A man lifting a metal barbell loaded with over 100kg of weight has been killed after it fell and crushed his neck.
How it happened
The 27-year-old man from China died after his neck was crushed between the shaft of the weights and the training bench he was working on.
The horrifying accident was captured on video.
The victim, who has now been identified as Xiao Hou, was at a gym in China’s Henan province.
A 29-second clip showed the man struggling to bench press the excessive weight. He did not have a spotter.
The harrowing clip shared by local sites shows the 27-year-old barely able to lift the barbell over his chest before trying to rack it on the J-hook.
It was then his arms gave out, and the bar, with 50kg on each side rolled from his chest onto his neck. Pinning his head to the bench he was laying on.
His body goes limp
He desperately tries to free himself for approximately 25 seconds before his body goes limp.
At one point in the footage, he can be seen having violent spasms. Friends and family of the victim confirmed the tragedy.
The man in charge of the gym, identified as Zhao, said that Xiao Hou had been a fitness instructor at the gym.
Zhao said Xiao Hou was obsessed with exercising, prioritising it over other areas of his life, including his love life.
It’s understood he had worked as a personal trainer at the gym for approximately four years before moving on to another job. But he continued to attend the facility daily.
Zhao added that Xiao Hou kept a key that let him enter the gym before it opened and would exercise alone.
He found the 27-year-old pinned by the barbell after opening the gym. Xiao Hou was rushed to a hospital but did not survive.
