Kiwi sporting superstar Sonny Bill Williams is probably browsing for some new home gym equipment right now after a close call during a workout sesh.
Sonny Bill was hitting some heavy squats and went to re-rack. However, something went wrong and the bar slipped, almost snapping SBW’s neck on the way down.
“Near death experience on 3!” Williams wrote in the caption.
Commenters on his posts were quick to blame the equipment but on further analysis, I discovered what really happened (more on that later).
“You need to get yourself a much stabler squatting rack,” wrote one person. “Reminds me of me.”
“Sole I hate those free-standing racks,” said another. “Straight final destination material.”
“You are lucky,” a third, 'tell it like it is' kinda guy, added.
That equipment does look flimsy, especially for a guy that’s probably squatting well north of 100 kilos, but Mr Williams is more to blame. He failed to properly re-rack the barbell.
A quick zoom-in job shows that the barbell failed to fully slot into the right side of the rack. It was resting on the top of the edge of the hook. After correctly securing the left side, Sonny takes a step back and SHADONK! The barbell bails and the weights go flying.
Heed a lesson or two from Sonny’s mistake. You should always have someone spotting you, and if you don’t, be extremely cautious when taking on the big weights.
ANALYSIS!
Late last year, Williams had another experience that probably would’ve gone a lot way worse if it was me instead of him - stepping into the ring to box Mark Hunt.
Hunt, 12 years older than Sonny Bill, won the fight by TKO in the 4th round, handing SBW his first-ever boxing loss. That came after a lot of smack-talking from Sonny Bill as well.
So, note to self: Always re-rack properly and don't talk shit to Mark Hunt.
