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Bench shirt arrived from Karin's

brianmincher

New member
Just got my shirt in from Karin's Power Wear. For those that don't know, I have been using an Inzer double denim with the open back, and then the WABDL, which unfortunately is about the only organization in Oklahoma putting on meets, outlawed open back shirts.

This put me in a bad spot, and I had to buy another shirt. I ordered it from Inzer, and when the thing got here it did not work worth a shit. I was going to use 405 and work up from there, expecting the shirt to require something in the 480-500 range to touch. Well 405 went to my chest almost as if I had no shirt on at all. Back to the drawing board. Instead of sending it back to Inzer, I decided to send it to Karin's, and I just got the shirt back. It looks cool as Hell. I wear all black gear, so the body of the shirt is black, but Karin had to take a lot out of the chest, increase the size of the neck, put in additional material in the back, and replace the sleeves, as they were too tight on the original shirt. The reason the shirt looks so cool is that the sleeves and collar are now blue, like a pair of Levi's, and the rest of it including the added material in the back is jet black.

I had a friend help me into the shirt last night, and it felt really really tight across the chest, and I am also able to bring my elbows much closer to my body, and I think I will be able to bring the bar much lower. If I feel good on Sunday the 24th (tomorrow) I may take a couple of singles after speed bench. If not, then I will definately shirt up on Wednesday night for max effort work. I will post you guys and let you know how the shirt performs. By the way, my meet is March 16th, and I have hit 475 in the gym twice weighing between 225 and 230. The current class 1 Oklahoma state bench record in the 242 class is 440.

Wish me luck, and I will post when I have some news.

B
 
Good luck with the shirt. Was it you i told take in the chest? If so i remeber we went through it pretty thorughly. So i think you will be surprised how much a shirt will work with the chest tight. I have had many, and 1 inch in the chest makes a HUGE difference. You may feel awkward when you first lower the bar but remeber to stay in the ONLY groove of the shirt. Dont tork your body and raise shit higher then you have to , to get the bar down. I know you have experience but this was somehting i just learned my self in Jan. In the past i would raise my head so high let the bar fall a little forwar on my chest , where my elbows actually go toward my head just to get it down. The more weight you lift the harder this becomes. And dangerous. I have had lots of weight come out and land on my stomach. Anyway just thought i would through that in. Those that Know me know i wear my shit STUPID tight. I will just say this (not just to brian) you think your shirt is tight ? Subtract about 3 more sizes from that and you may have one of my loose shirts. My loosest shirt is currently is 4 sizes to small! So yes the rebound is good but they are really dangerous. Work with it and it might be perfect the first time, if it aint keep working it till you knwo what it is going to do.

Also how much did the alterations cost? And i have seen shirts that look like yours does withthe sleeves. They do look cool as shit!
 
thanks, Jay and thefng,

The repairs/alterations cost fifty bucks and that included shipping back to me. It would have only been twenty bucks, but the arms were so tight that they were turning my arms blue at the elbows, so she put in new sleeves too, hence the extra cost.

Jay, you and I have discussed the danger factor you mentioned above. I remembered our discussion a few weeks ago when I was doing some shir work in one of my open back shirts. I was planning on going 425, 450, 475, and the 425 got stuck about 3 or 4 inches off my chest and just stuck there. I thought about doing some gyrating to try and get the bar down, but in a flash remembered what you said about that, and just pressed it up and racked it. I had to go to 455 before the bar would touch and even then it took forever the last couple inches, so that shirt is working pretty good.

I will maybe take one or two singles with the shirt today, and let you guys know how things go tonight. Hopefully Oklahoma will have a new record holder and a new 500 club member. Definately will beat the existing record, even if I had to borrow a shirt, but main goal is to get that 500. Feeling pretty confident about that at this point.

Jay, how difficult is it for you to get into your tightest shirt? Even velcro back must be a big challenge if it is that tight.

B
 
Brian let me tell you bro. If that shirt fits right you should smoke 500lbs. So i will congats to you now before you do the meet on the state record.

My tightest shirt takes about 2 minutes , considering its open back no neck velcro. And 2 men or 1 really strong one. and 2 half attempts (if i can) but the one meet i did with it the only attempt was the 635 i did.

If your tris are strong like they should a new shirt will take your lifting to a new level. Example: I online give adavice to alot of people on lifting. I dont really undrstand how my address gets out to so many off this board. A few have said that powermag article i did last year. But there was no email in it. But i would say 15 to 20 came from the mag. Anyway one guy named Jon from Ohio i believe wrote me and said he could bench 480 with a poly on and wanted to get a new shirt, what kind? So i went into detail with him on what he lifted with boards , floors everything , he left out nothing. I told him what i would get, he went a little larger (in fear of it beight to tight) Cause he can send it in if he wants. Keep in mind his best is 480 at this time. He get ts the shirt cuts the neck (keep in mind he doesnt know how to work it yet) loads up 500 or so and barely gets it. 520 comes down but didnt get much rebound from it. So i told him to pull the shirt down hold it in place with his belt. Next email i got i could tell he was hysterical, he had benched 550lbs in the gym! Next week he did 565lbs. Now he will up date me soon, on were he is now but to go from 480 to 565 really is a confidence booster. So it will show you that top end strenght and a tight shirt will move up your compt bench. I hope your shirt works like it should.

In the same type of shirt 2x denim open, i have 5 or so currently is use and my loosest one gives me 50 lbs or so, my tightest gives me 100 plus. That is mainly why i use nothing less then a 4 brd in training. Any less for me is useless. I will start using 5brd and 6 brd next week. Good luck bro, sorry this is so long! Let us know how it works for ya.
 
Oklahoma has a bench on the beach at Eufala lake every year on the saturday following july 4th, and in that meet, although it is WABDL sanctioned, there is no testing, and you can wear whatever shirt you want. For that meet, I am going to take the larger of my open backs and send it to Karins for a severe refitting. I am going to take about 3 inches out of the chest looking for a shirt that will take a bit over 500 to even touch. Hopefully my scheme will work out.

This will make you laugh, and make some other guys on here turn green, but I giggled when I read your post regarding a 6 board press, because for my short little chopped off ass, a 6 board press with a competition grip would involve absolutely no press at all. The bar would be sitting on the boards directly. In the 5 board press, I have to grip just a couple inches off the smooth to have about a 4 inch press stroke.

What are you weighing right now Jay? I am about 225, and am having to concentrate on eating not to drop below 221 before march 16th. I may have to adopt your gatorade and snickers diet plan. Lol.

B
 
Well the shirt works. Sundays are not my heavy day, but I couldn't stand to get a new shirt in and not use it, so after speed bench today, I tried the new shirt out as follows.

Put 405 on the bar to test out the shirt. No way, stopped about 4 inches above my chest, let it sit there for about 3 seconds then pressed it back up. Then tried 455, it also stopped before my chest, but just an inch above, so I let it sink in, by relaxing a little bit. Pressed that up, but it was pretty tough after having relaxed to get the bar to touch, and then went to 480. By this time I was pretty tired, and was only taking a couple of minutes between attempts, and not removing the shirt. 480 went to the chest at a good pace, blew up after a pause, and at about 3 inches from lockout, I lost the groove, and the bar started going over my head, instead of staying in the low chest groove. So I missed that one.

But the good news was that this was the first time I tried the shirt, and hit some decent numbers for me, even after speed sets, and that short of a misgrooving, I would have hit a new P.R.

Hopefully I can get it all together on March 16th. If not, it will not be from lack of effort and support. Thanks a lot to the board.

B.
 
Good job withthe shirt. Grimmer and i are shirting up tommorow i will keep you posted.

Right now i am around 255lbs. I will be 242 for March 16th. So i am just eating 3 times a day righ tnow. Sounds crazy but i am just getting burnt on eating!

Snickers and gatorade works!
 
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