? for powerlifterjay

[Hunter Hearst Hormone]

I am assuming you do some shirt work on some max effort days. I got a new double denim shirt and tried it out today. How do you judge if a shirt is to tight.
I started with board presses and as the weight got heavier I took a board out:
( 2 boards)
135x3
225x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
445x1
485x1 (shirt) barely got it to the boards
525x1 (one board) Go it to touch but had to force hard to get it down and felt like the collar was choking me. I don't think I could have gotten this down to the chest without the board.
My training partner said to add more weight and remove the 1 board. I was thinking that 540-550 would touch but i do not think I have the tris to lock that out so i passed.
Is there a basic guideline of what someone should get to their chest. I can't believe the difference with a denim shirt. Poly gives me around 40lbs. I think this would give me around 75lbs or more.

Triple H

By the way.. ngreat pics I saw posted...How tall are you???

 

[brianmincher]

I am not jay, but he is five foot ten, and I also use a double denim shirt. I get around a hundred pounds out of my open back double denim, and Jay gets that or more out of his as well.

Jay can tell you more when he sees this, but since I happened to know the answer, I thought I would save you the suspense.

B.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Well triple H , i do my shirt work 3 to 4 weeks ou tfrom contest. And i do a workout first then shirt last. So if you do westside i guess shirt up after speed.

There is no guidline to tell if shirts are too tight. But if the weight it takes to touch , you are unable to lockout with your tri strenght, then it is too tight. I have shirts like that now. But it is hit or miss. Now if you get another shirt i use my tightest one as a guidline for my new measurements. And believe me 1 inch in the chest is the difference between a shirt touching and not. Also using a shirt over and over agin does loosen it up a good bit. I know mine do. Use it a few weeks and do what your doing. The boards are a great idea. Keep using them and get down to the minimum boards you have. And as far as the collar choking you , well not much to say there. Those bitches are very uncomforatble. I feel very contorted at the bottom. So my advice is get familiar with the shirt for a couple more weeks feel what it wants to do. Then its almost self expainatory what needs to be done next.

Keep me posted and i will help where i can. Email me if you want.

And Brian is right i am 5'10.

 

[aka-tapout]

cool board name------i have been using one of jays extra shirts and my bench is up 100lbs. i took 445 for a ride and cuold not get it to touch and barley locked it out. so i will need to use probably 475 or more to get it to touch(i was only a inch or so off but that touch is hard) and i wont be able to lock that out yet. so my plan is to concentrate less on raw bench and more on 3 and 4 boards so i can lock out 475--then ill bench that at meet

 

[aka-tapout]

cool board name------i have been using one of jays extra shirts and my bench is up 100lbs. i took 445 for a ride and cuold not get it to touch and barley locked it out. so i will need to use probably 475 or more to get it to touch(i was only a inch or so off but that touch is hard) and i wont be able to lock that out yet. so my plan is to concentrate less on raw bench and more on 3 and 4 boards so i can lock out 475--then ill bench that at meet if my idea works

 

[Hunter Hearst Hormone]

Thanks for the help.. I am used to using a poly. The next day with the denim I had bruising all over my shoulders instead of just in the armpit area with the poly.
I think your right jay.. A little looser in the chest area I will be okay. It is just so hard to get a proper fit with a denim.
I usually take a heavier weight after speed day but use a closer grip.
I am just learning to keep my elbows in and to have the bar touch lower on my chest.
Maybe with a fewer adjustments with my technique and wet the shirt down somemore I can get it to touch..

Thanks for the advice

HHH