This is the A7 bar grip shirt.
What sets these apart from other training shirts is the silicone pattern on the back. This helps to anchor the bar to your back when squatting and prevents sliding on benches.
A7 claim these shirts eliminate the need for chalk when it comes to squatting. They’re aimed at those training in commercial gyms, who maybe don’t have high end equipment or have to suffer sweaty benches.
I have to be honest and say that I was expecting a bit of a one trick pony here. A regular run of the mill T-shirt will a stuck on pattern but happily that wasn’t the case. The quality of these really speaks for itself, the shirt has that stretchy, breathable feel you normally get with more expensive gym gear. The pattern on the back feels really solid, I get the impression it won’t be coming off anytime soon.
I hit a couple of sets with it and felt the difference immediately. With squats the bar didn’t slide at all and felt more planted. I think I actually prefer it to chalk, it has a sticky effect on the bar. With bench it did feel more stable although I didn’t notice as big a difference but then again my gym has a pretty decent bench. Although my lifting belt left loads of black marks around the waist, it did return to normal after one wash.
Overall I really like these. I also liked they’re customer service. It felt more like talking to a real person than an answering machine like you get with some big companies. I would however recommend selecting your size carefully and maybe even a size down. I went with a large (my normal size) and it was very big. I’ll be ordering another one soon but will definitely be going with medium.
They also look quite individual and tend to stand out more so than the normal Nike, Adidas, under armour brands that you normally find at the gym, and I personally would rather support the small company than a large, faceless, multi million euro sports wear manufacturer.
Belt.