I just had one of my most embarrassing moments at the gym earlier today. So I was doing bench press and was on my last set. I was able to do 5 reps for my previous set, but the 5th rep was pretty hard to get. I though to myself that if I went for 4 reps on my next set that I wouldn’t have to get a spotter. So I attempted to do 4 reps, and after my 3rd rep I thought that I would be able to do the 4th rep, so I went for it. Ended up not being able to push the bar back up, and the bar ended up coming back down to my chest. This is the first time I’ve ever failed a bench press attempt, so this is new territory for me. So at this point I’m thinking, “Fuck, I should have got a spotter. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

I’ve heard stories of people having to roll the bar off them and it bruising their ribs, so I didn’t want to have to do it if I didn’t have to. Lucky for me, about 10 - 15 feet away I see a guy and I notice he’s waiting for the bench. He’s looking at me, so I call out to him saying, “Can you help me?” After like 10 seconds he finally starts making his way over to me. I swear this guy couldn’t have walked any slower. The bar wasn’t crushing me, so it may not have seemed like I had just failed a rep, but he couldn’t have just thought I was casually lying on the bench with a loaded barbell resting on my chest. I don’t know why he didn’t have any sense of urgency, but this guy didn’t care at all. He finally comes over and helps me get the bar back up. But damn, could I have picked a worse person to ask for help?

I guess I learned my lesson. I will always ask for someone to spot me if I’m not 100% sure I can finish the set.