“If the bar ain’t bending, then you’re just pretending.” What that saying doesn’t account for is the danger of a bar bending over you mid-squat. Joe Sullivan’s no pretender, and luckily he’s here to tell the tale of surviving a bar-bending incident that could’ve been deadly.

Tear after tear, I was seriously never benching again—it’s just not for me, blah blah blah, excuses, excuses. I had injured myself so many times, but I couldn’t let that stop me.

I’ve always said it only takes a single well-thought-out cue to change the way someone approaches a lift. I’m certain that one of these bench cues below are going to be that single cue that you’ve been waiting for.