Buying a bench shirt

[thatwaslight]

Decided i'm finally going to do some proper power lifting this year and am keen to get into a shirt.

- How do i know what shirt to get?

- what size?

-how tight should it be?

open closed/back?

-i am an inzer whore and have alot of their stuff so maybe if someone can point me towards one of their shirts?

- doesn't need to be IPF approved....LOL :pfft:

[steak]

I'm no expert but this is what I know from my limited experience and what I've heard around the traps :grin: I don't know what you bench but a coupla things. Titan gear IMO is better than Inzer. The material seems stronger and has more pop. Titan appear to have the edge on innovative for suit/shirt development. Though I'm sure Inzer fans would disagree .

If looking at Titan and new to geared lifting you would either get a Fury or F6. The Fury is for the flat bencher and is a good beginner shirt..pretty forgiving really. The F6 is more for a bencher with a bigger arch and decent tuck. The shirts like Katana and Super Katana are really for experienced (geared that is) lifters and you generally need to bench big!! just to be able to get it down to the chest eg 200+ . Titan also do 2 ply and heavier materials (not IPF approved) but I now nothing of these

Price wise they are pretty good and Tonka is the Titan supplier in NZ. You can go to the titan website or any of the shirt suppliers and check sizing. Generally if you choose the wrong size you can return it for the correct one. I'm sure some of the guys will be able to point you in the right direction. Definately try before you buy cos it is nothing like raw benching. We have a couple of old shirts at CBC that you could prolly try for size. PM Steak if you want to do that.

There are also metal bench shirts that come in 3 varieties...shorter arms, longer arms, bigger chest etc. You can source these from Underground Elite in Aus. They are expensive in comparison to Titan and Inzer. But a good brand too and IPF approved.

I have a metal deadlift suit and it's cool 8)

But that just my 2c worth...or should I say 50c worth :pfft: :pfft:

[bar-belle]

I'm no expert but this is what I know from my limited experience and what I've heard around the traps :grin: I don't know what you bench but a coupla things. Titan gear IMO is better than Inzer. The material seems stronger and has more pop. Titan appear to have the edge on innovative for suit/shirt development. Though I'm sure Inzer fans would disagree .

If looking at Titan and new to geared lifting you would either get a Fury or F6. The Fury is for the flat bencher and is a good beginner shirt..pretty forgiving really. The F6 is more for a bencher with a bigger arch and decent tuck. The shirts like Katana and Super Katana are really for experienced (geared that is) lifters and you generally need to bench big!! just to be able to get it down to the chest eg 200+ . Titan also do 2 ply and heavier materials (not IPF approved) but I now nothing of these

Price wise they are pretty good and Tonka is the Titan supplier in NZ. You can go to the titan website or any of the shirt suppliers and check sizing. Generally if you choose the wrong size you can return it for the correct one. I'm sure some of the guys will be able to point you in the right direction. Definately try before you buy cos it is nothing like raw benching. We have a couple of old shirts at CBC that you could prolly try for size. PM Steak if you want to do that.

There are also metal bench shirts that come in 3 varieties...shorter arms, longer arms, bigger chest etc. You can source these from Underground Elite in Aus. They are expensive in comparison to Titan and Inzer. But a good brand too and IPF approved.

I have a metal deadlift suit and it's cool 8)

But that just my 2c worth...or should I say 50c worth :pfft: :pfft:

[Big john]

^^ this

pretty much what BB said is bang on. best bet to try the Titan shirts bro for accouple reasons:

All Titan shirts, the F6 and the Fury feature NXG+ fabric. Titan created it specifically for powerlifting and it is still the strongest, most supportive fabric on the market - virtually tear and run proof. NXG+ is constructed from super high tensile strength polymer yarns utilizing much of the same technology used to produce body armor. While NXG+ won't stop a bullet it can stop a monster weight dead in its tracks and rebound it to completion.

we were having a discussion on this on the weekend. although it was titan vs inzer squat suits (i will get to my point shortly).

Where as inzer squat suits allow for more of a "bounce" out of the hole, Titan squat squat suits have alot more "stopping power" , so in a way youll be slowly descending to depth but once there the stored engergy in the nxg+ fabric is released creating the "pop" out of the hole, in effect i think the shirts would react in a similar fashion

the other thing is if you do decide to try out a shirt. Do as BB suggested, try get your hands on a old one 1st to get a feel for it, equiped and raw benching are 2 totally different ball games

lastly. hook up with someone whos experienced with shirts and how to put them on properly. and spotters you can trust :nod:

just my 2cent bro, hope that helps

[tinytraps]

A general rule of thumb is to get one size bigger than suggested for loose shirt, exact size for comp and one size down for big comps. When looking at sizes the easiest is to go off chest sizes so a size 50 relates to a 50" chest. I actually think it would be better to work off arm circumference if the sizing charts have them. Tighter arms and a looser chest plate seems like what a lot of custom shirts go for so if you could find a stoc one that is very similar youll have a decent shirt from the get go.

IMO I think you would do good in an f6 that is possibly 2 sizes bigger than recommended. The f6 is typically a shirt for arched benchers but ime the sweet spot is much bigger than that of the fury. Even a very slight arch will tilt the sleeves back into the optimum position.

Finally make sure you hook up with someone who knows how to use a shirt, put it on etc. Youll get a lot more success a lot faster if you have some experienced eyes watching over you

[thatwaslight]

awesome cheers for the replys guys! will take it all on board and hook up with someone experienced. i find it impossible to get any arch so will take that into account.

[Optimass]

awesome cheers for the replys guys! will take it all on board and hook up with someone experienced. i find it impossible to get any arch so will take that into account.

I don't arch either bro .... we are the equivalent of the round-backing deadlifter :pfft: