A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE BENCH SHIRT!!! [HD VIDEO INCLUDED!!!!]

The MONSTER GARAGE GYM/MAROSCHER COACHING LOG is a weekly Coaching Log by MGG owner, 2-Time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, Eric Maroscher, and is one of the Featured Coaching Logs at EliteFTS.
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Monster Garage Gym/Maroscher Coaching Log: (Log number LXXX). A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE BENCH SHIRT!!! [HD VIDEO INCLUDED!!!!]

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This coaching log takes you through some of the history of the bench shirt as well as a holistic look at this piece of equipment.

Just as I am sure you do at your gym, at the Monster Garage Gym we discuss all things powerlifting. Recently for fun I brought out from my office and into the weight room part of the MGG, some of my first generation Ernie Frantz equipment. The guys wanted to try it on, feel the thickness or lack thereof, of the material, etc. (Ernie Frantz, as most know is a legendary powerlifter with some of the biggest numbers of that era, but he was also an amazing innovator of powerlifting equipment having developed the canvas squat suit, bench shirt and denium bench shirt. He also revolutionized the angle of the arm angle of the bench shirt as well). It was a fun trip down memory lane and pretty eye opening to the lifters who only know of the modern gear.

Ernie Frantz was a pioneer with regard to the development of the bench shirt, and squat suit.

Trying on the equipment lead to a discussion about equipment, then and now, RAW lifting, etc. Then as the conversation deepened we started to discuss that your view of equipment, (as well as so many things in life) is often strongly influenced by your age and life experience. At the MGG we have an age span of lifters that covers the teens through the Master V.

Some of the team at MONSTER GARAGE GYM trying on the denim and canvas bench shirts.

The conversation continued after training and into the outer area of the MGG. There the discussion evolved into how nuances such as, where you were in your lifting and what the shirt technology was at the time, is as large of a variable as the shirt’s material, cut/sleeve angle/design, etc. The older lifters who started lifting at an earlier age discussed that when they were training, training RAW, then the first generation shirt came around, those shirts yielded a modest increase in weight (20-40LB roughly), as well as the fact that you could for the most part keep your RAW form as the shirt was in essence like wearing a very, very tight t-shirt. The discussion also covered how as the shirt’s material changed, then the cuts or design of the shirt changed that the technique of the bencher and the way to train to compete in the shirt changed to adapt to those changes.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDMagGyF8o&feature=youtu.be]

So, if you were a RAW bencher who lifted in first generation gear, and took a break from competition after the first generation shirts arrived and then started back not only after the demise of the first generation shirt, but also following the initial rise of poly shirts, as well as after the significant cut and designs changes, in most cases, you were not only looking at a very steep learning curve, but really looking at having to learn to bench press all over.

This reassessment and relearning of “how to bench” was occurring all over the geared community as during the very rapid evolutionary time in the late 1990’s early 2000’s (as the old canvas and denim shirts would regularly blow), there were a series of very, very good benchers in this new poly shirt era, new design era, who were breaking their forearms. These were never before seen injuries because the weak part of the bencher had shifted from muscular failure, or a shirt blowing out to the new weak link, the human forearm. Thus the necessity to learn to use different leverages of your body for the bench press in an effort to get the most out of the new bench shirt.

In a way, it would be like taking a great Indy car driver and putting them into a dragster. Both are cars, both go fast, but the reality is it is two different ways to race/compete/drive. Or, you could compare it to playing baseball with a traditional wood bat, vs an aluminum bat. When the aluminum bat first came out (for you young guys/gals) the new injury was the pitcher getting injured as the ball speed off the bat was exponentially faster and the pitcher could not react fast enough to get out of the way. Thus one of the reasons why the pro players still use the wood bat.

When you hear lifters argue about RAW vs shirt, those arguments are in reality superficial at best, moot at worst. The reality is the RAW bench is different than the modern shirted bench, but this does not make one superior, nor one inferior.

Having competed RAW my first 8 years of my 27 competitive years, I found both challenging in and of themselves. As a geared lifter for the majority of my competitive years, there were challenges of adapting to the evolution of the gear itself. For me personally, as the gear evolved I too had to evolve. My squat stance moved out some, I changed from a heeled squat shoe to a flatter shoe, I would widen my stance even further with the use of a monolift and as a long armed deadlifter, I struggled mightily with the bench shirt. From the mid 1990’s to the early 2000’s, I saw the sport of competitive geared powerlifting, which would virtually always come down to the deadlift, take on a whole new strategy as the short armed bencher who was powerful and who really knew how to hone in their bench training could get a whole lot more poundage out of their bench shirt than the good puller could out of their deadlift suit. So, in my mind at least, the argument between which types of lifting, RAW or equipped, benching with or without a shirt is a non-argument as the goal as I see it, and this is just my own personal opinion, is to be better than then lifter I was yesterday. If being better than I was before yields records and titles, that is the bonus. The best RAW lifters and the best geared lifters, best RAW benchers and best shirted benchers are all sewn from a common thread and that is to be the best lifter they can develop into and put in the work to achieve that goal. The best, who also possess an inner confidence could care less about comparing and contrasting the two as their focus is on becoming their best, not on someone else’s chosen way to compete.

For the social media powerlifting “experts” that demand and proclaim that one way to bench or lift or train is better than the other, just keep in mind the following…..Nobel people make demands on themselves…lesser people make demands on others. “Confucius.” Make the demand on yourself that regardless of the type of bencher or powerlifter you are, RAW, single-ply, multi-ply, demand that you work toward becoming the best at your craft and work to be better today than you were yesterday.

The video is a portion of a discussion about the bench shirt and the evolution of the shirt as well as the required adaptability of the lifter as well as other aspects of the bench. This filmed discussion was between WPC World Powerlifting Champion, (775LB shirted bench) Steve Brock and 2-Time APF Senior Nationals Powerlifting Champion and TOP 50 ALL TIME American Bencher (606LB @ 181LBS & 628LBS at 198LBS) Mike Strom, both of the Monster Garage Gym.

We hope you enjoy this longitudinal perspective on this ever debated topic.

MONSTER GARAGE GYM uses Universal Nutrition/Animal supplements and EliteFTS powerlifting equipment.

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As with all of our coaching logs, if you have questions about any of the information or need further explanation, feel free to message us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/MONSTER-GARAGE-GYM-122378057784944/

You can find ALL of the prior EliteFTS/Maroscher Coaching Logs at this link: https://www.elitefts.com/author/eric-maroscher/
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