Bench PR

[Chambewy20]

Well haven't shared anything about myself around here and usually hang out on the powerelifting board but since it's a ghost town, I'll post it here.

So my training partner decided he wanted to see what kinda weight he could hit in a new shirt, my little buddy never showed so no board holder today, so I decided to go along with it and it went sorta like this...

135 x a couple of sets for ? reps

225 x 1 set of 5 or so, shoulders felt beat up a little, was trying to use my version of a Metal Militia set up, realized the bench was too low or the bar was too high, kept spreading my shoulder blades so put quarters underneath all 4 legs of the bench. Yes I train in a commercial gym with crappy benches and crappy squat racks so I bench out of the rack, it's the only way someone could drag the weight off of me if i got tattooed.

315 x 3 Put shirt on here, no belt or wraps, first didn't touch, let the shirt ride all the way to my chin and was able to touch on 2 and 3, basicly just dropped the weight fast and went almost to my belt... but it touched.

365 x 2 Put belt and wraps on here, did not pull shirt down much, no touch on 1, took it almost down to my belt again and dropped my wrists back and threw shoulders forward to touch on 2

405 x 1 No touch, weight didn't feel bad but partner seemed a little nervous and I wasn't going to try to take it way down on gut. My partner is a 165 lber and he's a bench only competitor, I don't know if he can deadlift 405 and wasn't going to find out.

455 x 1 Set up was pretty good, felt tight with a decent arch, I usually count to two, take a big belly of air and nod.... well dude could not lift it out of the rack so I basicly unracked the weight myself. Felt pretty good, shirt was jacked tight, started the descent, all was good until about two inches away and felt it wanting to stick, took it down a little further than usual and went faster than I wanted then the friggin threads in the sleeve seams started to crackle. I just blew out an old inzer shirt about a month ago and knew this cat could not pull this weight off of me. Nonetheless, I've pretty much been through all the bad things that can happen while benching so I didn't get rattled. The weight came out of the hole pretty good and started to stick about 3/4's through the stroke, my dude just yelled and stayed away from the bar, as long as it's not going down, it's all good.

The outcome was 50 lb. gym PR, I've never benched more than twice my body weight and it's halfway to 500. I've only been benching heavy for about a month and a half consistently. I used a single ply Metal x-type bencher, good shirt but I would not suggest it for a first time shirt or for someone who's afraid to do what they have to do to touch. In the end, I popped blood vessels in my eyes, all over my face, shoulders and ended up with a ton of bruises all over but it felt so fucking good.

My shoulders felt better then when doing partial ranges of motion and my face had the puffy swolen look, it's all good. Body weight was 218 that day and I've been glowing ever since... In the immortal drunken words of one of my best friends..."it feels good to feel good."

 

[Quadsweeps Sister]

Fantastic news on your bench PR. I know you've been on and off lately and its nice to hear you had such a good day of lifting.

Keep up the great lifting. Congrats.

 

[Lee]

Jesus I got nothin even close to that, ever. Very nice man.

 

[H_T_]

that's great, dude. way to go.

 

[anotherbutters]

Sounds like a hard-fought PR in not the best of conditions. Congrats!

 

[curgeo]

Nice Chamb. What shirt are you using? Did you ever see the Metal Militia dvd? It has some nice hints on shirts.

Great PR.

 

[silver_shadow]

Well haven't shared anything about myself around here and usually hang out on the powerelifting board but since it's a ghost town, I'll post it here.

So my training partner decided he wanted to see what kinda weight he could hit in a new shirt, my little buddy never showed so no board holder today, so I decided to go along with it and it went sorta like this...

135 x a couple of sets for ? reps

225 x 1 set of 5 or so, shoulders felt beat up a little, was trying to use my version of a Metal Militia set up, realized the bench was too low or the bar was too high, kept spreading my shoulder blades so put quarters underneath all 4 legs of the bench. Yes I train in a commercial gym with crappy benches and crappy squat racks so I bench out of the rack, it's the only way someone could drag the weight off of me if i got tattooed.

315 x 3 Put shirt on here, no belt or wraps, first didn't touch, let the shirt ride all the way to my chin and was able to touch on 2 and 3, basicly just dropped the weight fast and went almost to my belt... but it touched.

365 x 2 Put belt and wraps on here, did not pull shirt down much, no touch on 1, took it almost down to my belt again and dropped my wrists back and threw shoulders forward to touch on 2

405 x 1 No touch, weight didn't feel bad but partner seemed a little nervous and I wasn't going to try to take it way down on gut. My partner is a 165 lber and he's a bench only competitor, I don't know if he can deadlift 405 and wasn't going to find out.

455 x 1 Set up was pretty good, felt tight with a decent arch, I usually count to two, take a big belly of air and nod.... well dude could not lift it out of the rack so I basicly unracked the weight myself. Felt pretty good, shirt was jacked tight, started the descent, all was good until about two inches away and felt it wanting to stick, took it down a little further than usual and went faster than I wanted then the friggin threads in the sleeve seams started to crackle. I just blew out an old inzer shirt about a month ago and knew this cat could not pull this weight off of me. Nonetheless, I've pretty much been through all the bad things that can happen while benching so I didn't get rattled. The weight came out of the hole pretty good and started to stick about 3/4's through the stroke, my dude just yelled and stayed away from the bar, as long as it's not going down, it's all good.

The outcome was 50 lb. gym PR, I've never benched more than twice my body weight and it's halfway to 500. I've only been benching heavy for about a month and a half consistently. I used a single ply Metal x-type bencher, good shirt but I would not suggest it for a first time shirt or for someone who's afraid to do what they have to do to touch. In the end, I popped blood vessels in my eyes, all over my face, shoulders and ended up with a ton of bruises all over but it felt so fucking good.

My shoulders felt better then when doing partial ranges of motion and my face had the puffy swolen look, it's all good. Body weight was 218 that day and I've been glowing ever since... In the immortal drunken words of one of my best friends..."it feels good to feel good."

damn it cham... just go away.... you hurt my ego very badly....
i'll have to add a few lifts to get up there...

 

[blut wump]

What a great workout. It makes me wish I was there to see it.

Congrats.

 

[Introspective]

Congrats on a heavey bench press. How much can you bench raw ?

 

[Tweakle]

nothing feels as good a hitting a PR, enjoy that glow cause you earned it

nice work fella

 

[curgeo]

Congrats on a heavey bench press. How much can you bench raw ?

Who cares?! Most powerlifters could care less how much they raw bench. All we care about is our shoulders and pecs not being compromised. If raw benching is what a person wants to do, that is totally cool. I for one prefer a shirt.

 

[blut wump]

At what stage would you recommend someone start to think about getting and using a shirt or, rather, is there some stage before which there's no point messing about with one?

 

[curgeo]

To be honest, I think a person should have a foundation of training, but I think anybody that has that can use or progress into a shirt. Dave Tate talks about beginners using one. Blut Wimp? You never use one? What size are you? My training partners and I always have extra shirts laying around. Let me know and if we have one that fits I will send it to you to play with.

 

[Tweakle]

There were guys at my old gym putting on a shirt to 3-board 275, which to me seemed ridiculous but to each their own.

having never done it before and not being interested in PLing my opinion is pretty much worth '.'

 

[Introspective]

Who cares?! Most powerlifters could care less how much they raw bench. All we care about is our shoulders and pecs not being compromised. If raw benching is what a person wants to do, that is totally cool. I for one prefer a shirt.

I care, obviously or i wouldn't of asked.

I ask because i would like to have an idea of how much extra one can bench with a shirt compared to shirtless, so that i can get a rough idea of how much extra i would be able to lift with a shirt.

 

[Chambewy20]

damn it cham... just go away.... you hurt my ego very badly....
i'll have to add a few lifts to get up there...

Not at all dude, it's been a work in progress for a while, never expected to get much over 365 in the beginning, now we'll just have to see how things go....

Congrats on a heavey bench press. How much can you bench raw ?

I have no clue dude, in the 300's somewhere, I'm a better shirt bencher than a raw bencher meaning that's what my form is focussed around. I probably get more carryover from a single ply than most guys, my tri's are fairly strong but who really knows? Since fugging up my knee and going from being a three lift competitor where my bench was the weakest link to trying to become a bench only puke, I will have to see how things go...

At what stage would you recommend someone start to think about getting and using a shirt or, rather, is there some stage before which there's no point messing about with one?

Never too soon or too late in my opinion, easier the sooner you get a hold of someone, elbows out benchers are hard headed as hell.

 

[curgeo]

It varies with the shirt. Some people get 50lbs out of it, others get 100 or so. Bill Crawford gets silly carryover from his but he knows the shirt really well. I didn't mean to sound sarcastic....I am sorry if It came across that way. There is so many variables.....where are you strongest in the lift? How do you wear the shirt? What kind it is? Is it demin, poly or something else? Do you have somebody to train with that knows the shirt?

It is an individual thing. If you are to get one, I would look at the Metal Militia video to learn more about it.

 

[LiftingDukkha]

Wow, that's awesome Chambewy. I like & can't fathom the popped blood vessels & bruised eyes part. That's the definition of "INTENSE"! Congratulations.

 

[blut wump]

To be honest, I think a person should have a foundation of training, but I think anybody that has that can use or progress into a shirt. Dave Tate talks about beginners using one. Blut Wump? You never use one? What size are you? My training partners and I always have extra shirts laying around. Let me know and if we have one that fits I will send it to you to play with.

Thanks, Curgeo, that's a mighty generous offer. I've been looking at prices on the 'Net and a beginners' blast Inzer shirt seems to be pretty much dirt cheap so I might as well buy one. I know that my gym has a couple of power lifters that work out in the mornings so I might also try to get some morning workouts in and try to bump into them. Denim looks interesting, though, and better suited to a lower touchdown.

 

[silver_shadow]

talking about shirted max vs raw max, as cham pointed out, his form is suited for shirted lifting... consider this - the shirted WR and the raw WR are set by 2 different guys.

 

[blut wump]

talking about shirted max vs raw max, as cham pointed out, his form is suited for shirted lifting... consider this - the shirted WR and the raw WR are set by 2 different guys.

I've been reading up on shirted benching so I'm an expert now

I get the impression that shirted benching bears about as much resemblance to raw benching as a PL squat does to an Oly squat.

 

[Devastation]

talking about shirted max vs raw max, as cham pointed out, his form is suited for shirted lifting... consider this - the shirted WR and the raw WR are set by 2 different guys.

really? i thought mendelson held both. what did i miss


and congrats on the pr bro

 

[silver_shadow]

really? i thought mendelson held both. what did i miss


and congrats on the pr bro

well, the shirted record is now held by mendelson (also the raw record)... it was held by gene rychlak till recently... sorry for the confusion... 1005lbs to 1008 lbs but i believe, the rules were slightly different in both cases... what was different? sorry, i have no answer.

 

[Devastation]

well, the shirted record is now held by mendelson (also the raw record)... it was held by gene rychlak till recently... sorry for the confusion... 1005lbs to 1008 lbs but i believe, the rules were slightly different in both cases... what was different? sorry, i have no answer.

no problem bro

actually gene's record was set in the ipa and scot competes in the apf. not much difference as far as rules go

 

[Chambewy20]

Thanks, Curgeo, that's a mighty generous offer. I've been looking at prices on the 'Net and a beginners' blast Inzer shirt seems to be pretty much dirt cheap so I might as well buy one. I know that my gym has a couple of power lifters that work out in the mornings so I might also try to get some morning workouts in and try to bump into them. Denim looks interesting, though, and better suited to a lower touchdown.

For price in a single ply poly I beleive Titan would be the way to go, for denims there are Kerin's which are hard to get your hands on in a short period of time and take someone who's experienced or around someone with experience to learn.

Metal has just came out with a new denim with a really low scoop neck although I have not seen any information or reviews, most of the guys that test their equipment are pro's or close to it.

Inzer has the Rage X that I've seen work really well for some single ply guys although Inzer customer service sucks and typically to get a great shirt from them, they have to be custom. If you can find a distributor, that would be your best bet.

What I found with my metal is the right sized chest plate corresponds with sleeves that you can't get past your forearms, also my metal shoulder seams make me nervous as hell, I know one of one other guy that blew his out and it's one of the rare occasions that I know of that a peice of metal gear failed.
Their not always the best pop or whatever but the are usually pretty durable.

Inzer denims aren't too bad either, from what I've heard but don't really know much about any of them except double ply open backs, Fred Boldt goes through them pretty regularly....

 

[Illuminati]

Well haven't shared anything about myself around here and usually hang out on the powerelifting board but since it's a ghost town, I'll post it here.

So my training partner decided he wanted to see what kinda weight he could hit in a new shirt, my little buddy never showed so no board holder today, so I decided to go along with it and it went sorta like this...

135 x a couple of sets for ? reps

225 x 1 set of 5 or so, shoulders felt beat up a little, was trying to use my version of a Metal Militia set up, realized the bench was too low or the bar was too high, kept spreading my shoulder blades so put quarters underneath all 4 legs of the bench. Yes I train in a commercial gym with crappy benches and crappy squat racks so I bench out of the rack, it's the only way someone could drag the weight off of me if i got tattooed.

315 x 3 Put shirt on here, no belt or wraps, first didn't touch, let the shirt ride all the way to my chin and was able to touch on 2 and 3, basicly just dropped the weight fast and went almost to my belt... but it touched.

365 x 2 Put belt and wraps on here, did not pull shirt down much, no touch on 1, took it almost down to my belt again and dropped my wrists back and threw shoulders forward to touch on 2

405 x 1 No touch, weight didn't feel bad but partner seemed a little nervous and I wasn't going to try to take it way down on gut. My partner is a 165 lber and he's a bench only competitor, I don't know if he can deadlift 405 and wasn't going to find out.

455 x 1 Set up was pretty good, felt tight with a decent arch, I usually count to two, take a big belly of air and nod.... well dude could not lift it out of the rack so I basicly unracked the weight myself. Felt pretty good, shirt was jacked tight, started the descent, all was good until about two inches away and felt it wanting to stick, took it down a little further than usual and went faster than I wanted then the friggin threads in the sleeve seams started to crackle. I just blew out an old inzer shirt about a month ago and knew this cat could not pull this weight off of me. Nonetheless, I've pretty much been through all the bad things that can happen while benching so I didn't get rattled. The weight came out of the hole pretty good and started to stick about 3/4's through the stroke, my dude just yelled and stayed away from the bar, as long as it's not going down, it's all good.

The outcome was 50 lb. gym PR, I've never benched more than twice my body weight and it's halfway to 500. I've only been benching heavy for about a month and a half consistently. I used a single ply Metal x-type bencher, good shirt but I would not suggest it for a first time shirt or for someone who's afraid to do what they have to do to touch. In the end, I popped blood vessels in my eyes, all over my face, shoulders and ended up with a ton of bruises all over but it felt so fucking good.

My shoulders felt better then when doing partial ranges of motion and my face had the puffy swolen look, it's all good. Body weight was 218 that day and I've been glowing ever since... In the immortal drunken words of one of my best friends..."it feels good to feel good."

Cham....

Congrats on the PR. Sounds like things are going good for your bench. Sorry to hear about the knee. do you think it will heal up to the point where you will be able to do a 3 lift meet again?
I tried out a Rage X last week. Shirt was a 54 with 56 arms, and I need a 50. Still, I got about a 50lb carry over from a very loose shirt. went to try a 52 this week, but had some problems with my elbows.the 52 was still loose on me, so I ordered a 50. Should be in next week. For a loose shirt, the Rage X had a lot of pop. I was having trouble getting 405 to touch. I had to lift my head, and really pull down on the bar to get it close. I think that I'm gonna have a lot harder time when I put on the 50.

Aint that the truth about not getting rattled. I think the thing that separates an Elite PLer from the rest is their mentality. You truly have to have a no-holds-bar mentality that you are going to do whatever it takes to get a weight to touch, or hit your depth, or lockout. you can't be scared of the weight, for once you start to think about it, you are done.

 

[Chambewy20]

Cham....

Congrats on the PR. Sounds like things are going good for your bench. Sorry to hear about the knee. do you think it will heal up to the point where you will be able to do a 3 lift meet again?
I tried out a Rage X last week. Shirt was a 54 with 56 arms, and I need a 50. Still, I got about a 50lb carry over from a very loose shirt. went to try a 52 this week, but had some problems with my elbows.the 52 was still loose on me, so I ordered a 50. Should be in next week. For a loose shirt, the Rage X had a lot of pop. I was having trouble getting 405 to touch. I had to lift my head, and really pull down on the bar to get it close. I think that I'm gonna have a lot harder time when I put on the 50.

Aint that the truth about not getting rattled. I think the thing that separates an Elite PLer from the rest is their mentality. You truly have to have a no-holds-bar mentality that you are going to do whatever it takes to get a weight to touch, or hit your depth, or lockout. you can't be scared of the weight, for once you start to think about it, you are done.

Regarding the knee, not sure what's up with it. Originally I had a baker's cyst, big accumulation of fluid behind the knee. When I went to have the MRI, they found tons of bone fragments, a couple tendon tears and fracture somewhere in there. I took about two and a half months off from squatting and deads and then got right back into it full board like a dumbass. I was supposed to be on crutches for that long and those lasted about a day. We will see how it goes when I decide to go back under the knife, it's impairing my quality of life, i.e. tough to walk up stairs and play with my daughter, so it might happen soon.

Yeah for keeping your cool under pressure, I've tried the old strap yourself down with bands and a three board on your chest only to be smacked in the mouth when benching a ton so yeah, there's a lot to be said about performing under adverse conditions. I would give my left nut to be able to train in a gym that had a real bench or squat rack.

Good for you bro again....

 

[Illuminati]

Regarding the knee, not sure what's up with it. Originally I had a baker's cyst, big accumulation of fluid behind the knee. When I went to have the MRI, they found tons of bone fragments, a couple tendon tears and fracture somewhere in there. I took about two and a half months off from squatting and deads and then got right back into it full board like a dumbass. I was supposed to be on crutches for that long and those lasted about a day. We will see how it goes when I decide to go back under the knife, it's impairing my quality of life, i.e. tough to walk up stairs and play with my daughter, so it might happen soon.

Yeah for keeping your cool under pressure, I've tried the old strap yourself down with bands and a three board on your chest only to be smacked in the mouth when benching a ton so yeah, there's a lot to be said about performing under adverse conditions. I would give my left nut to be able to train in a gym that had a real bench or squat rack.

Good for you bro again....

Hope all goes well with your knee. its tough when an injury starts to take away from the joys of life....i.e. playing with your kids. that is one of the things that I thought about with my back. I dont have any kids now, but I put some thought into what it would be like to have a permanately screwed up back, and not be able to play with my kids, when I have them. Hasn't been bothering me at all, so I am hoping that its healed. I should get another CAT scan done to be sure. But we all know how that goes.
I remember the first time I used bands...thought I would be a smart ass and use the lights for bench press. Unracked it, and that SOB slammed down onto my chest. Luckily I was able to get it up enough so that I could get it onto the bottom hooks of the bench (the bench had two sets of hooks, one that was about 3 inches off my chest, and hooks that the normal height.) Let me tell ya, that one left a mark.