A weightlifter was knocked head over heels after a barbell crashed into his shins after he dropped it for safety.

Former strongman Andrew Reid was working out at a gym in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, on March 31 when he went to overhead press 110kg.

Scary footage shows the moment the 38-year-old had to bail out of the lift due to low blood pressure from heart failure diagnosed in 2023, dropping the bar to the ground.

The bar hit some weights on the floor and ricocheted into Andrew’s shins, knocking him clean over, although he managed to avoid major injury.

Andrew said: “Sometimes I lose control of the bar overhead because my blood pressure is low due to all the heart medication I’m on.

“Sometimes when I do overhead presses, my blood pressure goes even lower and I’m prone to becoming weak and maybe passing out

“It doesn’t excuse the fact that I dropped the bar on a massive metal protrusion that comes out of the front of the rack, which sent it flying into me.

“There is no conclusive reason for my heart failure, the doctors have done lots of investigations into it but can’t find any cause.

“I’ve been training for about 12 years and competed in strongman in 2015 and from 2019 until 2023 when I got my heart failure diagnosis. I’m not sure if I’ll ever compete again now because of it.

“I was repping 110kg which is a very routine weight for me that I have done 100s of times before.

“I’ve got a little scrape on my right shin and a bruise on my left shin, but I carried on training and I’ve done heavy lifts today and Tuesday.”