Have any of you guys tried an open back poly shirt before? During the worlds, Gene Rychlak used a modified open back EPHD shirt for his 815 bench. From my understanding it does not compress the shoulders or chest much, rather it bites hard into the triceps. I beleive my pec tears were partially caused by the line of pull on my closed back poly shirt and am considering getting a poly modified to open back and seeing how that goes in terms of pull instead of going with a denim. Anyone tried this?
I have a heavy duty blast shirt and i just cut the back to make it open back and its much easier to use. I still dont have it worked out but its ten times easier as far as groove than a closed back.
Goldberg, do you feel that the chest is less compressed and is the line of pull across the chest different? With my closed back the line of pull was in the upper chest around 2" above the nipple or so and thats where my tears happened. For that matter, with the open back is there even really a line of pull on the chest?
Its definitely lower with the open back. i try to pull it down as far as it will go. i do feel it farther down my chest. I havent benched with a closed back in a while so i cant remember exactly what it felt like. Im getting a double denim soon though.
Thanks for the info, i think once my pec heals enough for some serious benching, i will get an EPHD shirt and send it to Ron Zavacky to have the back split and straps put in as well as it being altered a little better for my dimensions. He is the same guy who did Gene’s shirt, however he is saying it is just too much trouble to duplicate what Gene has, however i think my plan is fine considering i max only a little over half of what Gene maxes so i do not need the same sort of gear.