Willie,
Shirts were first introduced back in the 80's to help keep the body tight and help to prevent so many injuries. The first shirts really were not much more then a super tight T shirt. But the shirts have evolved to where they now assist lifters in the entire lift. There are people out there getting around 400 pounds out of a shirt.
The shirt itself does not lift the weight, you still have to be able to press the weight but the shirt is so restrictive that if it is fitted right and worn properly it gives a rebound off the chest to where people are hitting HUGE weights with them. You will see alot of top pro powerlifters including myself doing alot of topend work and training the hell out of the tris to help with this portion of the push on the bench.
The sport has evolved into a shirted sport, there is no reason to bash it. It is just how we evolved, everybody uses advances in technology. Runners wear better shoes, Race car drivers use bigger and faster engines, Swimmers wear suits designed to make them swim faster, we use a benchshirt to assist in the lift. The shirt has evolved and so has the sport. It is not a big joke anyone that thinks a bench shirt will automatically magically give you a 100 pounds I will gladly put you in a fitted shirt and we will see what happens. I guarantee you it will come right down on your belly or right on your face. There is a technique involved here and it is pretty difficult to master sometimes!!!
So that is why they allow benchshirts, just the way we as a sport evolved. And also for people that do not wanna use one there are plenty of raw feds out there to lift in.
Mike Wolfe!!! 600 raw in Contest and 835 shirted in contest
