[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Nice work man, sorry to hear you are sick, hope you feel better soon.[/quote]
Thanks man! Seems like the cold/flu season has been much worse this year. Granted I can’t seem to escape it with everyone sick at work, and then my Fiancee is a 3rd grade teacher so she brings home all kinds of bugs 
[quote]FutureGL wrote:
With my coaches/training partners help and guidance I have decided to take a year to bring up my raw lifts and focus on my weak points. I’m just not strong enough yet to be messing with all of this gear.
So 2009 will be the year to get strong, go up to 220 weight class, and that’s it. I may do a meet here and there but I wont be training for any meets, just using them as a way to measure my progress.
You know, I don’t know all that much about powerlifting, but it made me so happy to hear you say this.
I feel like there are tons of guys out there who aren’t strong enough to be fucking with shirts and suits, most of whom are much weaker than you. It’s big of you to come out and up your raw strength for a while first. I’m sick of seeing videos of tiny guys with massive gear. Until a certain point at one’s progress, I feel like using all the gear really isn’t appropriate. Just my two cents.
Good stuff man.[/quote]
No offense man, but you even admit you dont know all that much about powerlifting and Im assuming youve never worn any sort of equipment…so is that opinion at all qualified?
While I agree with this to a point, I disagree a great deal too. Your body needs to be able to handle the heavier loads the gear is going to be giving you, there are no magic numbers that you need to be squatting/benching/pulling before you starting wearing it. If you want to be good at lifting in gear, youre going to need to be training in it. I spent 2 months re-learning how to squat because squatting raw and squatting in gear are two different things from a mechanics standpoint.
I think as far as numbers go, Mike, youre plenty strong to be in equipment…I mean…we are hitting similar numbers at the moment. If your back and hip health are the issues, then I can see the merit in taking some time off to get stronger outside of the gear.
For me my weak points were over powering the gear. With a squat suit and briefs I should be getting a 100lbs+ of carry over but I was only strong enough to be able to handle 50lbs of it.
The same was with my bench shirt. I could get a 100lbs of pop of my chest, but I was too weak to lock it out.
While yes I may be strong enough to be in the gear in some peoples’ eyes, the gear will only take me so far. I want to be a serious powerlifter and for me to get to that point I first need to be stronger without the gear. I feel, after looking back on it, that I jumped into the gear too early because it was fun to do it! That and I took the easy route to bigger lifts
The way I see it after talking with my coaches is this: I had 2 options 1) put my time in now to build up my base strength and fix weak points or 2) put my time in being injured because my hips/back/shoulders gave out while in my gear.
Anyway that’s my bullshit/insights as to me agreeing with both of you while at the same time saying I made my own decision
500 dead, 470 squat and 275 bench? You’ve made some big progress bro, nice job. That’s more than I can squat right now 
Monopoly
Not doing January? Lame. You’re just afraid of the snow. Admit it.
[quote]buckeye girl wrote:
Not doing January? Lame. You’re just afraid of the snow. Admit it.
[/quote]
Haha girl I’m from the North, I’m not afraid of it…I just don’t like it
And you can’t talk! Your man has a free place to stay, while I would be paying a few hundred bucks for a hotel for 2 days!
[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
500 dead, 470 squat and 275 bench? You’ve made some big progress bro, nice job. That’s more than I can squat right now
Monopoly[/quote]
Thanks Monopoly, but I cheated by wearing a squat suit and briefs
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
FutureGL wrote:
With my coaches/training partners help and guidance I have decided to take a year to bring up my raw lifts and focus on my weak points. I’m just not strong enough yet to be messing with all of this gear.
So 2009 will be the year to get strong, go up to 220 weight class, and that’s it. I may do a meet here and there but I wont be training for any meets, just using them as a way to measure my progress.
You know, I don’t know all that much about powerlifting, but it made me so happy to hear you say this.
I feel like there are tons of guys out there who aren’t strong enough to be fucking with shirts and suits, most of whom are much weaker than you. It’s big of you to come out and up your raw strength for a while first. I’m sick of seeing videos of tiny guys with massive gear. Until a certain point at one’s progress, I feel like using all the gear really isn’t appropriate. Just my two cents.
Good stuff man.
No offense man, but you even admit you dont know all that much about powerlifting and Im assuming youve never worn any sort of equipment…so is that opinion at all qualified?
While I agree with this to a point, I disagree a great deal too. Your body needs to be able to handle the heavier loads the gear is going to be giving you, there are no magic numbers that you need to be squatting/benching/pulling before you starting wearing it. If you want to be good at lifting in gear, youre going to need to be training in it. I spent 2 months re-learning how to squat because squatting raw and squatting in gear are two different things from a mechanics standpoint.
I think as far as numbers go, Mike, youre plenty strong to be in equipment…I mean…we are hitting similar numbers at the moment. If your back and hip health are the issues, then I can see the merit in taking some time off to get stronger outside of the gear.[/quote]
Yeah I’ll give those to you. And I definitely don’t have enough experience to be handing out advice about gear. For a person to get good at lifting in gear they need to train with the gear.
I think my problem is that I still draw a clear line between being strong raw and being strong with gear. Given you need to be fucking strong to use the gear the right way, but just by the nature of that sentence you can see that at that point it’s all about using the gear the right way. But when your maxes between raw and geared up differ by fifty pounds or more, personally I’d have to ask my self what the point of the gear is. If the gear is just a means to get your comp numbers up and do better in the sport of Powerlifting, then that’s the goal right there. But if the original goal of taking up powerlifting was to get stronger…
K I’m out of my league here, but do you see what I’m trying to get across?
The point of lifting is to get stronger. The point of taking up the sport of powerlifting is to win. Winning involves a lot of things, and being skilled with your equipment is one of them. Sort of like a motocross driver can have good balance, coordination, and timing…but if they dont have a fast bike or know how to use their bike, theyre not going to be competitive.
If you are lifting in gear, then your point is to be as strong as possible in that gear so you can compete against other people wearing that same gear and win. Its not about ego, its about winning.
Like I said though, I can definitely see the merit in what Mike is doing given the fact that his hips, shoulders, and lower back arent ready for the weights that his gear is going to give him. I am still working through those issues too, but doing so in a way that allows me to keep lifting in my equipment. Different strokes for different folks though.
[quote]FutureGL wrote:
Yeah I’ll give those to you. And I definitely don’t have enough experience to be handing out advice about gear. For a person to get good at lifting in gear they need to train with the gear.
I think my problem is that I still draw a clear line between being strong raw and being strong with gear. Given you need to be fucking strong to use the gear the right way, but just by the nature of that sentence you can see that at that point it’s all about using the gear the right way. But when your maxes between raw and geared up differ by fifty pounds or more, personally I’d have to ask my self what the point of the gear is. If the gear is just a means to get your comp numbers up and do better in the sport of Powerlifting, then that’s the goal right there. But if the original goal of taking up powerlifting was to get stronger…
K I’m out of my league here, but do you see what I’m trying to get across?
[/quote]
FutureGL,
Elite and pro lifters are going to be strong regardless of whether they are in gear or not. In order to be at that level, you have to be strong. Period. (I think a recent example of this is Scott Yard’s elite total http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/9879 )
Getting to that level requires a good deal of raw work as well as geared. Being good in gear doesn’t simply require strength, it requires practice, technique, and speed.
Can you explain your statement about getting 50+ pounds out of equipment? The way I’m reading it is that lifters should not be getting more than that out of the equipment they are competing in. Perhaps I’m reading it wrong?
In most cases, I would say that its the opposite. My briefs alone give me over 50 pounds carryover on squat. One of the big guys at my gym benches close to 600 raw, but he has done 800+ in competition. I highly doubt you would say that he’s not strong…
Hey, no arguing over the raw vs. equipped lifting in my thread!
Basically I think every lifter who uses gear wants the most out of the gear not to be able to go online and say they squatted x amount of weight, but to win those crazy trophies they have at powerlifting meets!
In multi ply feds I liken using those extra layers to car racing. If you are going up against a car that had a V8 are you really going to bring an I4 to the race? Hell no, you’ll bring a V8 and compete in your class. Same with lifting, are you going to bring a single ply suit to a multi ply fed? Not if you can help it.
My goal is to become a winning powerlifter in a geared fed. I chose a geared fed because here in SC I can compete more often with better competition in geared lifting.
Ha! Sorry Pierce, at least we kept it civil right?
Yeah, guys I definitely see what you’re sayin, it just started with me seeing Pierce step back and get humble. I always thought to myself that if I ever tried to compete at Powerlifting or Bodybuilding (a loooong way off), that I’d hold myself to certain standards before I started training with gear (both senses of the word). You definitely need to train in gear to get good with it, and the best lifters get the most out of their gear. And they are hella strong. A 600-800 bench is ludicrous.
K end discussion, it’s CP’s thread! Nice liftin’ bud.
[quote]FutureGL wrote:
Ha! Sorry Pierce, at least we kept it civil right?
Yeah, guys I definitely see what you’re sayin, it just started with me seeing Pierce step back and get humble. I always thought to myself that if I ever tried to compete at Powerlifting or Bodybuilding (a loooong way off), that I’d hold myself to certain standards before I started training with gear (both senses of the word). You definitely need to train in gear to get good with it, and the best lifters get the most out of their gear. And they are hella strong. A 600-800 bench is ludicrous.
K end discussion, it’s CP’s thread! Nice liftin’ bud.[/quote]
Haha it’s all good man, I was just mess’en with y’all! I got what you were saying.
So yesterday I did a shit ton of deadlifting. My last set was somewhere around 350lbs plus 80lbs of chains for a double and that was after a solid hour of deadlifting.
I worked with chains to strengthen my lockout. Haha I used kilo plates yesterday…it’s a love/hate relationship with them. I like deadlifting with them but I hate doing the math to know how much weight I’m doing
I used my briefs yesterday and it now looks like I am an abused guy. I have bruises from my hips to mid thigh and my shins were bleeding yesterday lol.
Well I just had my performance review at work and I got excellent ratings in all of the categories and my boss said I should be promoted to the next level.
The problem?
My director is a cheap SOB and keeps saying “not yet” so she can exceed our budget plans and get a bonus. So yet AGAIN I get denied a promotion that even the CFO says I should get.
I am 1/2 the rank of the other analysts that I work with, I do just as good of work if not better than they do, I get a great performance review and I still get shat (yes past tense of shit) on.
No good deed goes unpunished right?
/end rant.
Unsure if it’s going to be a good workout today because I’m so mad or a no workout day because I’m depressed. (I kinda needed the extra money since I’m marrying a teacher in 5 months)
Did squats for sets of 5 doing a set every 3-5 minutes for an hour and 40 minutes on Sunday. I only used a weight of 200lbs and I was just working on my form the entire time.
So Wed sucked.
I missed a ~500lb deadlift. Now thats not too bad because I did go all out in my other lifts this week and I had to deadlift a day early, normally I do it the day after my off day.
The thing that sucked so freaken bad is that as we all know deadlift is my best lift. Well everyone I workout with is stronger than me by a lot but I used to be able to hang with everyone on deadlift.
Well my training partners have recently changed because we switched guys and now the big guys at the new gym train with us. Anyway long story short, this guy who never trains deadlifts and his form sucks, pulled 600 right after I missed 500. I’m sorry but being the weakest one in the group by far isn’t awe inspiring or motivation, it’s just fucking depressing.
-Anyway enough with my bitching. So shit pretty much hit the fan at work and I have gone from the least experienced in my department to the second most in one day! Looks like I may be moving up in the world.
Oh I forgot too mention, I got promoted.
I may be a shitty powerlifter, but I’m a good business man.
CP
Hey y’all, I would like to ask you to vote for my training partner and friend Shannon Culbertson on powerliftingwatch.com
Vote for her for 2008 Female Bencher of the Year
http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/9903
And for 2008 Female Raw Powerlifter of the Year
http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/9907
Shannon is currently training for the 315 raw bench at ~170lbs. She just missed the lockout of it at her last meet. I fully expect her to get it at our next meet on Feb. 21st.
Thank you all for your support and may you have happy Holidays!!
It’s a long way to the top
-Good things to come. I’m getting stronger with my raw strength. Deadlift meet Feb 21st that I’m training for. I may be in the 220 weight class for that meet
Did 205 for 5x5 on bench yesterday followed by incline DB press with 80lb DB’s, shoulder press, and dips.