Squat Suits?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
41

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:

So I guess we should all tell high school kids and people everywhere to take what their coaches say as gospel then?
[/quote]

Is that really how you interpret what I wrote? You are making a mountain out of grain of sand. I am saying offer advice based on the information provided. Don’t state the obvious and then pat yourself on the back for it.

The advice his coach is giving him isn’t egregious enough to get your undies in a twist. It’s really not that big of a deal and I don’t understand why you have exptrapolated this into him getting into a suit at the exclusion of wraps. Maybe I missed something here but that is typically not the case.

It’s really not that I don’t like your advice, I just don’t like the context in which it was given. In a different context I would likely agree with you.

However, I have watched many coaches I respect start kids in suits right away without ill effects. In fact, 2 come to mind who won Collegiates this year by a landslide and another is one hell of an up and coming 198’er who will likely win Nationals next year so what the fuck do we know?

42

[quote]apwsearch wrote:
Monopoly19 wrote:

So I guess we should all tell high school kids and people everywhere to take what their coaches say as gospel then?

Is that really how you interpret what I wrote? You are making a mountain out of grain of sand. I am saying offer advice based on the information provided. Don’t state the obvious and then pat yourself on the back for it.

There are multiple people on this board who I would venture a guess are smarter than the OP’s coach. He asked for advice regarding squat suits, I gave mine. You don’t happen to like it, I don’t happen to like yours, it’s no biggie! The kid can pick from what we gave him and go from there.

The advice his coach is giving him isn’t egregious enough to get your undies in a twist. It’s really not that big of a deal and I don’t understand why you have exptrapolated this into him getting into a suit at the exclusion of wraps. Maybe I missed something here but that is typically not the case.

It’s really not that I don’t like your advice, I just don’t like the context in which it was given. In a different context I would likely agree with you.

However, I have watched many coaches I respect start kids in suits right away without ill effects. In fact, 2 come to mind who won Collegiates this year by a landslide and another is one hell of an up and coming 198’er who will likely win Nationals next year so what the fuck do we know?

[/quote]

First off. People telling me to gain weight to get a higher squat, great advice, if I hadn’t already stated something called a weightclass. I challenge anyone here to gain 75 pounds to their raw squat while gaining a grand total of zero pounds. Money isn’t as much of an issue as yyou seem, but 42$ isn’t even close to the 150$+ suits I’ve been seeing. I can get wraps.

We have belts already at school. I can’t believe people are telling me there are better things to do with my money then buying a suit. It’s idiotic from where I am. Gaining 10 pounds won’t help me in the 165 weighclass, it will make me the weak kid in the heavier weightclass.

My plifting coach isn’t an idiot. He has our sports teams squatting, deadlifting, cleaning, benching on a regular basis, with plenty of rest. He knows his stuff, He is an actual lifter too. he squats, benches, ect. not all coaches are bad.

43

apwsearch, you’ve been really helpful. You thik a z>champion then?

44

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
John S. wrote:
Why would you use a squat suit now? I do 415 and still think Its to early for a squat suit. Build up your raw strength first then use a suit.

I think the main reason to use is that it’s a tool FOR getting stronger. It’s a way to get used to heavier weights. And lastly, if you have been lifting for any decent amount of time, it’s fun!

That said, I don’t think at a 225 squat it’s time.

Monopoly

[/quote]

Thats what I was saying, 225 is way to low to even think about a suit. Raw lifts should be the main thing you train for a while, build up the raw strength then worry about the gear numbers.

45

Maybe I shouldn’t have said a squat suit makes you weaker, but think about it. The suit is designed to assist you and your muscles to come out of the hole.
Anyone who knows anything about squats knows that the most difficult part of the squat is below the parallel plain. In PL meets you need to break the parallel plane. If you train without a suit, when your down in the hole you are building muscle and recruiting fiber to build your raw strength to move the weight out of the hole. The squat suit assists you out of the hole so you are not working as hard to move the weight.
You can get stronger using a squat suit but you will get stronger faster without one.
Suits and shirts are assistance equipment that allows powerlifters to lift weights that they really can’t do naturally.
When the first Inzer bench shirt came out and also the first squat suits, their primary purpose was to keep you tight and prevent injury. You might get 20-25lbs extra out of an early day bench shirt.
I know guys getting 200-300 lbs out of a custom bench shirt. I benched 500 raw and my best competition bench was 535. (Single ply shirt) One of my PL friends could bench 500 raw but used a custom bench shirt and got a 715 bench with the shirt. He just trained locking out the last 4-6" of the lift because the shirt did most of the work for him. My training partner could do 405 for 1 rep, put the double ply canvas shirt on and does 565 in a meet.
I don’t mean to piss in anyone’s corn flakes but I think equipment is way out of line today. It’s not the strongest guy who wins, it’s who has the best equipment and knows how to train around it and use it properly.
I’ve been around the game for 27 years and have seen the evolution of equipment. It’s all about the numbers.

46

Y’know, seeing as how he’s in high school, maybe it would be better for him to buy some high quality briefs. Cheaper, easier to work with and would still give a good bit of carryover with the proper technique and some wraps.

I know I fully intend to buy briefs before I jump into buying a suit, just so I can get the learning curve down. Regardless;

ginnyspowergear.com
elitefts.com
www.frantzpowergear.com

Don’t forget ebay, either.

47

Also, in terms of sheer dollar value, I really like Frantz’ site. Double poly squat suit for like $80.

48

everyone seems to be looking for the best squat suit for him based on his level of experience etc etc, but the bottom line is his level of experience dosent warrent a squat suit in general.

Whats more important, useing a squat suit just because everyone else is or actualy doing some squating before you get a squat suit.

Its like a 130lb guy saying “well all the other bodybuilders do steroids, Im going to to” no, the guy needs to pay some dues to begin with even if that means he isnt competative for a while.

49

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Why shouldn’t he wear a suit in the comp tho?

He’s going up against other lifters who’ll have them on. So what if he’s only squatting 225?

A suit WON’T make him weaker. Hell since everyone’s going on about how easy the learning curve is for a z-suit or champion he’ll proably need no more than 2-4 sessions in it.

That’s 2-4 days less raw work. No biggy at all. It’s not like the suit’s gonna sap all his bottom end strength and sell it on the blackmarket.[/quote]

This is true actualy… I just think its stupid to get a suit that early. Its not like his raw lifts cant easily go up with some hard work, and we all know that building a decent base is more important than competeing with the other 225 squaters at school. Shit I bet with smart training hit raw lifts would rival if not surpas his equiped lifts.

50

suits take a long time to get used to, a long time

That being said starting to get used to suits early is fine, westiside now trains with suits A LOT just to get used to them.

That being said also you should be training raw for the majority of your lifting also.-this is the most important-

Also its totally different then the steroid scenario I hope you get that from just reading the above.

51

[quote]shizen wrote:
suits take a long time to get used to, a long time
[/quote]

A single ply champion or z-suit does not take a long time to get used to. I thought we established that already.

I don’ know your history or whether you’ve competed, but if you put on a double ply metal ace suit and viking briefs then the learning curve will obviously be remarkably different to that of a single ply champ or z-suit.

Say all suits are hard to learn is like saying you shouldn’t teach a 12 year old maths because he might not understand advancded calculus. Duh shit he won’t. But you’re not teaching him that. Just like the op isn’t putting on 4 layers of poly/canvas.

52

[quote]Hanley wrote:
shizen wrote:
suits take a long time to get used to, a long time

A single ply champion or z-suit does not take a long time to get used to. I thought we established that already.

I don’ know your history or whether you’ve competed, but if you put on a double ply metal ace suit and viking briefs then the learning curve will obviously be remarkably different to that of a single ply champ or z-suit.

Say all suits are hard to learn is like saying you shouldn’t teach a 12 year old maths because he might not understand advancded calculus. Duh shit he won’t. But you’re not teaching him that. Just like the op isn’t putting on 4 layers of poly/canvas.[/quote]

What’s up, Hanley. I agree on the learning curve. I felt like my Champion took about three sessions to get the hang of. No harder to get used to than tight knee wraps in my opinion. Actually, I think I am still trying to get used to tight knee wraps!

53

[quote]Uber N3wb wrote:

This is true actualy… I just think its stupid to get a suit that early. Its not like his raw lifts cant easily go up with some hard work, and we all know that building a decent base is more important than competeing with the other 225 squaters at school. Shit I bet with smart training hit raw lifts would rival if not surpas his equiped lifts.[/quote]

The point I am trying to make is buying a squat suit does not equal abandoning work on base strength. You are still stating the obvious.

Christ, guys. It’s really not that big of a deal

54

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
apwsearch, you’ve been really helpful. You thik a z>champion then?[/quote]

Yes. No question in my mind the z is a better suit.

55

[quote]shizen wrote:
suits take a long time to get used to, a long time

That being said starting to get used to suits early is fine, westiside now trains with suits A LOT just to get used to them.

That being said also you should be training raw for the majority of your lifting also.-this is the most important-

Also its totally different then the steroid scenario I hope you get that from just reading the above. [/quote]

Westside isnt training with 1ply, cheap, easy to use suits tho. They also squated over 225 before they went for the suits.

Anyway, yes the examples are different, most examples are… case and point “doing what everyone else is doing isnt always going to be the best thing for you to do” Example: (Everyone else is takeing steroids I will to) Yes that would make it fair and more fun and let you lift more but its not the best decision for everyone.

It realy dosent matter either way, he would just miss out on a few raw workouts here and there… Im just saying it makes no sence to get a suit so early.

SOOOOO, now that I have shoved my opinion on the OP 3 times and continualy put his lifts down, I think I will just say “go ahead and get one of the suits mentioned” I wouldnt but its not going to make or break you either way.

56

I was not aware that the OP was on a team with a coach. Given the circumstances, I think using a suit is ok, just be sure to not neglect your raw training.

I was under the impression that the OP was just planning on competing on his own and wanted to get a suit. After re-reading the thread, I agree with Search on this one.

57

I would agree with the z suit.

For those who keep insisting that he get double ply, franz suits or anything close to that, rememeber that not all federations allow those suits. He is lifting in a state where the high school sanctions its meets thru USAPL, this means single ply poly only.

Malinda

58

I would agree with the z suit.

For those who keep insisting that he get double ply, franz suits or anything close to that, rememeber that not all federations allow those suits. He is lifting in a state where the high school sanctions its meets thru USAPL, this means single ply poly only.

Malinda

59

[quote]Uber N3wb wrote:
shizen wrote:
suits take a long time to get used to, a long time

That being said starting to get used to suits early is fine, westiside now trains with suits A LOT just to get used to them.

That being said also you should be training raw for the majority of your lifting also.-this is the most important-

Also its totally different then the steroid scenario I hope you get that from just reading the above.

Westside isnt training with 1ply, cheap, easy to use suits tho. They also squated over 225 before they went for the suits.

Anyway, yes the examples are different, most examples are… case and point “doing what everyone else is doing isnt always going to be the best thing for you to do” Example: (Everyone else is takeing steroids I will to) Yes that would make it fair and more fun and let you lift more but its not the best decision for everyone.

It realy dosent matter either way, he would just miss out on a few raw workouts here and there… Im just saying it makes no sence to get a suit so early.

SOOOOO, now that I have shoved my opinion on the OP 3 times and continualy put his lifts down, I think I will just say “go ahead and get one of the suits mentioned” I wouldnt but its not going to make or break you either way.
[/quote]

Newb, I have a lot of respect for you, and your accomplishments and you’re a great poster. but I don’t think you’ve read the thread. I’m competing against other people in suis. I’s almost idiotic not to have one. The Z suit has been said to be a grea begginers suit on here. I plan on squatting once a week raw and once a week suited. Because 2 of the 3 meets are equipped and 1 is raw.

60

[quote]Hanley wrote:
shizen wrote:
suits take a long time to get used to, a long time

A single ply champion or z-suit does not take a long time to get used to. I thought we established that already.

I don’ know your history or whether you’ve competed, but if you put on a double ply metal ace suit and viking briefs then the learning curve will obviously be remarkably different to that of a single ply champ or z-suit.

Say all suits are hard to learn is like saying you shouldn’t teach a 12 year old maths because he might not understand advancded calculus. Duh shit he won’t. But you’re not teaching him that. Just like the op isn’t putting on 4 layers of poly/canvas.[/quote]

didn’t read through everything right away, yes was referring to more advanced suits. Also just getting used to it is one thing, then you have to get the ‘most’ out of it which is another.