A recent incident in Henan province, China, involved a fitness trainer who was fatally injured while performing a bench press with a 100-pound barbell. The event was reported by the Straits Times.
The person at the center of the story was a 27-year-old trainer named Xiao Hou. He visited a gym for a standard strength training session and began a bench press with the heavy barbell. As he prepared to complete the drill, his arms weakened unexpectedly, allowing the bar to drop onto his chest and roll toward his neck, pinning him to the bench.
With no one else present in the gym at that moment, the trainer fought to free himself for about 25 seconds. He began to experience convulsions and lose consciousness. Bystanders later found him and he was transported to a medical facility, but doctors were unable to save him.
In a separate, unrelated note, a former Moscow worker was captured on video during an incident in which he striking a colleague with a pancake lifted from a barbell, an event that drew attention online.