I’m interested in purchasing a bench shirt to see how much I can gain with one. Basically what I’m looking for out of this post is to find out a good brand of bench shirt, also how to pick a size. I have no real idea how to aquire one, do you buy them online or do you need it specially fitted in a store, if so where would you find a store that sold them?
Just a serious noob question for all of you guys out there that know what you’re talking about.
Usually it’s shoulder size. If you call up inzer (i think) or Elite (I know for a fact) they’ll be able to tell you what measurements they’ll need. and elite definitely knows their stuff when it comes to sizing you.
Inzer, Metal, and Karins are all brands that carry the shirts. There are different types for different rules. You have single ply, double ply, denim, etc. If you are new, I’d go to Inzer’s site and look at their products. They have several different shirts and a guide telling you how to size them. Each company and type of shirt will have different fits.
It is possible to search ebay and find some that are new or used that may be a good place to start.
Make sure you have someone to help you put it on. I wear a 48 and it’s tight for me for a bench shirt, and I wore a 52 the other day, I couldn’t have put it on alone even though it was too big.
I don’t know what size you are, but I have a never been used, only been tried on, RageX bench shirt. I will give it to you for half the original price, no shipping.
Stay away from any of the “Blast” series by Inzer. Old news, old material, old technology.
The Rage is a good mid-level shirt. I got an easy 50 pounds out of it the first time. Inzer has it on sale for $75. Post your measurements & ht/wt and I can assist you with sizing.
I would definately go with a single ply rage or a single ply titan fury or F6. I had a single ply fury and got about 75lbs out of it. I have a double ply F6 that i’m going to be using here real soon. But i definately wouldn’t suggest jumping into double ply right away. And are you competeing in powerlifting? I wouldn’t ever get in a bench shirt if i wasn’t competeing.
I would probably get your raw max up a little bit before you start getting in a bench shirt. I’m the same size as you and have benched 275 raw and am approaching 300 very quickly. I’ve also done 350 in a single ply titan fury.
What’s wrong with trying a shirt at my weight/bench?
I don’t see any real problem with why I couldn’t try a shirt accept for the fact that you think I’ll be getting to big to fast for the shirt to be worth buying for $70-100.
My point is that you have to be strong enough to use the shirt. Especially if you are getting a rage. Like i said i used a singe ply fury which isn’t near as much tension as a rage will give you. You have to be able to handle enough weight to make weight touch your chest. I know the shirt will help you handle more weight, but thats not the point. I would probably start off with something less than a rage for sure if you want to go ahead and start using a shirt.
[quote]binford wrote:
My point is that you have to be strong enough to use the shirt. Especially if you are getting a rage. Like i said i used a singe ply fury which isn’t near as much tension as a rage will give you. You have to be able to handle enough weight to make weight touch your chest. I know the shirt will help you handle more weight, but thats not the point. I would probably start off with something less than a rage for sure if you want to go ahead and start using a shirt. [/quote]
In my experience, a Rage is more forgiving than any of the Titan shirts. There is no such thing as a certain amount you should be lifting or being “strong enough to use a shirt”. Learning a shirt takes time no matter what you can do raw. Better to start out with a looser shirt and work your way up to tighter ones as your strength level increases.
Based on that I would say go 44 Rage or a 42 Fury. Be warned that the Fury tends to skimp on the material length. The shirts don’t have much of a tail on them and can be impossible for tall guys to get them under a belt.
[quote]Brian Whiddon wrote:
binford wrote:
I had a single ply fury and got about 75lbs out of it…
Binford,
You could probably get a little more than 75 lbs out of your Fury. What is your benching style?
[/quote]
I try and bench with an arch, although my arch isn’t really that good. I had benched 275 raw, but to be honest i bet my raw strength wasn’t that high on meet day.
So technically i may have been getting more than 75lbs out of the shirt, and the shirt wasn’t really as tight as it should have been. But i dunno if i could get much more out of it, 350 was a grinder all the way from the bottom, which usually in my shirt i get alot of rebound off my chest and just carry it through to lockout, but not when i hit 350, so i dunno.
I’m going to be using a double ply F6 at my next meet, so i probably wont be using the single ply anymore.