Bench Suit: Purpose, Mechanics, Types, and Use in Powerlifting

What is a Bench Suit?

A bench suit is a highly specialized, supportive garment worn by competitive powerlifters during the bench press to enhance lifting capacity, provide joint support, and increase stability.

Understanding the Bench Suit: Purpose and Design

A bench suit, also known as a bench shirt, is a piece of supportive equipment used almost exclusively in equipped powerlifting. Unlike a general compression shirt, a bench suit is constructed from extremely dense, tightly woven, and often multi-layered fabrics such as polyester or denim. Its design is meticulously engineered to create a powerful elastic recoil effect, enabling lifters to handle significantly heavier loads than they could in a "raw" (unassisted) lift.

Key Design Features:

• Stiff Material: The fabric is chosen for its minimal stretch and high tensile strength.
• Tight Fit: Suits are designed to be extremely tight, often requiring assistance to put on, to maximize compression and energy storage.
• Strategic Seams and Panels: The stitching and paneling are placed to create specific tension points across the chest, shoulders, and triceps, directing the stored energy efficiently.
• Sleeve Design: The sleeves are typically cut to provide maximum support around the upper arm and shoulder joint.

How a Bench Suit Works: The "Rebound" Effect

The primary mechanism by which a bench suit enhances performance is through the storage and release of elastic potential energy.

1. Eccentric Phase (Descent): As the lifter lowers the barbell towards their chest, the extremely tight fabric of the suit is stretched and compressed. This action stores a significant amount of elastic energy, similar to stretching a powerful rubber band. The suit actively resists the downward movement, effectively "slowing" the bar and providing an artificial bottom to the lift, which can reduce stress on the shoulders and elbows.
2. Concentric Phase (Ascent): Once the bar touches the chest (or meets the powerlifting federation's depth requirement), the lifter initiates the press. The stored elastic energy in the suit is then rapidly released, assisting the lifter in pushing the bar off the chest. This "rebound" effect helps the lifter overcome the most challenging part of the lift – the bottom portion – where muscular force production is often at its lowest.

This stored energy augments the lifter's muscular force, allowing them to accelerate the bar upwards with greater velocity and lift heavier weights. From a biomechanical perspective, it effectively changes the force-velocity curve, providing assistance at the point of greatest mechanical disadvantage.

Types of Bench Suits

Bench suits are generally categorized by the number of fabric layers:

• Single-Ply Suits: Made from one layer of stiff material. They offer less assistance than multi-ply suits but are generally easier to learn and provide a more "raw-like" feel.
• Multi-Ply Suits: Constructed with two, three, or even four layers of material. These suits offer significantly more support and rebound, allowing for much heavier lifts. However, they are considerably harder to master, require more technical precision, and often necessitate a different bench press technique.

Within these categories, suits can also vary in cut, stiffness of material, and seam placement, leading to different feels and performance characteristics.

Benefits of Using a Bench Suit

For the specialized context of equipped powerlifting, bench suits offer several advantages:

• Increased Max Lift: The most significant benefit is the ability to lift substantially more weight than raw, pushing the boundaries of human strength.
• Joint Protection: By resisting the eccentric phase and providing structural support, the suit can reduce direct stress on the shoulder and elbow joints, potentially mitigating injury risk during very heavy lifts.
• Enhanced Stability: The compressive nature of the suit provides an external brace, increasing proprioception and stability throughout the lift.
• Competitive Edge: In equipped powerlifting, a well-fitting and properly used bench suit is essential for competitive success.

Drawbacks and Considerations

Despite their benefits in specific contexts, bench suits come with significant drawbacks:

• Technical Skill Required: Mastering a bench suit is an art form. It requires specific technique adjustments, extensive practice, and often coaching to utilize effectively and safely.
• Altered Motor Patterns: The suit changes the natural movement pattern of the bench press, potentially leading to a reliance on the suit and a detraining of raw strength if not balanced with raw training.
• Cost: Bench suits are expensive, high-performance garments.
• Discomfort: Due to their extreme tightness, they can be very uncomfortable and restrictive.
• Not for General Training: Bench suits are entirely unsuitable for general fitness, hypertrophy training, or building foundational strength. They are a competition-specific tool.

Who Uses Bench Suits?

Bench suits are almost exclusively used by competitive powerlifters who compete in "equipped" divisions. These athletes dedicate significant time to learning and perfecting the specific technique required to maximize the suit's assistance. They are not used by bodybuilders, general strength trainees, or athletes in other sports.

Training with a Bench Suit: Key Principles

Training with a bench suit is distinct from raw bench pressing. It typically involves:

• Specific Technique Work: Learning to "groove" the bar path with the suit, optimizing the eccentric phase to load the suit, and timing the powerful rebound.
• Board Presses: Using boards on the chest to shorten the range of motion and practice lockout strength, as the suit often provides ample assistance off the chest.
• Progressive Overload: Gradually increasing the weight lifted in the suit, often using very heavy loads that would be impossible raw.
• Accessory Work: Strengthening supporting muscle groups (triceps, shoulders, lats) to handle the increased loads.
• Raw Training Integration: Many equipped lifters still incorporate raw bench pressing to maintain foundational strength and motor patterns.

Safety and Proper Use

Using a bench suit improperly can be dangerous. Key safety considerations include:

• Proper Sizing: An ill-fitting suit can be ineffective or even injurious.
• Experienced Spotters: Due to the extremely heavy weights lifted, multiple attentive spotters are critical.
• Gradual Progression: Do not attempt maximal lifts in a suit without significant practice and technical mastery.
• Understanding Limitations: The suit assists, but the lifter's strength and technique are paramount.

Conclusion: A Specialized Tool for Elite Performance

In summary, a bench suit is a highly specialized piece of equipment designed to augment the bench press lift in equipped powerlifting. It functions by storing and releasing elastic energy, enabling lifters to handle extraordinary weights. While invaluable for competitive equipped lifters, its technical demands, cost, and specific application mean it is entirely unsuitable for general strength training. For those pursuing elite-level powerlifting, however, mastering the bench suit is a fundamental step towards achieving record-breaking performances.