Bench Shirts

fischerspooner

Are they any good? Can you buy them in Ireland?

drunkenfool

what are they?

joc_06

They are exremely tight fitting and rigid shirts used by powerlifters to aid their bench press. They can be made from loads of different stuff but the best ones are denim i believe.
Lots of associations dont allow them so you'd need to check with who you lift/compete with.
In terms of them being good it depends on what your goals are. If you wanna bench as much as you can for 1rm and are an extreme athlete then yeah. But it'll take you a yr or more to see any benefit as the technique is very hard. If powerlifting with a shirt is your goal then get a shirt
If you just want to get strong then forget about them, no use to you whatsoever. tbh id wouldnt say there are more than 100 ppl in ireland that would have one never to mind actually needing one.
Easygainer??

fischerspooner

well you see this probably sounds stupid, but I wore a pair of trousers the other day when squatting, I normally wear shorts. The trousers are made from a tough substance, workwear type stuff. Anyway I found it easier to squat, more spring in my legs, and it was like the trousers held the muscles/bones together. I was hoping that a bench shirt might provide a similar support to my upper body when benching.

Easygainer

joc_06 wrote:

They are exremely tight fitting and rigid shirts used by powerlifters to aid their bench press. They can be made from loads of different stuff but the best ones are denim i believe.
Lots of associations dont allow them so you'd need to check with who you lift/compete with.
In terms of them being good it depends on what your goals are. If you wanna bench as much as you can for 1rm and are an extreme athlete then yeah. But it'll take you a yr or more to see any benefit as the technique is very hard. If powerlifting with a shirt is your goal then get a shirt
If you just want to get strong then forget about them, no use to you whatsoever. tbh id wouldnt say there are more than 100 ppl in ireland that would have one never to mind actually needing one.
Easygainer??

Lol - you guessed it - I've a Titan Fury NX - for a 48" relaxed chest though so wouldn't fit too many here! They chaff like HELL! I wouldn't use it just for ego cos they leave deep red marks around the arm pits and if it's anyway tight fitting (the tighter the better - some use steam to make them tighter once on...)you'll need two people to put it on two to put it off.... and that's just a single ply shirt.

You can get them from pullumsports if you really have a hard on for one but I wouldn;t recommend it unless you plan to lift competitively. Word of warning - work on triceps and ligament strength etc first, because your bench could go up 30kg easily first time - In fact it's hard to lift anything less than 120kg...

And about the squatting thing, that's how bench shirts work too - by trying to unstretch. You can get squat suits which can add up to a couple of hundred pounds for a a top lifter but knee wraps are better if you're just looking for a suitable edge.

joejoem

Easygainer wrote:

In fact it's hard to lift anything less than 120kg...

Holy Christ!

Easygainer

joejoem wrote:

Holy Christ!

They're ridiculously tight across the chest so you walk with your arms forward like a robot - you NEED weight to be able to bring a bar down to your chest, that's how much tension there is.

Jak

I have one Titan as well and they are a lot of effort.

If you are competing for 1rm in bench - then yes they can help you and they do build the psychological confidence to attempt weights.

However, if you are just training and want to have a good bench don't bother. You can't wear it for a session - they lock your arms in a bench position and are damned uncomfortable for any length of time more than the lifts.

Also, you can look like you've been caned when it comes off - they 'pinch' to put it mildly.

JAK