Time to Buy Powerlifting Gear

[turbolag86]

Hey everyone...I'm back.

I need to buy my deadlift suit and my bench suit.

I also need to get knee wraps. I was going to purchase my equipment fron Inzer.

I'm not sure which bench suit to get....They have a lot....Does anyone know a good one?

This is my first competition so I didn't want to invest too much into my shirt.

They have a shirt for 43 dollars and I was wondering if it is good for a first time competitor. Its the Standard Blast Shirt.

The deadlift suit is The Max DL

and the knee wraps are Gripper Knee Wrap

Do all the items I just listed seem good for a beginner ?

All the equipment I mentioned is on the Inzer website.

Thanks !

 

[ProOne]

Inzer sells quality gear. Get the shirt and practice in it. The blast shirt should be fine for your first comp. I never used a deadlift suit, so I can't comment on that. I just used my squat suit. How are your lifts?

 

[SemiBulimic]

Personally i wouldn't even think about proper lifting gear until someone can do the following:-

squat - 2 x bodyweight
bench - 1.5 x bw
deadlift - 2.5 x bw

how do you compare?

 

[kanakafarian]

Personally i wouldn't even think about proper lifting gear until someone can do the following:-

squat - 2 x bodyweight
bench - 1.5 x bw
deadlift - 2.5 x bw

how do you compare?

Brah, if it's your first comp, why not run in RAW?

My squat and dead are more than double bw and my bench is almost double bw and I still wouldn't even consider using support gear except for my belt.

 

[MM11]

Sorry ho hijack. I always have been interested in competing and don't care for belts wraps ect. If I entered a natty raw comp could I show up in mesh shorts and a t shirt? I hope it's not to stupid a question but that's what I wear when I lift and have been interested in compititions.

 

[turbolag86]

I weigh 240 pounds

These are the most I've done

Bench:285

Squat: 405, but not deep enough

deadlift: 455

The competition I want to do is a suited competition...I talked to the promoter and he was telling me that you don't have to use any gear if you don't want to....You are just at a disadvantage.

I just don't wanna embarrass myself.

I mean I don't have to get the gear....I didn't know that you shouldn't get a shirt and equipment before you can do those percentages.

 

[kanakafarian]

I weigh 240 pounds

These are the most I've done

Bench:285

Squat: 405, but not deep enough

deadlift: 455

The competition I want to do is a suited competition...I talked to the promoter and he was telling me that you don't have to use any gear if you don't want to....You are just at a disadvantage.

I just don't wanna embarrass myself.

I mean I don't have to get the gear....I didn't know that you shouldn't get a shirt and equipment before you can do those percentages.

Whoa bro, no disrespect but where are you at? Where I'm from, those lifts are in the 148-165lbs weight class. Will you be competitive at 240lbs? My bench is currently at 385lbs (RAW) and I weigh 200lbs.

 

[MM11]

Agree though I hear that just getting competition experience is very valuable.

Today I PR squat 500 (super excited about this)

Bench 365
I don't usually dead lift but can get 405 pretty easy
Clean as press 250 lock out

I weigh 194 @ 6 ft all lifts are raw. Just shoes shirt and shorts ( compression shorts when squatting)

 

[kanakafarian]

Agree though I hear that just getting competition experience is very valuable.

Today I PR squat 500 (super excited about this)

Bench 365
I don't usually dead lift but can get 405 pretty easy
Clean as press 250 lock out

I weigh 194 @ 6 ft all lifts are raw. Just shoes shirt and shorts ( compression shorts when squatting)

That's true, we all have to start somewhere and just getting your feet wet is an experience in itself. You'll have fun and you'll meet a bunch of great people. After your first meet, I'm sure you'll be hooked. Good luck bro!

 

[turbolag86]

yea, this is my first meet so I guess we have to start somewhere.

Do I need to get a singlet for the meet ?

I think I'll just buy a bench shirt....and hold off on the dl suit...

The competition is a bench and deadlift. No squat.

I do wanna get knee wraps for when I do squats. Does anyone else use knee wraps ?

 

[kanakafarian]

yea, this is my first meet so I guess we have to start somewhere.

Do I need to get a singlet for the meet ?

I think I'll just buy a bench shirt....and hold off on the dl suit...

The competition is a bench and deadlift. No squat.

I do wanna get knee wraps for when I do squats. Does anyone else use knee wraps ?

No, you do not need a singlet. If you plan on a bench shirt, make sure you practice with it first. And I don't use any type of wraps. Since you're still somewhat new to the sport, you'll want your joints and tendons to develop alongside your muscle/strength development. I believe many overuse wraps and it ends up becoming a crutch for them, causing a weak link in the chain.

 

[turbolag86]

Hey thanks for those tips.

yea, I appologize....I'm new so I'm not familiar with a lot of the sport yet.

So on the day of the competition I can just wear my regular shorts and a t- shirt, and the bench shirt.

And I can deadlift in my street clothes ?

That's cool.

I'll just order my bench shirt this week.

I'll hold off on wraps and stuff.

I think I need to start doing more cardio. I've noticed since putting on a little muscle that my breathing has become a little more difficult. I train Brazilain Jiu Jitsu....and since putting on some muscle my cardio while grappling has gone down.

 

[jlinteris]

First off, awesome idea competing. You will love it. It is a very addictive sport in which I have competed in many times. As for the comments about being at a certain strength level before you compete, that is garbage. Everyone progresses at different levels and it is a fun sport. That is like saying you need to run 10km in 45 minutes before you start competitely running. Not true. My first comp I wasn't overly strong but I met a lot of great people, learned some awesome advice, got experience and got a taste of what was expected for future meets.

The inzer blast is a basic shirt and not nearly as supportive as some of their other shirts like the phenom. Using a shirt that is mildly supportive like the blast is the only way to start. Shirt work is completely stressful, frustrating and overwhelming at first, especially if you use a shirt that is tight enough where you physically cannot touch a single lift (you learn technique over time). This is stressful because you are holding sometimes 1-300 pounds above your max in your hands so mentally you are already nervous, then you almost blow your eyes out of your head trying to get it to touch. I would even recommend calling Inzer, explaining you are basically brand new to the sport and request a training shirt. This will be looser than normal and allow you to get some easier touches. I see that you will not squat in the comp and it is push/pull only. Is this WABDL by any chance? Getting in a deadlift suit right now isn't a horrible idea either. This is basically the only piece of lifting gear that I found easy. You are basically keeping form the exact same as your raw style.

Squats turnover into the deadlift. Squatting 405 not deep enough is not going to cut it for power development. I would rather see you squat 315 below parallel and activate the hips properly to generate power. When you squat high you use your lower quads only and it is an excercise for a bodybuilding to bring up lagging quads, or a lifter with screwed knees.

Well my book is done here, lol, so I will sub to this thread and see where you go with it.

 

[rxp1997]

Hey thanks for those tips.

yea, I apologize....I'm new so I'm not familiar with a lot of the sport yet.

So on the day of the competition I can just wear my regular shorts and a t- shirt, and the bench shirt.

And I can deadlift in my street clothes ?

That's cool.

I'll just order my bench shirt this week.

I'll hold off on wraps and stuff.

check with the promoter; if this meet is through a federation, most have rules requiring a singlet for competition, and have rules about what you can and cant wear underneath (or over) the singlet.

 

[turbolag86]

Hey guys thanks for all of your tips. Thanks jlinteris for the information. That makes me feel better.

I will probably order the shirt Thursday....I think I'll have about 3 weeks to practice with it.

This is the meet I wanna do:

WABDL Southern Regional Bench Press/Deadlift Championships - Houston, Tx

So deadlift suit....should I go ahead and order it ? I would have about 3 weeks to practice with it also.

 

[ProOne]

Turbo, If I were you, I would get in touch with the meet director and find out what equipment( as in singlet) you need and what commands they will be using. An example would be the start or press command in the bench. Do you train pauses? And for the deadlift, you have to be aware of the down command. ANd you can't just drop the bar, your hands should be on the bar controlling the weight down. I haven't competed in awhile but I'm sure some of these disciplines are still in place.

 

[Steelwolf]

Hey everyone...I'm back.

I need to buy my deadlift suit and my bench suit.

I also need to get knee wraps. I was going to purchase my equipment fron Inzer.

I'm not sure which bench suit to get....They have a lot....Does anyone know a good one?

This is my first competition so I didn't want to invest too much into my shirt.

They have a shirt for 43 dollars and I was wondering if it is good for a first time competitor. Its the Standard Blast Shirt.

The deadlift suit is The Max DL

and the knee wraps are Gripper Knee Wrap

Do all the items I just listed seem good for a beginner ?

All the equipment I mentioned is on the Inzer website.

Thanks !

I hate blast shirts and think they offer very little for what they worth and the effort to take on and off.

My deadlift suit is just a z suit until I got a metal. I love my metal more, but thats probably not what you wanna spend.

Knee wraps I never use.

 

[liljoe]

Definately check the Federation rules. I benched in a NASA meet and needed to wear a singlet. That was in 04 so, I don't know if that has changed or not.

 

[liljoe]

On a side note. Do not get caught up in the numbers you put up in your first competition. The meet in 04 was my first and gained a lot of experience from it. I was able to talk to a lot of veterans of the sport there and most would love to share some info with you.

 

[MongoSS]

Dont get the gear unless you have at least 2-4 months to get used to training in it. If you are not used to the gear and have not broken it in there is a good chance you will bomb out. I lift primarily Raw but have done single ply with older gear. I would advise you to lift raw this time and then buy some gear and get some time using it. In the squat you have to deal with tremendous pressure in the hole, for a first timer you will likely come up with your squat before hitting depth because of that. The bench shirt can be a difficult thing to use if you dont have help. First it takes 1-3 people to get it on depending on the fit, then you have to align the sleeves and seems properly. With a blast which I have used you may get 30-45 pounds over raw but it will be really uncomfortable at first. You will get bruised and pinched by the shirt especially the armpits which sucks. Dont bother with a deadlift suit unless you do sumo, because you will likely get little out of it and it will interfere with your technique. Additionally, when you start gear training I would fallow a westside style routine, with the majority of your lifting done raw and geared lifting done a couple times per month.
Buying gear

get your gear on the looser side so you can acclamate to it you can advance into tighter gear later. Some people quit on gear because they get suits or shirts that are too radical for beginners. so keep that in mind.