My Road to Elite

Re your gear, I’d strongly encourage you to try Titan. I still have my very first Titan squat suit and bench shirt, both of which are now 6+ years old. No runs in the suit and USAPL Nationals last year was the first time they wouldn’t let me use my bench shirt due to some runs. I’ve used the bench shirt a good bit more than the suit, so this doesn’t surprise me.

As far as fit goes, I’ve found that I can get away with buying stock squat suits but need custom bench shirts. I like the arms on my shirts pretty tight, gives more carryover through to the top. The Titan gear isn’t rebound gear like the Inzer stuff, but it still gives great pop out of the hole and off the chest.

[quote]burt128 wrote:
Re your gear, I’d strongly encourage you to try Titan. I still have my very first Titan squat suit and bench shirt, both of which are now 6+ years old. No runs in the suit and USAPL Nationals last year was the first time they wouldn’t let me use my bench shirt due to some runs. I’ve used the bench shirt a good bit more than the suit, so this doesn’t surprise me.

As far as fit goes, I’ve found that I can get away with buying stock squat suits but need custom bench shirts. I like the arms on my shirts pretty tight, gives more carryover through to the top. The Titan gear isn’t rebound gear like the Inzer stuff, but it still gives great pop out of the hole and off the chest.[/quote]

My handler was telling me that the Inzer Hardcore squat suit is absolute hell on your legs, and since I want to use it regularly I’m leaning toward not using that. Pretty impressive that you were able to use the Titan gear for that long and not have runs. The single most important factor for me in a squat suit is that it explodes out of the hole. This is definitely my weakness in the squat which I’m certainly going to work on addressing.

One other thought, I saw a Metal King V-type absolutely explode on a 220 lifter squatting something around 650. I’m sure every type of squat suit has exploded, but as tight as I wear my squat suits, and SEEING it happen with the Metal I am leaning toward switching brands.

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]burt128 wrote:
Re your gear, I’d strongly encourage you to try Titan. I still have my very first Titan squat suit and bench shirt, both of which are now 6+ years old. No runs in the suit and USAPL Nationals last year was the first time they wouldn’t let me use my bench shirt due to some runs. I’ve used the bench shirt a good bit more than the suit, so this doesn’t surprise me.

As far as fit goes, I’ve found that I can get away with buying stock squat suits but need custom bench shirts. I like the arms on my shirts pretty tight, gives more carryover through to the top. The Titan gear isn’t rebound gear like the Inzer stuff, but it still gives great pop out of the hole and off the chest.[/quote]

My handler was telling me that the Inzer Hardcore squat suit is absolute hell on your legs, and since I want to use it regularly I’m leaning toward not using that. Pretty impressive that you were able to use the Titan gear for that long and not have runs. The single most important factor for me in a squat suit is that it explodes out of the hole. This is definitely my weakness in the squat which I’m certainly going to work on addressing.

One other thought, I saw a Metal King V-type absolutely explode on a 220 lifter squatting something around 650. I’m sure every type of squat suit has exploded, but as tight as I wear my squat suits, and SEEING it happen with the Metal I am leaning toward switching brands.[/quote]

The Titan won’t explode and it gives great pop out of the hole. I wear them tight too – a size 42 at a full 242 (I cut about 4-5 pounds to make weight and the 42 is a competition fit size for a 220 lifter). The vast majority of top USAPL and IPF lifters wear Titan. There’s a reason for that – it truly is the best single ply gear out there.

[quote]burt128 wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]burt128 wrote:
Re your gear, I’d strongly encourage you to try Titan. I still have my very first Titan squat suit and bench shirt, both of which are now 6+ years old. No runs in the suit and USAPL Nationals last year was the first time they wouldn’t let me use my bench shirt due to some runs. I’ve used the bench shirt a good bit more than the suit, so this doesn’t surprise me.

As far as fit goes, I’ve found that I can get away with buying stock squat suits but need custom bench shirts. I like the arms on my shirts pretty tight, gives more carryover through to the top. The Titan gear isn’t rebound gear like the Inzer stuff, but it still gives great pop out of the hole and off the chest.[/quote]

My handler was telling me that the Inzer Hardcore squat suit is absolute hell on your legs, and since I want to use it regularly I’m leaning toward not using that. Pretty impressive that you were able to use the Titan gear for that long and not have runs. The single most important factor for me in a squat suit is that it explodes out of the hole. This is definitely my weakness in the squat which I’m certainly going to work on addressing.

One other thought, I saw a Metal King V-type absolutely explode on a 220 lifter squatting something around 650. I’m sure every type of squat suit has exploded, but as tight as I wear my squat suits, and SEEING it happen with the Metal I am leaning toward switching brands.[/quote]

The Titan won’t explode and it gives great pop out of the hole. I wear them tight too – a size 42 at a full 242 (I cut about 4-5 pounds to make weight and the 42 is a competition fit size for a 220 lifter). The vast majority of top USAPL and IPF lifters wear Titan. There’s a reason for that – it truly is the best single ply gear out there.[/quote]

Alright, I’m convinced, I’ll just have to figure out how damn tight to order, probably a 38. Do you know if the newest suit is the best or if an older suit is considered better? I know Belyaev and some other Russian lifters use an older model Titan squat suit still.

Sounds as though you are a very experienced lifter, any technical suggestions for my lifts?

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]burt128 wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]burt128 wrote:
Re your gear, I’d strongly encourage you to try Titan. I still have my very first Titan squat suit and bench shirt, both of which are now 6+ years old. No runs in the suit and USAPL Nationals last year was the first time they wouldn’t let me use my bench shirt due to some runs. I’ve used the bench shirt a good bit more than the suit, so this doesn’t surprise me.

As far as fit goes, I’ve found that I can get away with buying stock squat suits but need custom bench shirts. I like the arms on my shirts pretty tight, gives more carryover through to the top. The Titan gear isn’t rebound gear like the Inzer stuff, but it still gives great pop out of the hole and off the chest.[/quote]

My handler was telling me that the Inzer Hardcore squat suit is absolute hell on your legs, and since I want to use it regularly I’m leaning toward not using that. Pretty impressive that you were able to use the Titan gear for that long and not have runs. The single most important factor for me in a squat suit is that it explodes out of the hole. This is definitely my weakness in the squat which I’m certainly going to work on addressing.

One other thought, I saw a Metal King V-type absolutely explode on a 220 lifter squatting something around 650. I’m sure every type of squat suit has exploded, but as tight as I wear my squat suits, and SEEING it happen with the Metal I am leaning toward switching brands.[/quote]

The Titan won’t explode and it gives great pop out of the hole. I wear them tight too – a size 42 at a full 242 (I cut about 4-5 pounds to make weight and the 42 is a competition fit size for a 220 lifter). The vast majority of top USAPL and IPF lifters wear Titan. There’s a reason for that – it truly is the best single ply gear out there.[/quote]

Alright, I’m convinced, I’ll just have to figure out how damn tight to order, probably a 38. Do you know if the newest suit is the best or if an older suit is considered better? I know Belyaev and some other Russian lifters use an older model Titan squat suit still.

Sounds as though you are a very experienced lifter, any technical suggestions for my lifts?[/quote]

I like the newest version of the squat suit. Just give yourself enough time to work with it as I had a tough time hitting depth with the weight I wanted to use as an opener.

Your squat and deadlift look flawless to me, you have better technique than I do. On your bench, it is tough to tell where your technical flaws may be (if any) due to the angle and quality of the video. I would say that your bench would probably benefit from some lockout work (I’m sure you know this already).

It might also benefit from a shirt with much tighter arms. I have a custom katana and the arms were a little big on me when I first got it. I hated it, so I threw it in my closet for 6 months and didn’t use it. When I finally tried it again, the arms were much tighter since I’d gained some size.

It was a totally different shirt – the tightness in the arms carried me through to lockout much, much better. It looks like you’re missing your bench at the transition point where your tris kick in. I think tighter sleeves may help with that.

Good luck on your goal to qualify for Nationals. I lifted in my first one last year and it was a blast. I barely qualified but still decided to go and I was very glad I did.

Congratulations on getting your class I status man… Elite isn’t all that far away now!

[quote]burt128 wrote:

I like the newest version of the squat suit. Just give yourself enough time to work with it as I had a tough time hitting depth with the weight I wanted to use as an opener.

Your squat and deadlift look flawless to me, you have better technique than I do. On your bench, it is tough to tell where your technical flaws may be (if any) due to the angle and quality of the video. I would say that your bench would probably benefit from some lockout work (I’m sure you know this already).

It might also benefit from a shirt with much tighter arms. I have a custom katana and the arms were a little big on me when I first got it. I hated it, so I threw it in my closet for 6 months and didn’t use it. When I finally tried it again, the arms were much tighter since I’d gained some size.

It was a totally different shirt – the tightness in the arms carried me through to lockout much, much better. It looks like you’re missing your bench at the transition point where your tris kick in. I think tighter sleeves may help with that.

Good luck on your goal to qualify for Nationals. I lifted in my first one last year and it was a blast. I barely qualified but still decided to go and I was very glad I did.
[/quote]

Sure appreciate all the help burt. Your suggestions are duly noted, and thanks for the well wishes. Glad you had a good experience at nationals, some people say due to the amount of entitled assholes it can be a rather unpleasant first experience (USAPL at least).

[quote]Element_26 wrote:
Congratulations on getting your class I status man… Elite isn’t all that far away now![/quote]

Thanks! I still have nearly 300 pounds to go, but I’m chipping away at it.

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]Element_26 wrote:
Congratulations on getting your class I status man… Elite isn’t all that far away now![/quote]

Thanks! I still have nearly 300 pounds to go, but I’m chipping away at it.[/quote]

you’ll get there with persistence. good work buddy!

[quote]grettiron wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:

[quote]Element_26 wrote:
Congratulations on getting your class I status man… Elite isn’t all that far away now![/quote]

Thanks! I still have nearly 300 pounds to go, but I’m chipping away at it.[/quote]

you’ll get there with persistence. good work buddy![/quote]

Thanks gret, the journey is the fun part.

Way to go man, first fucking place. Sorry to hear that about the suit and I hope you can get things figured out as I know you can get that 1575 total easy peezy.

That 606 looked brutal on the third attempt and LOL @ your wife… she was getting in there asses.

I couldn’t tell on the last deadlift… but they said you didn’t have locked out knees? It looked good to me, I guess that’s the USAPL Strict ass rules for ya

Great job man

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:
Way to go man, first fucking place. Sorry to hear that about the suit and I hope you can get things figured out as I know you can get that 1575 total easy peezy.

That 606 looked brutal on the third attempt and LOL @ your wife… she was getting in there asses.

I couldn’t tell on the last deadlift… but they said you didn’t have locked out knees? It looked good to me, I guess that’s the USAPL Strict ass rules for ya

Great job man[/quote]

Thank you sir, pretty happy overall with the result.

Great thing about competing is you learn a hell of a lot. I have plenty of time to get the equipment straightened out and I will spend a lot of time in it leading up to the next meet. I really thing everything will come together by June.

The 606 squat was every bit as brutal as it looked. I screamed as if I had just won the lottery (or set an IPF world record) when I saw my three white lights. As I was locking it out my legs just about gave out and I was worried I’d have the knee buckling issue I had about 4 months ago on 565 after I had locked it out.

If I was as tough as my wife I would have gotten that last deadlift! Yeah they ruled I had my knees bent at my attempted lockout position. After studying it I think I rolled my shoulders about an inch too far back which resulted in my knees bending. The shaking bar caused me to panic and change my lockout style slightly. I have no idea what would have happened if I would have tried to lockout as I have been, may have been just fine. Honestly, I have no problem with the lift getting turned down; unless the lift is executed with technical perfection, you have no real grievance in my mind (perhaps simply a defense mechanism against very difficult judging at times). And I really think my technical skill is improving on all 3 lifts, thanks in huge part to Sheiko and great assessments of my technique from several members on this site.

Say, do you have a inzer forever lever belt? What size did you get? How big does your waist measure at your belly button? And can you get the belt extremely tight? I’m not 100% sure what to order with my 35" waist and wanting to wear the belt extremely tight on occasion.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Say, do you have a inzer forever lever belt? What size did you get? How big does your waist measure at your belly button? And can you get the belt extremely tight? I’m not 100% sure what to order with my 35" waist and wanting to wear the belt extremely tight on occasion.
[/quote]

Yes I do. I got the large in black. To tell you the truth I don’t have a cloth measuring tape so I don’t know that, but I’m a 36 jeans (I have wide hips). I can get the belt extremely tight, however the thing with the lever belt is, if you want to tighten/loosen, you have to have a screw driver. Just a little inconvenience, however I don’t want to fool with Prong belts once I get the belt on extremely tight. To tell you the truth I can gain around 20lbs or lose 20lbs and still wear this belt. I have my settings in the middle so I could go either way and be fine (I am trying to drop down to 175-181 from 194 legitimately).

Also, get whatever color you want. Inzer says they have black in stock on the site, however that is a lie. I called up there and they make as the order comes in. I got black because I wanted it right away, however I ended up still waiting 2 weeks for it.

Oh and thank you for the comment on my video. Once again, great job on the meet. One day I hope to be strong

Again, nice work man. It’s amazing what youve accomplished in the few years youve been training.

[quote]ALKoHoLiK wrote:

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Say, do you have a inzer forever lever belt? What size did you get? How big does your waist measure at your belly button? And can you get the belt extremely tight? I’m not 100% sure what to order with my 35" waist and wanting to wear the belt extremely tight on occasion.
[/quote]

Yes I do. I got the large in black. To tell you the truth I don’t have a cloth measuring tape so I don’t know that, but I’m a 36 jeans (I have wide hips). I can get the belt extremely tight, however the thing with the lever belt is, if you want to tighten/loosen, you have to have a screw driver. Just a little inconvenience, however I don’t want to fool with Prong belts once I get the belt on extremely tight. To tell you the truth I can gain around 20lbs or lose 20lbs and still wear this belt. I have my settings in the middle so I could go either way and be fine (I am trying to drop down to 175-181 from 194 legitimately).

Also, get whatever color you want. Inzer says they have black in stock on the site, however that is a lie. I called up there and they make as the order comes in. I got black because I wanted it right away, however I ended up still waiting 2 weeks for it.

Oh and thank you for the comment on my video. Once again, great job on the meet. One day I hope to be strong[/quote]

Ordered one on Monday, thanks for the advice!

Why are you looking to drop weight? How tall are you? Do you have powerlifting aspirations or do you have different goals?

Thanks man and glad to help. One day we WILL be strong, and hopefully the pursuit will make us better people.

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Again, nice work man. It’s amazing what youve accomplished in the few years youve been training.[/quote]

Thanks BL, and now I’m hungrier than ever.

Off-season (session 1 of 5)

Front squats (harness, beltless)
1x4x185@7
1x4x205@7
1x4x225@7.5
1x4x245@8
2x4x225@7.5, 8

Incline DB Press (neutral grip, paused)
1x12x35
1x10x45
1x8x45 (WTF!!)

Reverse grip bench (POR)
1x4x135@7
1x4x155@7
1x4x175@8
1x4x185@9

Snatch grip bentover ~30 deg. shrug
1x12x95
3x10x110

Pull-throughs
4x15x100

Side-lying concentric-eccentric
3x10x4

Diagonal chest stretch
20 reps each side

Felt awesome to be back in the gym. My legs felt pretty strong on front squats today. Picked up some TK knee bands, they are damn awesome if you don’t mind a couple of buckets of leg sweat.

Reverse grip benches felt really good on the shoulder (which is feeling pretty good overall). Those snatch grip shrugs are hard as shit, wow. Think they’ll be a mainstay, thanks novaeer!

I got my Titan Super Centurion (size 40) squat suit today. I tried it on right away and thought for awhile I wouldn’t be able to get it over my ass. Once I got it most of the way on after 25 min. I couldn’t squat more than 1/2 in. down whether I had the straps up or down. If I can break that fucker in I have a feeling I’ll be good for 300kg (661) at the meet in June. I’ll be ordering a size 42 Super Centurion as well and use it as a practice suit.

Time for a completely different level of dedication and intensity. I’m ready to tear some shit up and I already feel very well recovered from the meet.

Why I think I’ll switch from Sheiko-style training to Mike Tuchscherer’s Reactive Training System (RTS):

  1. Separate days for bench/upper body will help me bring up my lagging bench.

  2. Need the flexibility to work in equipment weekly at various volumes and intensities.

  3. Easier to spread out my accessory work if I am working out 4 days a week instead of 3.

  4. Can do conditioning work on bench days and get in a little better shape.

  5. Easier to bring up a variety of components with more exercise variation

  6. I believe I’m technically proficient enough in the three lifts for great variation.

  7. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to not do anything heavier than 360 for 3 reps on squat until 4 weeks out from the meet when I do 3x1x540 in a suit. I need to do much more work in the 450 to 540 range if I want to squat deep into the 600’s.

Priorities:

Squat
-stability (#1)
-bottom strength
-suit proficiency

Bench
-transition strength
-lockout strength
-able to use size 42 shirt proficiently

Deadlift
-lockout strength
-solid form with really tight suit

I just can’t accomplish these goals with Sheiko without heavily altering it.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
7. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to not do anything heavier than 360 for 3 reps on squat until 4 weeks out from the meet when I do 3x1x540 in a suit. I need to do much more work in the 450 to 540 range if I want to squat deep into the 600’s.[/quote]

This part is key – time in the suit and getting heavier weights on your back. Wish I had learned this earlier. Have fun with your new suit.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
Why I think I’ll switch from Sheiko-style training to Mike Tuchscherer’s Reactive Training System (RTS):

  1. Separate days for bench/upper body will help me bring up my lagging bench.

  2. Need the flexibility to work in equipment weekly at various volumes and intensities.

  3. Easier to spread out my accessory work if I am working out 4 days a week instead of 3.

  4. Can do conditioning work on bench days and get in a little better shape.

  5. Easier to bring up a variety of components with more exercise variation

  6. I believe I’m technically proficient enough in the three lifts for great variation.

  7. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to not do anything heavier than 360 for 3 reps on squat until 4 weeks out from the meet when I do 3x1x540 in a suit. I need to do much more work in the 450 to 540 range if I want to squat deep into the 600’s.

Priorities:

Squat
-stability (#1)
-bottom strength
-suit proficiency

Bench
-transition strength
-lockout strength
-able to use size 42 shirt proficiently

Deadlift
-lockout strength
-solid form with really tight suit

I just can’t accomplish these goals with Sheiko without heavily altering it.[/quote]

Sound good. I’m looking forward to following your progress with RTS.
Stay strong!