My First Shirt from Karins arrived today

[benchmonster]

Jdarty

You absolutely must go to a max legal grip width when wearing a shirt. If you go narrower, it will take way too much to touch. I can wear a shirt that takes 530 to touch and by moving my grip in a few inches, it could take well over 600 to touch. And I ain't hoss enough to press up that much, yet.

try it again with a wide grip, and it may help getting it down. You may just have too much shirt, but I would try it with a wider grip before sending it back in.

also, make sure you pinch your shoulder blades together as much as possible too. The more you pull those shoulder joints away from the bar, the shorter the stroke will be.

B.

 

[powerlifterjay]

The idea of pulling weight down is crazy at first. I have to do it. If you got the tri power for 500 plus then that is gonna be your new weight. Forget the bands. You had 400 at the bottom of that. to get used to the shirt do this

week 1 shirt with 4 brd. If its to easy go 3 brd. Learn to pull to the 3 brd. When comforatble go to the 2 brd

week2 2brd with shirt

week3 1 brd or no board. But stay on that board till you get it down evey time. Then down one.

I used this for my last trainnig cycle for my meet and it worked ok. Try it.

 

[Hannibal]

Good Post Jay. I remember the first time I put on a shirt...having to PULL the weight down seemed crazy. I used the same board progression and it worked well.

 

[JDarty6173]

Ok guys great.. So it looks like I'll start the board progression for the next 3 ME days or so... Along with starting to use a max legal width grip with it... I think I'll spend a day this weekend at the gym just trying to work on decreasing my stroke by practicing pinching my shoulder blades correctly and adjusting to a wider grip, then maybe take a couple heavy reps with the shirt on DE day Monday..

PLJ and Hannibal, I definitly see what you mean about pulling weight down, it just seemed unnatural....But oh well, I'll just have to get used to it...One thing, is it supposed to feel like the shirt is going to cut you in half at your pits?

 

[Hannibal]

One thing, is it supposed to feel like the shirt is going to cut you in half at your pits?

YES

 

[JDarty6173]

LOL....yeah I kinda figured as much

 

[VDizenzo]

JDarty6173,
My shirt from Karin has never felt like it was going to cut me in half at the pits. It could be too tight. I can put my shirt on completely by myself, it is a good test for seeing if the shirt is too tight. O.K. now, here is my advice: never use reverse band with the shirt, do not use boards with the shirt, with your height you must be at maximum legal grip width, your elbows must be tucked down to bench in Karin's shirt, the weight needs to touch at your stomach, not at your chest or sternum, you need to work on your arch (Get on your knees, sit your butt on your feet and start leaning backwards with your hands over your head. Eventually your hands will touch the ground, when they do start pushing them into the floor and create a larger bridge in your back). Pinch your shoulders behind you down into your lats, do not pinch them up around your neck. Make sure your back is dry so when you bench you don't slide out of your shoulder pinch and arch (it always looks funny, but my handlers fan my back with a towel between lifts when I am wearing my shirt). When you are holding the bar, imagine that you are trying to rip it in half, this will ensure that your grip is tight and that you can pull the weight down if you need to. After taking in your air make sure to push out on your stomach, this will reduce your range of motion and push the shirt into the belt so that it will not move. Lastly, do reverse band pulldowns (not with your shirt). Set your power rack up just like you are going to do reverse band bench just do not add any weight. Make sure you set up exactly how you are going to bench and pull the bar low to your stomach and hold it for a second. Do not jerk the bar down. This will teach you the shirt groove and also show you how to pull weight in and push on your stomach if necessary. Most importantly it will incorporate your lats. Benching in an open back denim requires good lat strength so make sure to work them well. Good luck.

 

[VDizenzo]

Damnit, I forgot to mention the most important part of learning how to use your shirt. Do reps. Even if your first rep does not touch do more because on you following reps the bar will come down with more speed. Don't worry about taking more air in at the top, just let the bar come right back down. I am not saying you need to throw caution to the wind, but you do need to be aggressive to get weight into the hole. Never complain about not being able to touch weight, that is why you bought the shirt. It is very strong and that is what you want. You simply need to learn how to make the shirt work for you. Fortunately Karin's shirts are very lifter friendly. By working with my shirt every week I have learned how to touch as little as 500lbs. yet manipulate the shirt so that 700lbs. barely touches.

 

[Hannibal]

This was posted by Bob Youngs on Dave Tate's website...

I do all shirt work with a full ROM. Keep in mind that the "full" means as far as the shirt will allow the bar to come down. I use only my comp grip which is index finger on the line. We bascially use two different shirt workouts down here. The last shirt workout before the meet is done by going up to your planned opener for 2-3 singles.

The workout we use most often is much different. Our goal for the day is to get 10 singles done in the shirt. We also put the shirts on on this day much earlier. We are doing a shirt day this weekend and my plan is:
barx3
95x3
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1
Put shirt on from here on:
315x 2 singles
365x 2 singles
405x 2 singles
425x1
445x1
465x1
485x1 (opener)

I don't really care if any of these touch or not. We are focusing on making sure the bar is where it needs to be.

 

[JDarty6173]

Thanks V, Looks like I really have a lot to work on as far as my arch and shoulder blade tuck, I have been tucking them up into my traps up till now...Hannibal, I like the Shirt day workout you outlined there...I might try that same one on my next ME day Thursday...

I had no trouble getting the shirt on by myself, only takes a few seconds..