Bench Shirt: What's Better?

I’m new to powerlifting and obviously equipment use. I plan on competeing in the APA which allows 2-ply poly and denium, just no canvas. I use an Inzer 1-ply HD Blast right now. My raw max with a pause is 335, in the shirt 375.

My question is, what is the next step in equipment use for me? Should I buy a top end single ply shirt like a Inzer Phenoem or invest in a 2-ply HD Blast or Metal shirt? Also is 2-ply lower end shirt like the Blast better than a single ply topend shirt like the Phenoem. Also with my current strength would I even get the bar to touch with a highend shirt like a Metal or Rage? I guess to same question applies to squat suits also. Is a 2-ply Z-suit as good as a 1-ply Hardcore suit. BTW I’m only using Inzer equipment as examples because thats who I’m most familiar with?

Thanks.

if your raw paused max is that you are probably strong enough for a higher end shirt. honestly, i wouldn’t spend the money on a two ply blast. the best advice i’ve ever heard is get the shirt you want to get and get in it often. we won’t be able to tell you what shirt will suit you best or suit for that matter, but you’ll have to try many.

as for companies, the metal two ply shirts and suits live up to their hype and then some. i have no experience with their single ply gear.

i use an f6 fury single ply and it’s kind of a hard shirt that you have to be in alot to learn it.

for a suit i use a metal pro and it is phenomenal. go with a two ply suit if your in a two ply federation. for a shirt, it’s all personal preference. people are benching ungodly weights in single ply.

Dont dismiss the Titan Fury. That is a heck of a shirt.

I agree with Jay; the Fury is a pretty good shirt at any level. I started with a single-ply HD Blast and it really didn’t do anything for me. I later switched to a single-ply Fury and it was then that I started to realize what a shirt could do for my strength, but more importantly, my stability. My shoulder never felt better.

I’ve since moved on to a double-ply open backed Rage-X; this is without a doubt the toughest shirt to learn on the market today. The groove is completely different; you actually have to fight to keep the bar UP, and the tuck is much different, as the elbows sit out a bit wider. You really have to be willing to take a leap of faith and throw it over your face to make it work optimally. I’ve been in it for roughly four months now and I still haven’t mastered it yet.

I’ve heard great things about the Metal bench shirts, too.

im glad Eric mentioned throwing the bar back towards your face. It needed to be said to someone who is looking to upgrade to a shirt like the Rage x. It will scare the shit out of you the first few times but that’s the best position for lockout. I don’t think the two ply rage x is the hardest to learn bar none. I have a double denim with a tighter groove and less forgiving but the rage x is the toughest POLY for sure.

Nothing you see on the Inzer website is a top-end shirt any more. You might look into denim shirts as an option too. If there are other powerlifters where you are try some of their shirts on if you can. There are no absolutes when youre dealing with gear.

crow,

I would say Titan Fury or F6 or Inzer Rage X, single ply. The metal is a great shirt but i am not sure it has a different fabric in the back like the Titan and Inzer. Inzer has better seams but is more expensive. I use a Fury and have an F6 i train in once in a while.

You will get a LOT out of these shirts, you need to learn them by working down the boards. It is not easy learning the shirt, you probably won’t be able to lockout what you can touch in these shirts to start. I would get a meet shirt and one size looser so you can touch lighter weights easily and do some full rom work to go with lockouts in the shirt.

jack

I would recommend that you get the best shirt you can, and get it a little looser than you might otherwise in order to learn the groove while baing able to lock out weights you can touch. As you get more and more comfortable, get tighter and tighter shirts of the same design in order to get the maximum benefit out of the time you’ve spent learning a groove.

As you are in a double-ply league, I don’t see any reason to go single-ply.

As to poly vs. denim: How is your lockout? If your lockout is well above your full-range, then go denim. If you are well balanced, or even weaker in the lockout, then go with a poly. The denim will give you huge support at the bottom, but leave you more to your own devices near the top, where a good poly will only give you great support at the bottom but it will keep supporting you all the way to lockout.

If APA rules require a closed-neck, make sure the shirt has a stretch back, if not, go with an open back.
Don’t forget with any stretch or open back shirt you will need a belt to hold it in place.

As to brands, makes and models, there is little I can say definitively. If you are a flat-back bencher go with a Fury (they do make double-ply), if you are an arched bencher an F6 or a Rage X will probably suit you a little better.

If you are worried about the learning curve, go with a Double Phenom or an Annhilator: they will be closest to your Blast, but a lot more so. You will not get as much out of them as a double Rage/Fury/F6/Denim but they will be easier to learn.

If you go for an Inzer Denim, make sure to ask for a “Radical Cut”. If the APA will allow reinforcement, get the shoulders and the neck reinforced. Don’t forget the Grid Stitching. I believe all of Karin’s denims have this stuff in?mine came with anyway. Be careful with the fed rules, some feds consider reinforcement to be an extra ply.

Generally speaking all of the manufacturers make a high quality product, don’t worry about getting shorted there. Titan will be cheaper, but you will have to wait a lot longer to get your gear (My most recent custom F6 took just short of four months from order to delivery) so if you can buy from a reseller (liftinlarge, plgearonline, etc) do so. Inzer will be faster but cost more (My Custom DD from Inzer took sixteen days from order to delivery), however a single-Titan F6 is $85 where a single-RageX is $135. Metal gear seems good, and EliteFTS’ service is second to none, but it is expensive: the single-IPF X-type is $195. The Metal shirts don’t fit me well (I have a big chest and little girly-arms) so I have no personal experience with them

Personally I use a single-ply F6 in IPF meets, and I’m about to try my first APF meet in an Inzer double-denim as described above.

I like Titan shirts. I have a single ply Fury and F6, and both are great shirts. For the money they can’t be beat. I also have an undersized open back double ply Fury that takes about 200 lbs. over my max to touch. Too bad I can’t lock it out :slight_smile: I also had a single ply Rage-X, and it blew out after about 5 weeks use. My partners love the Rage-X, but I will never own another one. I would say for the quality and value go with Titan.