First time in a bench shirt

[Detard]

So tonight I went to clint harwoods gym and trained with him and his crew. It was my first time in a bench shirt and I had a great experience.

This was my session from tonight (might be a little off, I cant remember exactly what I did)

Bench
135x5
135x5
185x5
175x5
175x3
*Titan F6 size 42*
225x total miss
225x total miss
275x 6 inches off
275x 6 inches off
295x 4 inches off
295x 4 inches off
295x 3 inches off
*switch to titan f6 size 44 (stretched out)
295x 2 inches off
295x 2 inches off
*switch to katana size 46 super duper or wahtever its called
245x 4 inches off
245x 4 inches off

Raw bench
205x5
205x5
205x5

4 board bench
225x3
225x3
225x3


I hit a 245 raw bench last week, and probably was good for 255. I really need to work on my lockout If I want to touch in a shirt. Clint thinks it will take about 400+ to touch in a 42 Titan F6. I dont think I can lock that out yet, so I will start hitting high boards and pin presses.

Thoughts anyone? I just took his advice and did what he thought was right for me since he is an 800lb+ bencher.

[SELK]

board presses will help no doubt, also the more you get in a shirt the easier you are going to find it to touch. Alot of touching ive found depends on the speed of the bar on the decent.

[MarcusWild]

How far are they from you? If you can train with them regularly, then that's your best option.

[smokinHawk]

with more practice you could probably get 300 to touch, just takes some skill.
one of my f6's i thought there was no way i could touch, but Mike wolfe had me keep taking weight in it till i learned it, then finally learned to press it after i learned to touch it. just keep taking weight in it.
also one thing that really helped me was taking a wide grip (max legal) when my grip usually was in allot further.

[Travis Bell]

get some video

A lot of times, when guys get to the bottom of the press, they forget to keep tucking hard and pushing their chest up. Since it's your first time in a shirt, I'd probably stick with the 44 so you can learn the technique easier. The tighter the shirt, the better your form needs to be so with the looser shirt, it'll be easier to learn the technique.

[KarstenDD]

Triples In The Shirt

[Detard]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm gonna do some board presses next week in the shirt, and see what I can touch with it on. I'll bring my camera and film it too

[ShooterX]

If you can train with Clint take advantage of that and Live in the Shirt. The more you are in it, the easier it gets to work with.