:duel:
Haha - guys, the shirts and suits are a good thing, they prolong careers and prevent injuries. Of course, people have started abusing them and now anyone who wants to compete at the top ranks of powerlifting needs to abuse them as well. It may be a shame but you or I can't change it, so don't bother whining or walking around talking to powerlifters saying "those guys who bench 600 in a shirt are pussies, I bench 450 raw I know they couldn't do that", because we'll say "that's nice" then laugh at you behind your back if we're in a GOOD mood.
It serves no purpose to lament the halcyon days of single ply low tech powerlifting gear, just get over it and do what you need to do to compete. The reality of the situation is that guys like andy fiedler, ryan kennely, scott mendelson, jason jackson and matt lamarque who are all hitting ~770+ in double ply gear are all able to rep out 550+ touch and go (in mendelson and kennely's cases, they can both hit raw ~700lb singles with a pause) and saying the gear does all the work is just an ignorant insult to these great lifters.
If you don't want to compete that's fine, but don't bash those of us that do, and don't bash us because we have to use the shirt to be competitive. It's not my fault I'm competing against people who abuse the gear, I am just trying to stay competitive and avoid injury. I did my last contest in a loose single ply fury polyester shirt (I got it on myself!), and I still managed to hit 473, and I'm not going to sit by while people talk trash about shirted benches as if there's nothing to them, because there certainly is.