I have used almost every suit on the market besides the leviathan and the hardcore and I’m choosing to right about the Centurion ngx+ and the IPF King V-squatter. This will be more like a user’s guide than anything else because anyone who has used Metal gear knows that they beat the crap out of everything else on the market. Since I do compete in the USAPL I’ll try and get straight to the point so yall who dont know much about gear can get something out of it.
Cent: When using the titan, forget everything you know about the powerlifting squat and focus on more of a modified olympic squat. The whole stitching design of the suit is set up for a maximum pull through the ass and the hammies to get great stopping power in the bottom of the hole.
You have to allow yourself to sit back enough to get the pressure on the seams but at the same time do an olympic squat. Anyone who squats in any IPF division will tell you that this design makes it a lot easier to hit depth than any other squatting style because they literally want your ass to touch your calves. If you try and do an IPA style squat in the suit, meaning that you spread the knees and use more hip, the suit legs will slid up and lose all pressure on the seams.
Comparitively, deadlifting in the Cent and getting the full “kick” out of the suit aint going to happen. To be honest, to get the most out of the suit DL’in, you have to deadlift conventional. After a lot of trial and error in that suit I finally gave up on going sumo because there was no support in the hole and you get minimal poundage out of the suit.
One nice thing about squatting in the Centurion is that it is a beginners suit. The groove is very easy to hit and can be manipulated very easily. I would recommend this suit to anyone who is new to gear, also I would recommend the Z-suit.
Anyone who has used the Z-suit will testify that any other suit they have used has been 20x better and less painfull. Using that suit is a good building block into other suits. Putting on gear is like anything else, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up.
King: I spent about 6months down at the Compound in London, OH with the EFS boys and got to try all of the gear down there. When Dave told me they were coming out with an IPF line, I got to try out the first one.
Personally, I dont know anyone who enjoys extreme pain and discomfort when lifting in gear. Most of the time it is an unavoidable side-effect, but not in most of the Metal gear.
The King V-type squatter is probably the best IPF suit I have put on besides the regular Metal Squatter.
Just comparing the stitching of the king to the Cent. there are very noticable differences. On the Cent. the stitching is designed to give extreme support to the hammies, and the stitching line runs through the whole suit to achieve it. With the King the pull is more focused on the hips to provide more of an IPA squat. The straps are thicker and provide more support.
Moving on to the squatting style, it is night and day from the Cent. With King you have to start with your hips already broken instead of underneath the bar. Think of the startin position that you are in when you use a monolift. Same concept besides you have to unrack the bar.
With that being said, the whole movement focuses on pushing the knees out as far as possible and keeping the hips “close to the bar.” By hips close to the bar I am talking about the same concept as sumo deadlifters. They eliminate range of motion and get more hip drive by keeping their junk as close to the bar as possible instead of sitting back and trying to “squat” it up. The groove on the King is a little hard to hit if you are not used to squattin in that style or such a tight suit. But once you learn how to properly use your hips to get the needed kick out of the suit you will ever go back. To properly get the poundage out of the suit, you actually have to move faster than your think you should. The suit does have nice stopping power, but the rebound through the hips once you hit the hole is INSANE!
When I first started to test it out, the damn thing was so tight i couldnt hit a 22" box, and I’m 5’7". I loaded up 645 and almost hit a 14" box, but my knees came in a little and the suit rejected me, sending my hips rocketing forward and dumping the bar. So take this as a warning when you are using the suit for the first time… you MUST keep your hips tights and knees out or you’ll be looking at the ceiling.
This squatting style can be used for all metal suits and is reccomended. This suit is not for beginners. As much as I would like to say that I wish I’d started off with Metal gear, I’d prolly just have gotten injured cause my body wasnt ready for the weight.
My best totals in meets where in the Titan was a 505 squat, and my best total in the King was 605.
I compete USAPL 220lbs/242lbs collegiate division. My next meet in Dec. I’m shooting for a 1800+ total: 650+squat, 550+bench, 600+dead.
If yall like the instrucional peice i wrote let me know and I can do it about other gear. Prolly going to write one about shirts… we’ll see if I have time.
