New insights in powerlifting gear

[Dan C]

"Are you ever gonna use this thing or can I give it back to my brother" my wife asks. "You've had it since last year."

So I after I got out of the shower I tried on the squat suit my brother in-law let me borrow like 9 months ago. An Inzer Z-Suit, size 35.

Now I understand these things are supposed to be tight, but this is ridiculous! It actually hurt my legs, cutting off the circulation. It took me about 5 minutes to get the thing on, my wife giggling at me making smart comments the entire time. Then I had to get her to help me put it on! I felt silly. I looked silly. I felt like I looked silly.

I didn't like how it preventing me from going into a full squat. Hell, I don't even own a pair of jeans that limit my abililty to deep knee bend. I could actually sit back in this thing using very little of my own strength to hold me up. I kept asking myself, "what's the point?"

I don't buy into that non-sense that these knuckleheads spew about gear being for safety and raw lifting being dangerous, you know what's dangerous? Relying on equipment when lifting weights far too heavy for your own strength.

I took the suit off after a few minutes and a half dozen attempts at squatting. My legs were turning colors, and I had had enough. To think that you would have to keep up in the latest gear advancements to be competitive at this kind of powerlifting just seems so ridiculous to me. Especially when you take into the account that inevitably you're going to grow from your training, thus growing out of your "equipment". I've spent probably around $10k on training equipment that I'll never grow out of, and if I do, Play-it-Again Sports sells 45 and 100lb plates at discounted prices. You know where my next pay-check is going...

I had to take another shower because I'd done worked up a sweat from getting in and out of that damn thing.

[luke.w]

Dan, all that trouble just to squat uh?, see, these are the reasons why we are SUPPOSED???? to respect it? :confused:

I like getting bruised and banged up from stones,kegs tires, and steel, but the use of the suit......silly.

[maverick]

Although you hated it, kudos for giving it a shot. People's points always seem more valid when they've at least tested the waters on both sides. If what you went through with the suit is its typical usage (Firehawk???), I can definitely see how it can be a major turn-off. I've been very interested in geared lifting, raw just always seemed more simple and pure. I'm no competitor though, so I won't slight anyone without knowing more about. I'm just stating a preference.

[luke.w]

if it was that bad for you, how in the heck could Jason even fit in it?

Dans' brother-in-law is a big bodybuilder 260ish.........heck he looked 275 went I saw him at your party?

[Dan C]

I didn't mention that the suits are meant to be worn "bare-balls"... meaning, the suit is your underwear. I couldn't imagine being in a locker room or some bathroom stall struggling to get this thing on, and it's no wonder Luke told me not to even ask him for help getting it on!

[Dan C]

Originally Posted by luke.w

if it was that bad for you, how in the heck could Jason even fit in it?

Dans' brother-in-law is a big bodybuilder 260ish.........heck he looked 275 went I saw him at your party?

The suit is a couple years old but even then he was still bigger than me, especially in the thighs, where the suit was the tightest.

But yeah, he's about 275 now.

[Firehawk]

Damn, it only t ook you 5 minutes? LOL it was too loose then . There are some "smarter" ways to sliding into those...like wrapping the straps around a bar and hanging off of it...etc).

Did you put any weight on your back? If you tried to squat down with no weight, yes it is not going to take much to stand up with...which is the point right? When you start throwing heavy weight on your back, it's going to take strength to stand up with it lol. And if u can stand up with it, then it'll take more weight to challenge you. Which, is really the point of it right?

Nobody squats full in a PL meet...the object is to break parallel...i guess it depends what you call a full squat (I'm assuming Ass to grass). You were out of your comfort zone so naturally you will feel weird.

At least you tried it sorta kinda lol.

And yes, you are meant to go bare balls with it. I think the guys wear tighty whiteys with them though. And...yes it does suck that you must buy new stuff every now and then because the equipment gets better. But it's a sport dude. If you want to compete at it, you need to get the better stuff to keep an edge, or get stronger.

What was your stance like? Did you stay shoulder width, did you go wider, did you go sumo wide? etc etc

[F_Mac]

Yes it will bruise you, yes it is a PITA to get into, yes you will break a sweat getting in and out of it...........and i love doing it for all of these reasons

Learning to use the suit was a challenge, heck, i'm still learning. The end result of me learning to use this will be that I can squat more weight. Personally I dont' see the problem, but that's me.

Dan, kudos for trying it out, if you hated it, then that's fine, but now at least you've done it.

Like Firehawk said, if you try to squat with no weight you won't be able to go down very far. The suit is designed to give you a push out of the bottom. I usually don't even put mine on until I have over 400 on the bar.

There is no more danger squatting with a suit than without one as long as you know what you're doing. If you throw a ton of weight on the bar and are not familiar with the suit, you will end up on your face..........it is a very different feeling from squatting raw.

You can get the suits altered as you grow or shrink.........or you can buy new gear. They aren't that expensive, realatively speaking. I can think of many other sports that require a lot more investment.

[Jaster]

I have squated with and without.
Both have their own pluses.
I like without because I hate squeezing into the suit.

[.V.]

Then I'd suggest to you boys and girls that don't like suits - stay out of them. For those of you who do - use them. So what - different aspects of the same sport. Do the one you like, don't put down those that like a different part of it.

Kind of like in the triathlons, some wear wetsuits for the swim, some don't. If I didn't wear one, I'd spasm, sink, and drown - so I wear one. I wear one for training swims in the summer time too - for the same reason. In cold weather - it gives an advantage. In warm - a disadvantage from overheating...so what - it's how I have to swim. If someone else doesn't wear one in the hot weather - do I think of them as weak - hell no. If I wear one when it's cold, does someone else who doesn't use one think of me as weak - again, the answer is no. Just a different way of approaching the same sport.

It's time for those of us who prefer one way over another to start giving respect to those who prefer a different way. I do everything in the gym totally raw - some call this stupid, others call this being a raw nazi. Who cares what they call it - it's my way. Do I think less of someone who uses a belt or straps to prevent injury or help with grip, allowing them to get even stronger? No way - end result - they are still stronger than I am now or will ever be.

If you don't like someone elses way of training - then don't do it that way.

[Firehawk]

I don't think you'd see any powerlifters calling a totally raw lifter "stupid". Can't say that in reverse though Welch.

[.V.]

Either way - we each need to just respect one another's training styles and preferences. No need to dis someone just because they do it differently.

[MTG35]

Well as you can see I'm new here and I don't want to immediately put anyone off but I might as well state my feeling on this subject so people will know where I stand.

But before I do I'd like to say I've spent most of the day reading various threads on this site and I've have to say I have been pretty impressed with Firehawk as a person. He has been on the hotseat of this topic and handled it with a great deal of wisdom and class. Everytime I thought the next post would be him totally losing it he doesn't. Pretty amazing. I've seen people lose it over way less. I don't know how he is with other topics but on this matter I was impressed.

So on to my feelings. I don't agree with assisted lifting. I don't see the point behind it. I view it as if I was to go into the gym load 500 on the bar and have a spotter on each side that assist with every rep each taking a 100 or more pounds off the lift. Would you believe me when I said I benched 500 if you had seen it? I've seen the explaination that if you can't support the weight in lockout then the suit isn't going to do it for you and that does make sense so it true that some part of the lift is really the lifter but I still don't see the point unless the lifter can perform the whole lift. As another hobby I perform and record music. You wouldn't believe the amount of smoke and mirrors that go into making a commercial record today. There is stuff to fix out of tune vocals, bad drummers and anything else. What you hear is nothing like what was really performed most of the time. So even in that hobby I guess I'm an old school crusty stickler. If you didn't really do it I don't care to hear it. But thats just me.

I'm no expert. And really my opinion doesn't matter for anything in the big picture. So I'm only sharing here to get acqainted.

In my gym 2 guys came in once and were using suits for squating. The crazy stuff they needed to do to each other to get into those things was very comical. After all that they only proceeded to squat about 25 pounds more than I do with nothing, no wraps belt or anything and for less reps than I do.

Firehawk, I've seen some of the videos you posted and your raw lifts are very impressive. I think at the end of the day you'll be most proud of lifts you did raw knowing it was all you. But I don't know you and am not silly enough to assume anything about you. I just feel its usually human nature to be most proud of what we do all by ourselves. Thats why we don't see everyone still riding bikes with training wheels.

[.V.]

Hey MTG35, good post. Well thought out. You are doing it your way and not disrespecting other's methods - even if they aren't for you.

That's what we all need to do. Share what we love and give respect to others who do it differently.

I've watched and enjoyed all of the different training styles and methodologies that so many do. Some I can do, others - I get injured immediately when I try them. I even tried my hand at some log tossing and tire flipping - ended up hurting myself. Does that mean it's bad? Nope, just means I was ill-prepared for it and did it wrong. I've even included a lot of dragging for my leg days in my winter training plan.

[Dan C]

Welch, I can almost hear the banjo playing "Can't we all just get along" when I read your posts. I don't know why you so vehemently try to squash debate and opposing views, be them your own or not. Hell, I wasn't even condemning anyone or anything in this thread, I was just telling about my experiences with the suit!

But since you brought it up...

The example you give about the wetsuit is not a good one. Perhaps a wetsuit with a propeller is a better analogy.

The gear advancements in powerlifting are not like other sports. The latest pair of Nike shocks is not going to knock off 10-20% of your best 40 yard dash. It's more like using a pole in the high jump, but instead of calling it the pole vault, it's still called the high jump.

Not even.

What you have to realize is the lifting gear has created a market in and of itself. All these new "advancements" do not have the lifters best interest in mind, it's all driven by profits and the manufacturers don't care what happens to the lifter or to the sport of powerlifting. I mean, when will it stop? Once the fabric suits have been taken to triple layer extremes, will they go to steel meshed suits? They might even already have them... I don't know. What'll happen then is there will be half a dozen more federations created some accepting the new material, some not accepting it, and some accepting it under certain circumstances.

If you know powerlifting at all, you know this is the biggest problem with the sport, all the different federations. You think you're preaching unity and I'm some kind of "raw nazi" but you're not seeing the big picture! The gear creates more divisions and more problems in the sport.

And Firehawk, didn't you post a Tate article where he called raw lifting stupid (or something to that effect) just a couple days ago? I thought that article was stupid because anyone that knocks raw lifting has their head in their ass. You can't say that about assisted lifting for the points that I've already raised.