What is the origin of equipment ie shirts in competitive benching? Like when the first ones came out, what were they intended for?
Benching 1000 lbs is super-impressive no matter what kind of shirt you're wearing but it just seems like an odd direction for the sport to have branched into.
Late 70's, like 78 or so for squat suits. The Zangas Marathon suits. Bench shirts came out early 1984 or a tiny bit earlier. Originally they were to keep the joints warm and provide a bit of support in the shoulder joint, etc.... And yes it was know that the suits gave you carry over, but it was accepted, because the carry overs were tiny and the benefits were decent, especially for older lifters that were a bit tore up.
Slowly it just grew, a ply here, a ply there. A new material, a new cut etc....
