I can't get my shirt on

[majutsu]

As you all know, I got the titan fury. I can't put it on. 2 assistants can't get in on me either. I got one size bigger than I am too. First of all, I thought titan was open back, but it's not . . . Second I can barely get the sleeves over my forearms. Thirdly, when it's half-assed on, I can't even get 545 to touch. And I sure can't lock that out . . .

WTF?

Are you guys crazy. I can't even imagine wearing one of these things.

Am I missing something? Is there an easier way? Do I need bigger arms? (although my measurements were sent to make it, so I would think they know what they're doing.)

Step by step, how do you put on a shirt? Also, my natural form is shot, there is no way to bench high in a shirt, I can sort of touch my upper abs. Do I need to accept a form change? The shirt instructions said "Don't change your natural form" I don't see how that's possible. . .

ACK! Help! I can't put my arms down!

 

[wnt2bBeast]

ahhhh love open backs lol
i ahve no experience with those titans..

as far as benching in a shirt-every shirt has its own groove-metal, karins denim, titan-youll have to practice with it and find the right spot..trust me you will know when you are "hitting into the support" of th shirt..the weight will fly up effortlessly on those days..when out of the groove itll be a struggle ..

anyway i basically have 2 bench days one is mainly shirt work and upper end work using 5-4boards as well as doing lockouts (2-4inch range of motion)

the other day is speed work with bands and lower end strength
if you wanna improve your upper end start hitting the lockouts as well as the high boards

 

[pwrlftrscott]

ahhhh love open backs lol
i ahve no experience with those titans..

as far as benching in a shirt-every shirt has its own groove-metal, karins denim, titan-youll have to practice with it and find the right spot..trust me you will know when you are "hitting into the support" of th shirt..the weight will fly up effortlessly on those days..when out of the groove itll be a struggle ..

anyway i basically have 2 bench days one is mainly shirt work and upper end work using 5-4boards as well as doing lockouts (2-4inch range of motion)

the other day is speed work with bands and lower end strength
if you wanna improve your upper end start hitting the lockouts as well as the high boards

they come with a soft back, its a very easy shirt to get on, first what is your chest measurment and what size is it? if you got the meet fit it should be one size bigger than your chest. and when you get it seated you will get a much lighter weight to touch.
if the arms are really tight, get some plastic shopping bags, the kind with handles, make a hole in the bottom and upt your arm through, hold onto the handle and have someone slide it up, when you get it up as far as you can on both arms put your head through and have someone pull the shirt down, then have them hold the material behind the shoulder tight while you wiggle your arm in a swimming motion, do this for both sides, this will get the shoulders seated. now your ready to take a weight, start with board pressess, add weight till you can get ti down to a 4 brd, then add till you get to a 3 brd and so on till you get it to your chest, this will help you break in the shirt. it will stretch out some, and get a little easier to put on. even with the meet fit it should take a MINIMUM of 50lbs over your raw max to touch your chest. don't give up on it the more you use it the easier it is to get on/ off and the better you will get with it.

 

[majutsu]

HAHAHAHA

I think you all are joking me. No one actually uses those things . . . you're just pulling my leg, right?

I got it on, once at home, once at the gym with help. Seams in the armpit. My chest is 44 and the shirt is 46. My raw is about 315 for reps. I could not get 405 to touch. I could not get 495 to touch, and I lost my stabilization in my right tri, needing help badly.

The shirt is way too strong for me even at a bigger size. I think I will trade it in for a beginner shirt like an inzer blast some day. I am also just going to train raw with old-fashioned progression. With lifts in the 3 and 400s I just don't need to be messing with pl gear, I'm going to get hurt. . .

 

[wnt2bBeast]

HAHAHAHA

I think you all are joking me. No one actually uses those things . . . you're just pulling my leg, right?

I got it on, once at home, once at the gym with help. Seams in the armpit. My chest is 44 and the shirt is 46. My raw is about 315 for reps. I could not get 405 to touch. I could not get 495 to touch, and I lost my stabilization in my right tri, needing help badly.

The shirt is way too strong for me even at a bigger size. I think I will trade it in for a beginner shirt like an inzer blast some day. I am also just going to train raw with old-fashioned progression. With lifts in the 3 and 400s I just don't need to be messing with pl gear, I'm going to get hurt. . .

preactice practice practice..if your not peaking for a meet dont worry about what will touch and what wont...i would work boards until you get comfortable in your shirt to do full range work and strengthen those tris!!!

 

[pwrlftrscott]

HAHAHAHA

I think you all are joking me. No one actually uses those things . . . you're just pulling my leg, right?

I got it on, once at home, once at the gym with help. Seams in the armpit. My chest is 44 and the shirt is 46. My raw is about 315 for reps. I could not get 405 to touch. I could not get 495 to touch, and I lost my stabilization in my right tri, needing help badly.

The shirt is way too strong for me even at a bigger size. I think I will trade it in for a beginner shirt like an inzer blast some day. I am also just going to train raw with old-fashioned progression. With lifts in the 3 and 400s I just don't need to be messing with pl gear, I'm going to get hurt. . .

is this your first shirt? a size 46 with a 44 chest is about right. just to give you an idea i wear a 48 fury with a 48 chest and 17 arms. most weat thier chest size and some even a size smaller, sounds to me like you did not get the shoulers seated all the way, and when you wear it some you will get lighter weights to touch. i can get 365 down in a fury that is my chest size. try the bags to get it seated better and use the boards to break it in, loosen it up some before you give up on it. and btw the blast type shirts are waaaay harder to get on, and give you much less support. it just takes time and practice. now you know why we laugh when someone thinks they can jsut throw on a shirt and bench 100 lbs more, you have to learn them.

 

[pwrlftrscott]

is this your first shirt? a size 46 with a 44 chest is about right. just to give you an idea i wear a 48 fury with a 48 chest and 17 arms. most weat thier chest size and some even a size smaller, sounds to me like you did not get the shoulers seated all the way, and when you wear it some you will get lighter weights to touch. i can get 365 down in a fury that is my chest size. try the bags to get it seated better and use the boards to break it in, loosen it up some before you give up on it. and btw the blast type shirts are waaaay harder to get on, and give you much less support. it just takes time and practice. now you know why we laugh when someone thinks they can jsut throw on a shirt and bench 100 lbs more, you have to learn them.

and if all else fails get a 48 and use it for a while then go back to the 46. you will not find a easier shirt to get on and use.
make sure the neck is pulled high at first, this will make light weights easier to touch, also not cinching it down with a belt will as well, or if you know anyone who is a little bigger than you that is experinced in shirts have them put it on and use it, to help loosen it up some.
oh and another thing, you can get a football that is deflated and put it in the arms and then pump it up, this will stretch them some.
the titan powerwash will make it a bit softer as well, im trying to think of all the things i can to help you get it on correctly, if i think of any more, i will post them. john at earthquake will trade it for you, but i would try it a few times before i went with a bigger size.

 

[pwrlftrscott]

LOL... i'm no expert in getting a shirt on, but i can tell you these things:
1. i've never seen anyone get their first powerlifting apparel and not say "WTF???? i can't get this on!!!"

2. you're not supposed to be able to get your arms down.

3. it takes a lot of work and practice to work with your first shirt- you'll get used to bringing the weight down and you'll also learn to improve your lockout.

4. lol

5. sorry. i was just remembering myself when i first got briefs and i wanted to hunt down every powerlifter for the cruel joke and my mom for giving me these thighs.

g, he has the same size shirt as the one i got for you, did you not get 220 or so down it that one? if you can think of any tips i have forgot, post them for him.

 

[majutsu]

You guys (and ladies) are helpful as always. I think I need a bigger shirt. From bodybuilding, my arms are proportionally bigger than my chest. This was an off-the-rack 46. The guy helping me does APF pl meets, but his chest is 54 inches so he could not even fathom wearing my shirt, plus he uses inzer and didn't want to do something else. My arms are covered with blood blisters today, and I look and feel like I've been gang-raped. My buddy suggested something I haven't heard here, and I wanted your feedback. He thinks even with a bigger shirt it's not going to touch on me with 495+ and my stablizers are too weak for this weight. He suggested using the smith machine with boards to wear in the shirt. What do you think of that, it sounded kinda of logical to me, but I was surprised to hear a PL say the "S" word. I think I need to have one built with a 48 chest and much bigger arms than off the rack.

I also was a little sad to realize how little the shirt bench has to do with a real bench. It's basically a lockout. There's almost no pec involvement. I guess I'm still a vane bodybuilder at heart, because I'm worried about my chest development with this movement.

I'm a little put off right now. So I still think I'm going to put it down a while and just train raw. It's more rewarding to just progress than to be beat up, perform a lockout and have the bar erratically swerving around the whole time.

I will say this, I respect you guys. The idea that you put on a shirt and get a hundred pounds is so ludicrous, that I want to slap each person that's said that. The more I understand this sport, the more I see it's a lot like NASCAR. It has as little to do with raw lifting as NASCAR has in common with track and field. I may be too old for this shit. I just like being a big dinosaur. You all are kind of high-tech.

 

[pwrlftrscott]

You guys (and ladies) are helpful as always. I think I need a bigger shirt. From bodybuilding, my arms are proportionally bigger than my chest. This was an off-the-rack 46. The guy helping me does APF pl meets, but his chest is 54 inches so he could not even fathom wearing my shirt, plus he uses inzer and didn't want to do something else. My arms are covered with blood blisters today, and I look and feel like I've been gang-raped. My buddy suggested something I haven't heard here, and I wanted your feedback. He thinks even with a bigger shirt it's not going to touch on me with 495+ and my stablizers are too weak for this weight. He suggested using the smith machine with boards to wear in the shirt. What do you think of that, it sounded kinda of logical to me, but I was surprised to hear a PL say the "S" word. I think I need to have one built with a 48 chest and much bigger arms than off the rack.

I also was a little sad to realize how little the shirt bench has to do with a real bench. It's basically a lockout. There's almost no pec involvement. I guess I'm still a vane bodybuilder at heart, because I'm worried about my chest development with this movement.

I'm a little put off right now. So I still think I'm going to put it down a while and just train raw. It's more rewarding to just progress than to be beat up, perform a lockout and have the bar erratically swerving around the whole time.

I will say this, I respect you guys. The idea that you put on a shirt and get a hundred pounds is so ludicrous, that I want to slap each person that's said that. The more I understand this sport, the more I see it's a lot like NASCAR. It has as little to do with raw lifting as NASCAR has in common with track and field. I may be too old for this shit. I just like being a big dinosaur. You all are kind of high-tech.

try the bigger shirt, you can get it big enough to where you can get weights down you can handle, the trade off is you get less support. you can get a custom shirt as well, say a 48 with 50 arms, but i think you should try a stock 48 first. your right a raw bench and a shirt bench are 2 different movents altogether, now you know why we do boards and lockouts all the time. its part of the game, but there is still raw meets for those who don't want to use gear. my suggestion would be to get a looser shirt, one you can get on easily and touch light weights with, then after you get used to it and want more support, go to a tighter shirt. i thought the meet fit would do it for you, it does for most people, try one size bigger

 

[wnt2bBeast]

you can wet the shirt down once you have it on across the collar, the arms and across the chest..itll make touching weights a little easier since the shirt will be less stiff

 

[majutsu]

I've tried all the tricks mentioned the last few days. The thing is just way too small. The arms are too tight, but I figured out that's not the real problem. The problem is I have quite a v-taper, so when the shirt is on, the front shoulder seam (even when the backs and armpits are totally seated) is 2 inches from the shoulder on each side. It would be physically impossible to touch. I have a 46. A 48 would be a snug competition fit. I am going to get a 50, for a "meet" fit. As the backs are soft and stretchy, the fit of these things is really the shoulders and chest plate. They ought to use a shoulder to shoulder measurement like inzer instead of around the chest. Around the chest, especially for open back, is pretty misleading.

Do you think a 50 off-the-rack is a good idea? Or am I being to hasty? Please comment guys/ladies.