[quote]thogue wrote:
If a bench shirt really bothers you you can just follow raw competitions I guess. But I don’t understand where the hangup comes from.
[/quote]
He’s weaker than geared lifters. That’s where the hangup comes from.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
[quote]thogue wrote:
If a bench shirt really bothers you you can just follow raw competitions I guess. But I don’t understand where the hangup comes from.
[/quote]
He’s weaker than geared lifters. That’s where the hangup comes from.[/quote]
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
Anyway you’re boring me now, because none of you seem to realise that geared lifting will ultimately result in the demise of the sport. When equipment finally reaches it’s zenith, after 4 ply, 5 ply, 6 ply and then suits of armour, we will have to regress and start again. Geared lifting is to raw lifting, as WCW is to MMA. Fake.
[/quote]
I just don’t see that happening. Raw will always be a true test of strength for a full range of motion in a lift, and geared a true test of how much weight can be handled and pressed with supporting materials.
What might be bothering you is lifting geared vs. raw are very different yet both are called “Bench Press” or “Squat” or “Deadlift”. If they were named differently for raw vs. geared then perhaps there wouldn’t be such emotion tied to it. I’ve seen some folks throw big numbers around for their lifts, but they don’t qualify if they are geared numbers. Everyone assumes the number is raw. Naming the lifts differently would help even it was “raw bench” and “geared bench”.
Keep in mind even though a geared lifter is using more weight than they can lift raw through a total range of motion, their joints, ligaments and muscle are handling the full weight so it takes a toll not only on connective tissue, but also on the CNS.
My best raw bench is 345, but I put on a single ply bench shirt a few months ago and put up 375 the first time out. Having tried a shirt I’ve gained more respect for the geared lifter. From just past half way up to lockout, the weight is about true unassisted weight. If I focused on geared lifting, I could bring my geared bench closer to 400 just by working on finding the groove of the shirt and working the muscles that contribute to lockout.
In summary - spend $75 on a shirt and give it a try before forming a strong opinion.
I don’t understand why people still get so bent out of shape about this stuff. Gear isn’t going to ruin powerlifting or cause the demise of the sport. If you look back over the past 20 years, in 1990 powerlifting was a small underground sport. With the huge leap in the strength of the equipment since then, powerlifting is still a small underground sport. The overwhelming majority of powerlifters I’ve ever met don’t care what the general public thinks about their lifting and thus don’t worry about if the general public understands it.
I’ve competed in raw, single-ply, and multi-ply meets, with fairly mediocore numbers in each case. One style of lifting isn’t more “legimate” than any other, they are simply different and anyone who is an actual powerlifter understands the difference and doesn’t try to compare equipped numbers to raw numbers. For me, a 1000+ BP in a multi-layer shirt and a 600+ raw BP are both very very impressive, but they are different lifts and thus should be interpretted that way.
Here’s Hoornstra benching 675lbs-
I agree with Bret and Rasturai. The equipment is getting out of hand, and something really gnarly is gonna happen. At this point it seems it’s less about true strength [the backbone of powerlifting] and more about technical proficiency in ones gear. And, all of the absolutely ridiculous comparisons and anaologies made by people defending gear make no sense. BMX to Mountain bikes? Seriously?
I’m sorry…I really try to be open minded all the time…but I really just still can’t see the point of the whole benching 1000lbs in a shirt mentality vs. benching 600 raw. Even when I was powerlifting I hated the idea of people putting equipment on so they could lift more weight. Okay it’ll prevent injuries at a high level etc. You know that’s completely fine with me actually…
But when it comes to benching 1000lbs…when really the man acn do 600lbs…I mean that 400lbs of difference is just…it just seems SILLY to me, and looks more like a circus act in my opinion.
Again my mind will not change, neither will yours…but that’s fine…I’m sure we could agree on many more things related to lifting than some silly little shirt 
lol.
WhiteFlash - I met Jeremy when I was 16 years old and saw him compete at the NERB…it was awesome…guy has some freaky strength and great build for benching big.
too bad he hurts his pec in the second attemp…
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
Just because I have a different view than the majority on here it doesn’t make me a troll. I’m entitled to voice an opinion. And why whenever you mention “gear” on a powerlifting forum does everyone get so bloody defensive?. I wonder what a psychiatrist would make of that?.[/quote]
For the record I don’t like geared lifting either :).
But whatever makes everyone happy as long as they mention gear when the mention their numbers. Really doesn’t make much sense to me because, person A benches 400 raw, person B 450, but person A may be able to get more out of a shirt than person B and out bench them in a competition…Doesn’t make much sense.