hahaha! welcome to the world of the famous gear vs raw debates! this is actually a very mild tread half-pint… i have had people who i once called friends, shared a dinner table with, had over to my house, break off friendships with me and say some really horrible things to me and generally hate me because of my views on geared lifting.
i even had more than one of these so called “outlaws” threaten to find me where i live and “kick my ass”<< please insert your best redneck accent here.
the geared lifters take this shit REAL personal.
me? i am tired of talking about it, i mean, it is really a big joke. really. the ONLY reason it is even a debatable thing, is the gradual(10-15 years give or take) way the extreme gear(especially shirts) have crept into the sport.
give you an example, say Rezza(world record holder in the olympic lifts) was to show up at the next world championships with a funky restrictive suit that he could barely walk in, and he breaks his own record by 20-30%? would ANYBODY believe he actually got stronger/better and really broke the record. no, he would be laughed off the platform.
but powerlifting has always been sort of an underground sport, and except for a decade of pretty strict judging and equipment rules(70’s maybe, debatable), it has pretty much been an anything goes sport. the equipment got more and more supportive, and judging became less uniform as more and more feds popped up.
think of it like football, where there are 5-6 leagues, some allow pads, some do not, some have an overtime, some do not, some play on a 50 yard field, some do not, 10 yards is a first down in some feds, others 6 yards, whatever. yin that situation you can only compare yourselves to others on the same playing field. which is fine, but how things get muddled and feelings get hurt etc. is when a lift in an obscure fed in a backyard meet gets “all time world record status” people lose it.
gear is here to stay in powerlifting, it is the only way to make money in the sport, and it is the only consistent sponsor of big meets. it (the gear) adds a high level of technical skill to the sport, learning how to use the gear and how to optimize the appropriate strengths to get the most out of the gear(top end strength, supportive muscles) is an science all to itself. many find this a challenge, and enjoy it, to them, i say go for it.
i trained at a gym of primarily APF competitors, and they used a ton of gear, and you know what? they were some of the strongest people i have ever trained with with or without gear. i consider myself stronger than the average gym rat, but i was one of the weakest guys there in or out of gear. it still does not change my opinion of the unlimited-gear federations.
me? personally i think it takes away from the sport. it makes it hard for the average guy who enjoys lifting and the challenge of getting stronger to understand and participate in the sport on a competitive level. many analogies to how technology has aided performance in other sports can be made, and many arguments can be made to support that. however i doubt you will find a group of world class shot-putters discussing the newest shoe or elbow wrap that will give them 3-4 feet on their throws(a fair analogy to 100-300lbs on a world class squat or bench).
in all fairness, i squat only off a box, and i use a belt and a pair of old briefs. so flame away, lol. i too am a gear whore, but i call the geared competition lifts as i see them.
on another personal note, i notice that many, many people on this board have competition squats 100-200lbs better than my best competition squat, but not nearly as many have a better deadlift than me.
what does that mean? probably nothing, cept the squat suits and bench shirts have changed the way people lift and train, and what was used to be considered “respectable” numbers, that is all.
