[JayR]

I have no affiliation/financial interest, but thought this looked cool:

http://www.maxxbench.com

I have a home gym, which has a lot of advantages that I posted my opinions about in a different thread. But one of the big things you lose when you're lifting alone in the home gym is a partner to save you from crushing yourself if you get a little overconfident going for that last rep.

This bench might be a better solution than safety bars, which are such a pain the ass I don't even use them anymore (but as a result I am much more conservative when maxing out by myself).

Fast Company covered it, too:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3049126/this-...cked-safer

[kbell]

I think it looks pretty cool. I remember when I was younger and only had been bench pressing for a little while. I attempted to do 135 by myself and the weight was too much for me at the time. So it did not move from my chest. It was scary feeling although I wasn't hurt. I've since used spotters, although I still can't bench until cleared from the doctor.

With this setup it looks like that would have never happened although is the weight capped at 250?

[AntiTrace]

I like it. It's a great idea and improves a traditional design.

It could use improvement though. What happens when you got 250lbs sitting on your neck and you cant hit the release lever?

I would change the safety to an ankle strap connected to a release lever. Much like a kill switch on a boat attaching to the lifevest. Anything happens, you just extend the knee and pull the "kill switch". Much easier than fucking around trying to find and step on a lever.

[StrikeBack]

Funny, the main site picture is that of a guy using a suicide grip... When that grip fails, the maxx bench won't save his pretty face.

It's kind of a cool design, but it only saves you from one particular kind of failure (a slow failure when you rep a weight to the limit). I've spotted in probably 100 (or close to) powerlifting competitions, and many years in training. There are many other failures that this sort of device won't protect you against, usually because you won't have time to react. Can't kick shit when you have a heavyweight falling out of groove right above your face.

This bench also lacks a fundamental safety feature that competition bench racks have: the steps for the spotter to stand up on. When spotting a bench, you want to be in position to deadlift the bar off the guy and back into the rack (straight arms), not to yank it off with your arms bent. You can spot a lot of weight with the former as it's basically a rack pull for the spotter, but hardly at all with the latter (what's your best curl?).

I guess this is still better than a standard bench, but only if people are aware of its very limited safety feature, and not actually believe that they can go crazy now because they have this maxx bench...