anybody have experience with bench shirts

[Jordan566]

I just ordered mine from inzer. I got the rage bench shirt. Approximately, what kinda gains am I looking at here?

[RoaringMad Mac]

did you order one just a little smaller than they recomended or what. and also. are you going to be competing.


Your gains could range from anywhere to 20 to 40 pounds. Remember the shirt is for protection rather than helping a lift. That is only a secondary benefit from having the shirt.


I used them extensively when I was competing and whein I could bench around 585 with out it I was able to go into a meet and get a good solid 610 with the shirt. It was a bitch putting it on and make sure you shave any body hair off and use baby powder to put it on. Trust me on this.

[Jordan566]

Well, they recommended a 56. I will be competing and I am completely hairless where the shirt goes. Hopefully with two of my buddies helping me out it wont be too bad. I'm looking for a solid 350 with the shirt, but we shall see......

[RoaringMad Mac]

OK if they recommended a 56 I would look into getting a 54. If you don't want to do that see if someone around is nice enough to let you use one if they have one.


Reason I say this is because at my first meet I bought a60 which was recommended. One of the more experienced guys saw my strength and also my adolescents and recommended I use a smaller size. He let me use his 58 which by the way was a bitch to put on. It worked perfect That was the first time I exceeded anything over 525. After learning that tid bit I trained smarter and constantly went up.

[Jordan566]

yeah that is what i wanted to order initially, but the guy said this shirt has kevlar and other materials in it, and if it was even a little to small, it would be impossible to put it on. idk, i will find out as there is an exchange policy. btw, did you use your belt over it?

[RoaringMad Mac]

Most certainly I used my belt over any really heavy lift.


Don't return it just yet. Shirts have changed so much since I last used them so the size you got maybe what you need.

[Jordan566]

oh dear LORD...this thing was a bitch to put on...it is sooo tight, but i broke it in yesterday and am trying it out for real today. hoping for 350lbs or so....:-)

[Jordan566]

oh man that was sooo uncomfortable. and i was so out of synch i couldnt even get 315 up more than once. i hope once im used to it ill go up

[RoaringMad Mac]

You will, You will get used to it.

[madman]

Jordan -


A bench shirt is "a single lift item" much like tightly wraped 2 line Inzer knee wraps. These shirts were designed for you to go to the platform, get set, lift the weight, and get off the platform. They were not really intended for you to do reps in. Not saying that it can't be done.... but I am just saying what the shirt was designed for (besides the obvious safety aspect).


madman

[Jordan566]

Oh I figured it out. Haha. My raw bench has gone up to 345, that was last week, and I used my shirt yesterday, and it was sick. Imagine the look on my spotter when he's staring at three 3 45's and a 35 on each side, AND IT GOES UP! He was so jealous, although he was laughing at me when I was putting baby powder all over my body in the locker room, before we put my shirt on. Unbelievable difference, even though it felt like shit.

[madman]

I forgot to ask you Jodan if you have added a pause in your benching (I think I read that you wanted to compete?). I'm not sure if you knew it or not, but you have to pause the bar on your chest (until it is completely motionless) and the head ref will give you the command "press". At that point you can push the bar up.


madman

[RoaringMad Mac]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. I used to do a seperate exercise apart from the regular benching and do pause sets.

[Jordan566]

Yeah I have a pause incorporated, how long is it usually because my pause is like a split second, followed by me exploding....

[madman]

Jordan... it depends on the head ref and what he says is "stationary" - most of the judges at bigger meets are real good - about 1 -1.5 sec pause. I have been at some that wetre 2 - 2.5 tho.


madman

[Jordan566]

wow...im gonna have to work on that.....I don't think it will matter much since I don't bounce at all...but it wouldnt hurt to practice.

[RoaringMad Mac]

Have someone sit behind you and when you pause have them clap out your reps that will get you used to pausing for effect.