. Fortunately these two guys managed to stay in front of the bar and not be crushed by it.

If youre squatting without safety racks and rubber plates you really dont need spotters at alljust make sure you understand how to bail. Under no circumstance should you use a rear spotter to catch weight for squats when failure is a possibility. Side spotters on each side of the bar is much safer for everyone involved. The rear spotter should simply make sure the lifter doesnt fall backwards and should not be doing anything to prevent the lifter from dropping the attempt.

And just to add, powerlifting utilizes 3 spotters because most competitors are wearing extremely stiff squat suits among other equipment and bailing safely would be extremely difficult. Olympic lifters in training on the other hand almost never utilize spotters during squats and never squat with racks.

I dont understand how that single spotter work in that barbell squats workout. Like you're in the optimal position to lift that weight, anyone else is going to have way much harder time to hold the weight if you fail completely.

I understand when its like a bench press where the person standing can just hang the weight off their arms when the person on the bench fails.

Scarecrow17 posted...

This influencer really should have used the safeties in a squat rack or had three spotters instead of one. Tragic what happened to him honestly.

He would have been fine even if he just learned how to dump the weight off his back. So many things that went wrong here.

scorpion41 posted...

He was attempting 210kg, which is around 462lbs, all of which crushed his neck because he couldnt bail on the attempt due to the rear spotter. Im sure the poor guy feels awful. But, he made the same mistake many people do and it ended very badly. Unfortunately this isnt the first video Ive seen of spotters doing this and the lifter being put into a bind. Ive seen the bad spotting video of the IPF competition and one of the competitors couldnt bail on an attempt due to the rear spotter locking him in with his arms under his and holding him. There is also a fail video of an elite power lifter in a similar situation during training with a 900lb attempt. Fortunately these two guys managed to stay in front of the bar and not be crushed by it.

If youre squatting without safety racks and rubber plates you really dont need spotters at alljust make sure you understand how to bail. Under no circumstance should you use a rear spotter to catch weight for squats when failure is a possibility. Side spotters on each side of the bar is much safer for everyone involved. The rear spotter should simply make sure the lifter doesnt fall backwards and should not be doing anything to prevent the lifter from dropping the attempt.

And just to add, powerlifting utilizes 3 spotters because most competitors are wearing extremely stiff squat suits among other equipment and bailing safely would be extremely difficult. Olympic lifters in training on the other hand almost never utilize spotters during squats and never squat with racks.

Exactly

NeonTentacles posted...

Yeah I've always been afraid of squatting with weight because I fear my legs and knees will just snap. I didn't even think it could break your neck tho. RIP

The thing is, it doesn't really work like that. When you're a beginner, the amount of weight you can physically shift is so low that you just can't really hurt yourself at all. If you went to squat for the first time you'd do well to even get 90lbs on the bar and get down to parallel. That's not going to do any damage if you can't complete the squat, except maybe a bruised ego. Beginners aren't getting injured by snapping their backs or knees.

As you start to get stronger (say an intermediate level) your body becomes more protected, your technique hones in, you squat with more balance and confidence. Chances of serious injury here are very low, but if you have very poor technique or you make bad decisions around loading/fatigue management you can get injured.

As you get very strong, chances of injury start to increase again. You're so strong now that you can literally create enough shearing force to tear muscle/connective tissue off your own bones (which is why whenever you see a guy tearing his pec when he's benching, it's never like 225lbs. It's 400, 500, 600+).

No idea what happened in this video, though. Pure ego, no sense.

The video I linked is censored, I saw the uncensored one and I agree with the TC. It is very graphic in a non bloody way.

Gahdammit, I just wanted to watch the youtube video explaining the whole story I didn't know they'd actually have video of it, fuck.

Nok_Su_Kow posted...

Gahdammit, I just wanted to watch the youtube video explaining the whole story I didn't know they'd actually have video of it, fuck.

Dang it's that bad?

Patty_Fleur posted...

Dang it's that bad?

The terrifying part is that it's so ordinary. It's not like a freak accident where a powerline fell down and zapped someone to death, or a building fell over, or a piece of bespoke machinery went haywire and blew someone up. It's just a normal backsquat, and it looks like a totally ordinary gym video, and it was heavy but not all that extraordinary. And in the space of about 5 seconds it goes from "ah sucks you missed that squat dude" to instant paralysis and death. It makes you realise that actually, barbells can be fucking devastating if you aren't being careful.

They cut from it pretty quick but yeah you'd expect he'd just brush it off maybe rub the back of his neck like "shit that was close!", but poor guy just goes limp. It's so dann disturbing.

This thread inspired me to look up the video. I saw it and it wasn't that graphic as OP made it seemed. It reminded me of the guy that died trying to jump a turnstile in NYC. Where he tripped and neck snapped. No blood just an instant death like that workout video.

Bones snapping and death are disturbing regardless of blood

yea im not gonna watch that

yall aint learned that lesson yet?

you got some toxic machismo that tells u 2 watch this

Karovorak posted...

Since it's an influencer, I would not be surprised if it was a live stream.

Yep, that's how quite a few deaths have accidentally been filmed. Like that rapper that got shot while he was live streaming in his car.

So I watched it. It was quick, but yeah that was really unfortunate. Seemed like his spotter couldn't handle the weight either.