There are many benefits to the bench press — strength, muscle definition, having an answer to the ageless “whaddaya bench?” question — but there is one overwhelming negative… the possibility of getting crushed underneath stupid amounts of weight. And, in tragic (but not entirely unexpected) cases, getting crushed underneath stupid amounts of weight can turn fatal. Thankfully, a new project on Kickstarter aims to change all that.
The Maxx Bench will allow users to bench press to failure without dangerous “plate dumping” or the ego-shredding “roll of shame.” Instead, the Maxx Bench features gravity-assisted hydraulic technology that will allow users to lower themselves to safety while setting the metal bar that is compressing their organs on the attached safety clips.
The enthusiastic response to the Maxx Bench on Kickstarter and YouTube might soon lead to widespread use of the device. And besides the obvious safety benefits, on a personal level, I’m very excited for the product. I have lifted weights for years, but no matter how much I have wanted the striking pectorals that come from intense bench pressing, I’ve always wanted to avoid this even more…
I could have asked one of my fellow lifters to spot me on the bench, but I have enough difficulty approaching strangers under ideal circumstances, and strangers who are sweaty, wearing spandex, and midway through creatine psychosis are pretty high on the intimidating scale.
Being that I cannot safely bench press by myself, I do the dumbbell press instead. And while the dumbbell press is a great exercise for the chest (and, in some cases, can even be a superior exercise to the bench press), it always made answering the question — “do you even lift, bro?” — more complicated than necessary.
With the Maxx Bench, I should finally bench press to my limits without fear of death. Or, in a more likely scenario, I can quietly fume at the water fountain while an elderly man sits on the Maxx Bench with a crossword puzzle and “recovers” between sets of 10-pound bicep curls.
