How often should I use lifting gear (Suits and shirts)

[Caferacer]

I've always been curious of this. I'm not competing but the majority of my lifting is done on the powerlifting side of things.

I currently have a F7 shirt that isn't near competition tight. I'll do a few odd sets with it about once a month. However I was wondering if I could be getting more gains or getting accustomed to higher weights by benching more with the shirt.

All of my sets are not 1 rep with gear; I'll have a few sets of 3-5 rep with a weight I know I can manage to get a feel for the shirt's rebound and to check form. From there it's stacking on weight for one or two reps.

Same deal with my suit. Although I just have the cheapest titan suit I'll do a workout once a month or so with it and knee wraps.

At the moment I weight around 200lbs and am benching 300 and squating 350 without gear. I get about 20-30lbs out of my gear when I use it.

 

[pmiller383]

I would use the squat suit with the straps down any time you are speed squatting or working up to a max, this will really save your hips if you are a wide stance squatter.
If your not competing the shirt is just more of a luxury thing to train in and I would just use it for a max effort variation once in a while. If you begin competing though, you are going to want to make it more frequent so that you master the shirt.

 

[Caferacer]

I would use the squat suit with the straps down any time you are speed squatting or working up to a max, this will really save your hips if you are a wide stance squatter.
If your not competing the shirt is just more of a luxury thing to train in and I would just use it for a max effort variation once in a while. If you begin competing though, you are going to want to make it more frequent so that you master the shirt.

Fair enough. I'd like to compete which is why I have them. I figure it's better to practice and have some idea of what I'm doing rather than having to jump in head first 3 months before a comp.

I do a semi wide squat.
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It's an old video and I didn't hit parallel but you can see my stance. I still notice a lot of growth in my hips squatting this way.