Bench shirt

A bench shirt is a stiff supportive shirt, used to improve performance in the bench press, most often in powerlifting competitions. Bench shirts are usually made of polyester, denim, or canvas and come in single- or multi-ply thicknesses. [Levin, Josh, " [http://www.slate.com/id/2104915/ One Giant Lift for Mankind: The race for the 1,000-pound bench press.] ", Slate, 2004-08-09. Retrieved August 8th, 2007.]

Different powerlifting federations have different rules governing allowed equipment - for example, the only supportive equipment allowed by the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation for bench press is a leather belt [100% Raw Powerlifting Federation [http://www.rawpowerlifting.com/pdf/rules.pdf Rules] (PDF), p. 4. Retrieved August 8th, 2007.] , whereas the International Powerlifting Federation stipulates that support shirts must be "of one ply stretch material" [International Powerlifting Federation [http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/IPF_rulebook_2007.pdf Technical Rules] (PDF), p. 11. Retrieved August 8th, 2007.] . As the same lifter's performance may vary significantly depending on the presence and design of a bench shirt (for example, Scot Mendelson, whose shirted bench press record is 900 lbs, while his unshirted best is 715lbs), records across different federations or categories may not be directly comparable.

References

External links

The Powerlifting Watch [http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/compare-federations federation comparison] IPF proposals for Shirt removal [http://www.club150kg-dc.fr/News/Contenu/News_03_CoupDeGueule_Frameset(uk).htm]