Oh boy where to begin? Have you every actually used a bench shirt?
You see, you think you have struck gold but you are just talking out of your ass again. Let's address your post point by point.
(1) I'll start with a quick physics lesson:
Even worse than your physics is your reading comprehension. I would say your physics is at the middle school level whilst your reading comprehension is at the primary school level.
Momentum and energy are different physical quantities, so to talk about one being transferred in the form of the other is nonsensical.
You see, this is exactly the problem with having debates on Getbig. You get to answer straw man arguments all the time, because guys can't really interpret what they are reading.
Where have I stated that momentum and energy are the same? I said the energy
from momentum is stored by the elastic fibrous matter of the benching shirt and then released.
Momentum in any case is not an important variable at all in (properly judged) powerlifting because you have to pause at the bottom (zero momentum). The strain energy in the shirt does not come from a change in momentum, it comes from the bar being lowered to the chest (change in potential energy).
The pause is irrelevant, and here is why: the kinetic energy is stored in the elastic fribrous matter of the shirt, and you can hold it down for as long as you want applying a force in the opposite direction, but once you stop applying the force downwards, the stored energy is released pushing the bar back up. So you can hold the bar down as long as you want, and as soon as you release it, the stored kinetic energy is released upwards allowing you to press the bar up with less force than what would be required ordinarily to overcome gravity.
"Restricting the plane of motion" has little if anything to do with it, nor does benching on a smith versus a free weight.
Of course it does. What other variable is there when it comes to a regular bench vs a smith machine press? There is no elastic property storing energy to push the bar up.
A good shirt literally adds hundreds of pounds to a lift. Nobody gets hundreds of extra pounds out of a smith machine.
Of course you do. Pro bodybuilders bench up to 7 plates a side on the smith, but they can barely bench 4 on the flat bench. Ronnie was the strongest pro ever and the most he could do on the flat bench for a few reps was 5 plates. Dorian Yates was also very strong and he only used 4 plates on the flat bench. On the smith machine tons of gym rats can press 4 plates a side.
The correct discussion is on the strain energy transferred into the shirt, which is, I assure you, quite substantial, as the shirts are very stiff. This is why you can lift more in a triple-ply shirt than in a double or a single (thicker, stiffer, more energy stored for a given stretch). It is conceptually the same thing as lifting with rubber bands supporting the bar, which don't "restrict the plane of motion" at all, but sure make the lift a lot easier, more so with stiffer bands.
Entropy dictates that most energy is lost and not all stored in the fibrous elastic material of the shirt. You cannot get out of a system more or as much energy as you put into it. Let me prove this to you. Grab a spring and press it down then release it. It will go up very hard the first time, then lower the second and so forth. Energy applies to a system is always reduced.
(2) In the sequel we'll move onto material science:
An eraser acting in compression is in no way comparable to a bench shirt acting under tension. Try stretching this eraser or any elastic material like a rubber band and see how quickly it returns to its original length. Refer back the rubber band example if you're having trouble keeping up. Muscles only act under tension so I'm not sure why you would think a compressive case is in any way relevant.
I am having difficulty interpreting this convoluted paragraph. "Muscles only act under tension". I am not talking about muscular contraction but the kinetic energy of the eccentric part of the movement being stored in the fibrous elastic material of the benching shirt under tension. What is your sentence even supposed to mean, and how is this relevant to the discussion? The bottom line is that most of the strength gained from the benching shirt is due to increased sarcomere mobilization and not like you inaccurately claim due to stored kinetic energy from the compression of the benching shirt elastic tissue.
(3) And to close it off, a lesson in psychology:
You're a fucking moron.
Here is a lesson in humility for you: don't try to debate people who are smarter than you, because it makes you look worse than a moron.
SUCKMYMUSCLE
