Bench Press Shirts Shot Down by Ted Arcidi

[1-dawg]

Flex -- Where would the sport be w/o th equipment manufacturers?? Dead, just like olympic lifting. Who do you think sponsors meets, lifters, world teams?? Olympic lifting is even dying overseas where it once flourished as a sport. In most countries, powerlifting is becoming more popular if it isn't already.

I can gaurantee you that a dbl ply squat suit doesn nothing more for performance than a single ply suit. I have used both and actually prefer a single ply suit. The only advantage you have to a single ply suit is that a dbl is les apt to blowout. It sounds like you have never really competed in a power meet, maybe you should withhold judgement until you have. AS far ted -- well I remember that article and most lifters thought he acted like a whiny jackass. The sport has progressed, maybe ted hasn't, but the sport has. Yes, you get more with a dbl denim shirt, btu don't for a minute think a rank amatuer can put one ofthose shirts on a get 100lbs. It takes practice and lots of it. Powerlifting is not necessarily about who can lift the most, but about who can put up the biggest number under the given rules.

 

[flex-mb]

I respect your opinion PowFit and you make a very good point with the track shoes analogy.

How many lifters out of thousands upon thousands of attempts are injured when doing a max bench press without a bench shirt? Probably well less than one percent. My point is where does it stop? Powerlifting is one of the few (yes I know pole vaulters use special poles, track athletes use special shoes etc...). sports that goes to the extreme with all the equipment. I thought that powerlifteing was a sport of extreme strength and toughness (rhetorical question)? Well imagine in the sport of arm wrestling if some guy said 'PUT ON YOUR FUCKING ARMWRESTLING SUIT AND SEE IF YOU CAN PIN ME!!!' He would be laughed out of the room! I just think that it should be 'your chest' pushing the weight up. 'Your rotators' stabilizing 'your shoulder girdle'. If you really need a bench shirt and your argument is for it to prevent injury, then I can sort of see that rationale although supporting evidence is weak. If we need bench shirts then why not bench on a Smith Machine (Greg Kovacs style) too? That would help prevent injury and futher level the playing field as every lifter would move the bar in a straight up motion. As far as demanding sports go, if I had the genetics and 'anabolic help' I would do Olympic Style lifting day in and day out. Olympic Lifters (the world class ones) train harder and more frequent than powerlifters. Check out a training hall tape from Ironmind where 200lb Ivan Chakarov (Bulgarian lifter) does a triple with a 600lb squat with NO belt, NO knee wraps and NO spotter and does not use a squat rack! He goes so deep his butt is only 6 or so inches off the floor. The bar is as high on his traps as it can possibly go further reducing his leverage and taking his lower back out of the movement and his stance is only shoulder width. This squat is also performed at the end of his second workout that day and he works out 6 and 7 days a week!!! His PR in the squat in that same style in 770 lbs!!! Try that for intensity and 'raw' strength! I do the olympic style lifts occasionally myself and I train each bodypart once every 3 to 5 days since that is what I need to recover. Please, I am illustrating a point here, not putting down powerlifters as individuals.

 

[strongestsurvive]

That is why people need to say what organization they lift under when they give a total. If you lift in the USPF and compete at the national level, you can only where single ply suits (squat or bench) and they do the equipment checks. I have gone to some of the new federations' and associations' national meets and people lift like there are no rules (and definetly no equipment checks). I once saw Mike Ruggeria at the IPA Nationals (who I came down with to help) pull a 790 deadlift, never lock it out, and was never given a down signal and he still got all 3 whites. What is the point of going to a meet if the rules and not strict and the equipment is not held with in check. It is just like lifting in the gym, except now you get your name in PLUSA. I have seen many lifters in the warm up room miss 365 with out a shirt and then put on a 3-5 layer canvas and hit over 500! And now if you lift with a single poly you are placed in the same category as people who have kevlar stitched into their suit. I think that powerlifting is going in the wrong direction when poeple are not doing most of their lifting but their shirt is. I think that a new federation is going to be formed that will get away from the shirts and all the gear. Where the only thing you can where is a belt. No wraps, No shirts, No suits...Then we will see who are the real lifters and who are the 700 pound benchers. The only one that I know of without a shirt is James Henderson. I thought the whole point of going to a meet is to see what can be done by YOU in a strict lifting environment--IT is supposed to be a test to see if your lifting can compare to those who have been lifting in that organization and to see if you can beat their records if everything else remains the same. For example, Kaz's bench of 661 without a shirt was beat by Henderson. The best way to see if somebody is as really as strong as they say they are is be comparing their deadlift to the rest of their lifts. THAT IS THE ONLY LIFT YOU CAN'T CHEAT ON, UNLESS SOME FEDERATIONS START ALLOWING WRISTSTRAPS!

strongestsurvive

 

[PowFit]

strongestsurvive- I agree. Everybody should look at each lift and what the situation was around it. Some federations are known for being very strict about everything (gear, drugs, form) and some anything goes. I have seen some squats on video that were at least 8 inches high and got passed because the promoter wants the big lifts done in his meet. You can't really compare lifts if you don't have all the information. I remember findingmout that a high school meet that was put on buy some kids and judged by kids got their numbers in the top 100 list. There is a huge difference meet to meet. I have no problem with people using advanced supplements or advanced bench shirts as long as they compete with lifters following the same guidelines. To each there own.

That article sucks. I really hate it when people put others down to put them selves up. Things like that put a wedge between lifters and holds the sport back. A new lifter is going to read that and think it holds some truth. If I thought some putz was wearing a "double-lateral, quadruplayer rubberized denim and polyester slingshot shirt" I would think it was cheating too. I am sure the person would not assume that is a bunch of BS coming from the imagination of Ted Arcidi. It would turn me away from powerlifting all together. I would come to that conclusion because I thought Ted Arcidi was a reliable source of unbiased information which he is far from that. Powerlifting is a sport of personal challenges. It always has been. If you don't like shirts, then kick ass without one. I will be cheering you on. Just don't cry because others are using them.

1-dawg - I agree with you too. bodybuilding would not be near what it has been if it was not for supplements. Its industry made it what it is. Our industry is lifting equipment. Promoters get support all the time from these companies. Lifters are also getting sponsored by equipment companies. You think there would be powerlifting magazines if there were not equipment companies advertising? Without equipment powerlifting would be less than 1/4 its size right now. Powerlifting is bigger than it ever has been. It is not just the industry doing that, but it is helping.

If you know about all the politics you would know that the IPF was sued and not allowed to come in the USA. Because of an equipment company taking care of the HUGE lawsuit (something like $350,000) the IPF will be able to host meets and World Championships in the USA for the first time in about 15 years. I don't lift IPF, but 1000s do.

 

[brianmincher]

Bench shirts

Why do we enter a bench press contest? To bench as much as possible.

Why do we train our asses off? To bench as much as possible.

Why do I wear a double layer denim bench shirt? Because that is what is allowed where I lift . . . Oh, yeah, and also for the same reason that I train hard and go to Bench Contests . . . TO BENCH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!

If you want to brag about your raw bench go ahead. But don't bitch about what someone else is doing with a shirt on. Either put on a shirt just like the one he used and blow him away with your superior raw strength or shut up!

 

[Stor Mand]

I completely agree with Natural Mike on the issue. If you can't lift it without the shirt, it shouldn't count in a meet or otherwise, no more than it would count if someone is pushing my elbows when the weight starts getting too heavy.
That's all I wanted to say.

 

[vinman]

Arcidi was the man in the 80's and I have a great deal of respect for him but to slam his competitors like he's in the WWF is pretty immature. I also recall Arcidi getting green lights for non-locked out benches because he supposedly couldn't lock out his elbows due to injury. Was that fair to his fellow lifters?

 

[BigPhysicsBastard]

wow!!! That guys pretty much a dick!!! I personally don't see the point of bench shirts, but to shit on other guys for using them is pretty fucking pointless. I smell a whining vagina. As I said though, I'll agree with him to the extent that I think bench shirts don't just add support to the joints, there's a "legitimate" aid being performed by these shirts. I don't like that concept, not raggin on those that do, but I'd rather lift a big weight and get off the bench knowing that weight was lifted with my own raw muscle power.

 

[strongestsurvive]

It is good to hear that some people want to lift the weights "with their own real muscle power," Powerlifting started to find out who is the strongest for a given weight class. The equipment came into play to protect from injury. Once a piece of equipment started to help with the lifts, back in the old days they banned it...Look what happened to elbow raps. I think that people are relying on the equipment too much. I went back home to watch a bench meet the other week and I was talking to one of the 242ers and he was telling me he was going to go over 600. In the warm up room he missed 440, with me giving him a lift off. The guy wasn't even close and later that day he hit 605 with a tripple denim shirt with kevlar stitched into the seams. Now for me at least I don't put this guys lift anywhere near Don Rheinholdt's 606 bench with out a shirt, but now because the guy hit the weight in a meet, he will get his name in PLUSA and can go around bragging that he can bench as much as Don Rheinholdt. I think that is Big Don was there he would laugh and a lot of the old time powerlifters today think that the meets are a joke. Kaz was at the world cup a few years back and said with the shirts they have today he would have benched over 850 (661 with out a shirt).

strongestsurvive

 

[buffisthestuff]

ted

waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

Sad to see a grown man cry. Just do your own thing man, don't cut other people down or single them out. If it is allowed by the federation you can't blame them for using it.

-buff