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Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

Bench shirt

Tight supportive shirt worn in equipped powerlifting to add to a bench press

A shirt of polyester or denim cut so tight that getting into one is often a two-person job. It stores energy at the bottom of a bench press and returns it on the drive, which adds a great deal to a competition lift. Powerlifting federations run raw and equipped divisions separately because of it. Touching the chest in one takes practice, so lifters keep a looser training shirt alongside the tight meet shirt.

Who backs it

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  • Coach and IFBB pro · Harder Than Last Time

    Through his powerlifting years he lifted raw until it was time to peak. A loose bench shirt came out about a month before a meet for his heaviest set, then a tight one for a couple of sessions right before it, and afterwards he went back to raw. Shirts are cheating, he said, but fair once everyone is doing it.

    Source: Critical Bench: Interview With Powerlifter Greg Doucette

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Gear entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.