I love that pistol squat video SO MUCH. That is some bad-assery, training one-legged with a boot on. YEAH!
Got the stitches out today. It was a bit painful, which I wasn’t expecting. I start physical therapy in ten days and will be permitted limited walking in an air boot in four weeks. I initiated negotiations with the surgeon regarding when I can really lift again. No squatting or deadlifting for two more months. That sounds like forever to me.
[quote]kpsnap No squatting or deadlifting for two more months. That sounds like forever to me.
[/quote]
Only 8 weeks, already counting down in single digits. 
Wow ! Lots going on. Get better soon !
well I’m behind!!
glad you are doing well and on the road to recovery!!!
Eight weeks is a lot but it will pass in the blink of an eye.
Get better soon!
8 weeks will fly by. Truly motivational stuff in here Snap.
james
A question for you: how do raw lift #s compare to geared? (not that I’m at all interested in lifting geared, just curious)
Thanks for the flowers, DF. I know that I’m a demanding woman at times.
[quote]cholulalula wrote:
A question for you: how do raw lift #s compare to geared? (not that I’m at all interested in lifting geared, just curious)[/quote]
Everybody’s answers to this will be different. But I think all geared lifters would agree that they get big gains out of squat and bench gear and smaller to no gains out of DL gear. Keep in mind that there are many variables here – quality of gear, stock vs. custom gear, number of plys, years of experience, handler’s fitting skills, etc. In terms of specifics, I would estimate I get up to a 45% increase in squat gear (suit and knee wraps), 20%+ in a bench shirt, and no more than 10% in a DL suit. Most people probably get more out of a bench shirt, but I’m just not capable of managing much weight with that lift period.
More experienced lifters will have played around with different gear and know exactly what type works best for them and how to work with the gear. There’s quite the learning curve and definitely more margin for error with gear. For example, if you get out of the groove ever so slightly with a bench shirt, you’ll lose control of the bar. If you have any forward lean with your squat, the suit will cause you to fall forward. Things like that. So those types of variables can really wreak havok in gear.
I should mention that I haven’t worked my raw lifts as much as my geared ones in terms of max effort. I’ve think I’ve only done two meets raw, and one was token lifts just to pull a max deadlift. So I usually get to a point in my training cycle where the weights start to get heavy and I begin to phase in the gear rather than staying raw.
I’d be curious to hear from Pete, O, Lil Power, and any other geared lifters on how they’d quantify their raw vs. geared numbers.
Sorry to read about your surgery.
I hope you have a successful recover.
Being patient about not trying to go push your workouts is hard.
Snap, the gear vs. raw question is a tough one for me to answer. While I do train raw regularly, I haven’t recently competed raw or even trained for or attempted a raw max in the gym in a long time.
Having said that, here is my comparison:
Squat:
raw gym max: 240
geared gym max: 345
geared meet max: 308
Bench
raw gym max: 130
geared gym max: 185
geared meet max: 176
Deadlift
raw gym max: 285
geared gym max: 375
geared meet max: 363
I hope that helps
I also failed to mention that sumo lifters get a much bigger gain pulling geared than conventional lifters. So my 10% figure is based on conventional pulling because I’ve never even tried pulling sumo (or modified sumo, as I’m pulling now) in gear.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
I also failed to mention that sumo lifters get a much bigger gain pulling geared than conventional lifters. So my 10% figure is based on conventional pulling because I’ve never even tried pulling sumo (or modified sumo, as I’m pulling now) in gear.[/quote]
Which is why I keep bugging you to pull sumo
How much you get out of gear depends on several factors. Your natural leverages can very much be accentuated by gear. I have training partners who are long limbed and tall, and at best get 70-100lbs out of a state of the art multi-ply shirt, wheras shorter armed guys I know who can barely bench 405 raw hit up in the 700s in a hand me down shirt. A lot also is how you train. Training to get the most out of your gear is going to be a little different than training to be strong raw, i.e. a geared bencher might spend more time on top end lock out strength and lat strength, whereas a raw bencher might want to invest more of that time on delt/over head pressing strength.
Ulimately strong is just strong though. A 1000lb squat or a 750 bench is just impressive, no matter what you are wearing.
Oh, to expand on that too, gear takes a whole other skillset and mentality than raw, and it also not ‘magical’ in any sense of the word. I get very anxtious and fearfull on my heavy geared days. The training is just plain brutal. But very rewarding.
Well Pete got that right, I’ve been training powerlifting for over 5 years, first time I ever really overloaded my CNS was training lockout in my bench shirt!. That in itself took my a a week and a half of recovery to get back to feeling like myself. off subject, kinda…
I’ll follow suit (ha, ha) with O’s post:
Meet #'s:
raw squat: 365
gear squat: 450 , gear is all single ply
raw bench: 220 (really ugly)
gear bench: 325
raw dl conv: 365
gear dl conv: 385
But as Pete stated above, I have good leverages for PL, except DL. Geared lifting seem to come very natural for me, the pressure the suit and shirt have didn’t freak me as it does some people. I hope that the same holds true for multiply gear I want to try this year.
[quote]PeteS wrote:
Oh, to expand on that too, gear takes a whole other skillset and mentality than raw, and it also not ‘magical’ in any sense of the word. I get very anxtious and fearfull on my heavy geared days. The training is just plain brutal. [/quote]
This is true. Somedays it’s very hard for me mentally to row the bar down in a tweaked shirt all the while feeling it cutting the hell outta my armpits or squat to depth with the counter-pressure on my hip flexors. Not to be self-deprecating, but I’ve always felt a bit like putting me in gear is like putting lipstick on a pig. But I enjoy it nonetheless in a masochistic sort of way.
My husband set up a mini-gym for me in the house since I can’t get to my regular gyms. Yesterday I did band pullaparts, DB flat bench, DB millies, tricep kickback, and flyes. Haven’t done flyes since my shoulder surgery and did quite well. My repaired shoulder actually did better than my other because it’s so tight in the joint now. My legs have lost mass but look flabby to me since I’m not allowed to directly train them other than Jane Fonda-esque moves like lying leg lifts and hydrants. Experience tells me that the strength will come back fast, though, so I’m holding on to that thought like a security blanket.
To add on to the discussion, I have also seen some outstanding raw lifters simply not able to lift in gear. I am talking 2000lb raw totals, you get a squat suit on them and they can’t breath and can’t hit depth no matter how much weight is piled on the bar. And yeah, some people simply have panic attacks with a tight shirt on, etc…
Thanks for the responses-geared lifting is such an enigma to me, it’s interested to hear the replies.