A New Super Katana

[Dr Squat]

Some footage of Best Bench (Leighton Best or Alf) dialing in his new Super Katana. Alf is preparing for the Oceania Bench Press Champs in Christchurch on February 14.

[Best Bench]

Just noticed I made a typo on the video, Eastside Bearbell. My spelling is about as strong as my squat :doh:

[steak]

Mean :clap: How much assistance does it give...percentage wise?

[Dr Squat]

Mean :clap: How much assistance does it give...percentage wise?

It varies from person to person. I will let Alf tell you his story but I have heard of lifters getting 60 kgs plus out of a shirt. In my view the best carryover is achieved when the raw bench is at its strongest. But I am not an expert here.

[Best Bench]

Short answer:

Percentage wise in my previous shirt was around 35%, with a PB of 215kg and a raw bench of around 155 – 160kg. At a bodyweight of around 84kg.

Raw off of a 4 inch board I pressed 185kg a couple of months ago so carryover off the boards is maybe just under 30%.

Target bench with this new shirt is 225 – 230kg which would mean a 40% carryover if my raw bench stays consistent.

Long Answer:

Carryover varies a lot depending on the lifter and their strengths, anatomy etc (and also the tightness of the shirt). I think most lifters would get around 15 – 20% carryover, but I have heard of people getting close to 50%.

I get a higher than average carryover due to my triceps/lockout being my strength. My training focus is on using the equipment and the only number that I am interested in is what I lift in a competition. My raw bench has pretty much stayed the same in the last 3 years yet my shirt bench has increased by almost 50kg.

Also technique is a big part of using the shirts especially if they are tight. I left out my first attempt off the 3 inch board where the spotters had to take the weight after I lost it on the boards.

[Best Bench]

Mean :clap: How much assistance does it give...percentage wise?

It varies from person to person. I will let Alf tell you his story but I have heard of lifters getting 60 kgs plus out of a shirt. In my view the best carryover is achieved when the raw bench is at its strongest. But I am not an expert here.

Good raw strength is important in shirt benching but as I have discussed with the Doc before shirted benching and raw benching are different lifts with different needs. It is important for lifters to realise/accept this in order to maximise what they are lifting in competition (remember the goal of powerlifting is lift the most in a competition).

Brining up your raw bench will help increase your shirted bench but not necessarily the carryover you get (in fact it may go down if your raw bench and shirt bench go up by the same amount the % carryover will go down). However as long as the weight you lift goes up the carryover is not important.

If I had to rank the most important things to increase the carryover (assuming you are an appropriate size shirt) they would be:

1. Tricep strength/lockout strength

2. Technique

3. Upper back, bicep and shoulder strength

4. Speed work

To explain each briefly in terms of carryover:

1. The shirt will provide minimal support at the lockout so you need to have strong tris/lockout in order to finish the press with the heavier weights that you will be able to get off the chest using the shirt.

2. In order to get the most out of a shirt your technique needs to be very good. When using the shirt there is a lot of tension produced as the weight gets close to your chest. In order to get the weight to the chest you must maintain good technique, if you relax and lose tightness you will lose the tension in the shirt (the more tension the more assistance you will get).

3. The upper back and lats are important when bringing the bar to the chest. You use the back and lats to maintain the correct groove and maximise the tension in the shirt and the assistance you will get off the chest. When using a shirt it is easy to lose control of the bar on the way down and this is when a strong back is important to control the bar.

4. When pressing the bar with a shirt there is a point (often called the transition) where the assistance from the shirt will decrease and the weight will load up on the triceps and shoulders. This is similar to raw bench when the chest has done the work from the bottom and the triceps need to finish off. If a lifter has good speed development they can use the momentum from the bottom to blast through the transition.

These points all relate to carryover when benching in a shirt. Ultimately a better raw bench will increase your shirted bench. However, if I concentrated on bringing up raw bench it would mean a lot of chest work (I miss raw lifts because my chest is weak in comparison to my top end lockout strength). It would also mean less top end work and using lighter weight meaning if I went to unrack 230kg I would probably get crushed. The points above will also help to increase raw strength along with chest/staring strength training, it is important to understand why you are missing attempts and work on your weak points. Due to the nature of shirted benching my weakness in raw bench (starting/chest strength) is not so important in terms of bringing up shirted bench. However, I plan on bringing up my raw bench next year, hopefully given my lockout strength this will come up quickly.