Brief Recommendations?

So i am a gear newb and i am thinking about getting a pair of briefs to start. Before getting any suits and etc.

I am looking for great carryover first, and support second.

It seems that the best for this are the Metal ace briefs, boss briefs and predators. I know it varies from person to person and etc, just what i’ve been able to gather from various threads and reviews and etc.

I don’t know exactly what info is needed. My conservative estimate is that i can squat 450 lbs raw with belt of course. I squat in a medium stance.(roughly about shoulder width or slightly wider) My weakness is definitely in the bottom portion of the squat. I also lift by myself most of the time, so that limits me to things that i can somewhat easily get on by myself.

Any recommendations for briefs that have given you great carryover would be great. I know that carryover is not always the same for everyone, but it would be much appreciated for any input and advice.

Depends on your problems. To get the most out of any you will have to take a fairly wide stance.

I have used all 3 of the briefs you listed.

Preds- I thought they were awesome at the time… not a lot of stop in them, very easy to use, less carryover, easy to get off, not bad to get on if you know how.

ACE- Good brief. Pretty strong. Lots of rebound. Hard for me to get on and off. Much better carryover than in preds. Not hard to use if you are good at pushing your knees out. Otherwise, you need to really work on the “good girl/bad girl” machines, and practice widening your stance and pushing your knees out hard. You need to do that regardless going into gear, but more so for the ACE because it has a tendency in many lifters to pull their knees in.

BOSS- These were totally worn out (to the point the laminated plys were coming apart and you could feel it was 2ply) and they still gave good carryover. I would guess about like the ACE. I tried a pair of new BOSS once, and they were wicked. I could barely break my hips and go down an inch or 2 with 495… But that will depend on your size/strength. One of my training partners used them well and could hit depth with about 4 plates.

Also, the three briefs you listed are the only legit multi-ply briefs, aside from overkill. Overkill stuff is supposed to be awesome. I have their poly suit and it has wicked pop. Very easy to use, but not enough stopping power for me.

If you want a good/cheap starter brief that still gives good carryover check out centurion briefs. I got more out of them than my preds. My raw strength was about 50lbs weaker when I was in the centurion briefs, and my PR in just briefs was the same in preds or centurion briefs…

If you train alone I would not get the BOSS because everyone has told me they are a bitch to break in. So unless its a used brief, skip the BOSS, IMO.
ACE can be tricky too, go on powerlifting watch and look for powerlifting gyms near you, and start whoring everywhere you can to find a good group. That makes a gigantic difference, and is essential to using gear…especially multi-ply.
Preds/centurions are by far the easiest to use. Based on my experience with the overkill poly suit I would bet his briefs are easy to use too.

If I was training alone… I would get ACE if you feel ballsy and want a stronger brief, centurion if you want good carryover and fairly easy to use, and preds if you want really easy to use, but little support, and less carryover.

I’ve used the Ace briefs and the predators as well. I had the predators grid stitched on the whole back side of the briefs (legs and hips). With the grid stitch the support was pretty similar to the Ace briefs. Without the grid stitch they probably wouldn’t have quite the carryover of the Ace briefs. I also had and old pair of titan briefs that were OK as well. If you are training alone I would recommend you also get some suit slippers as this will really help in getting the briefs on by yourself. I rank the carryover as follows:

  1. Ace briefs or predators with grid stitch
  2. Centurian briefs (if they are using the new age material they now have)
  3. Predators without grid stitch

Everyone I know who has the predators says they’re great and more comfortable to wear than the metal briefs. The preds are MUCH thinner than the metal briefs and definitely easier to wear under a suit. I have, however, used my fair share of metal briefs. If you are going to get metal for your first pair of briefs, I think the ace would be far too much.

Given your level of experience, lack of training crew (apparent, correct me if I’m wrong) with experience, and moderate squat stance, I think the metal pros would be better suited to you. I have an old pair of metal pros (like, made in 2004 old) that I use sometimes and don’t get much out of, but I also have a new pro suit and I can get 100-150 lbs out of just the bottoms pretty easily. They are a much more forgiving brief than the ace, which has a specific groove it wants you in and will throw you all over the place if you get out of it.

Stronghold makes a good point. If you want to use stronger gear you NEED to find training partners. Titan Centurions or preds would be my suggestion in that case. Very easy to use. I have metal pros, never liked them at all to be honest. Out of the BOSS, ACE, Centurion, Preds, and Pros, the pros were my least favorite.

If the price hasn’t changed, I think I bought by Centurion briefs new for like 55 bucks. Maybe 75. Got it from Ken Anderson and it was here in less than a week. He is who I buy all my titan stuff from now. They will talk to you and help you figure out what you need.

If you go with anyone besides Ken or Metal expect to wait. House of pain took like 3-4 weeks to send me a stock pair of preds. I have heard Iron Gladitors is faster. Never order from Titan or from Inzer direct. Takes forever.

BigSkwatta, thank you for your advice. I would love to find a “good” powerlifting gym in my area. I have looked around, but perhaps i need to advertise to see if there is a home gym that has a good crew.

srs2000, thanks for the rankings, that is something that i’ve been looking for as far as actual use. Not the sites advertisements. If at all possible i would am going to try to get equipment that i can use and make little to no alterations.

Stronghold, thanks for the recommendations. I had thought of the metal pros as well. You are correct, i do not have a crew that knows much if anything about powerlifting gear. When i brought out the sling shot, it was interesting to see the reactions of others in the gym.

Overall, i want to get as much carryover as i can. Obviously i wont get as much with just the briefs. So now i am looking at the metal pros, the predators and centurions. I have also been playing around with my squat stance a bit, so with the addition of gear, i could definitely widen my stance out.

I have Preds, Metal Pros, and Ace. given your situation I second Stronghold on the Pros. Preds are the bomb as far as I am concerned, and the Ace are pretty damn good too, but they both are really made for wide stanced squatting in a mono.

BigSkwatta sorry i missed this earlier. Thanks for the vender recommendations, i have heard that inzer can take awhile, but i haven’t heard much about how long titan takes to deliver. I was looking at the price on the titan site and if i’m looking at the right ones they are 60.00.

Pete, thanks for the tips. I am curious how much of a difference there is between the predators and the metal pros, those do seem to be the two best options for me as of now. They both are similar in price, as well as they aren’t a major issue to put on.

Any tips on sizing, based on the sizing charts, are they pretty accurate?

I got the metal pro’s a few weeks ago. I have a 570 raw squat and I hit 700 in them really easy. Prolly could have hit it for a triple. They have great pop and are really easy to learn. I’m going to be wearing them under and Ace Pro Squatter. I haven’t tried the inzers, mainly casue I’m a Metal Whore but they are great for a first pair IMO

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/montana

I would email the state chairs and ask if they know gyms in the area. APF is the only multi-ply fed on the list, but most people don’t care what their training partners wear (I think that’s strictly an internet hate thing).

[quote]SteviGX wrote:
I got the metal pro’s a few weeks ago. I have a 570 raw squat and I hit 700 in them really easy. Prolly could have hit it for a triple. They have great pop and are really easy to learn. I’m going to be wearing them under and Ace Pro Squatter. I haven’t tried the inzers, mainly casue I’m a Metal Whore but they are great for a first pair IMO[/quote]

Thanks for letting me know about your experience. For sizing, did the sizing charts that they have work out pretty accurately?

[quote]johnnytang24 wrote:
http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/montana

I would email the state chairs and ask if they know gyms in the area. APF is the only multi-ply fed on the list, but most people don’t care what their training partners wear (I think that’s strictly an internet hate thing).[/quote]

Thanks for pointing that out. Mike casey owns bullet gym. I’ve viewed their website, but i just haven’t had time to check it out in person. But you’re probably right, they might know if there are any good powerlifting groups that i could join.

Apf does have two contests here in montana, one is may 21st which is a push pull meet(according to the worldpowerlifting congress site). The other is our big sky state games which is in the middle of july and it can be a full meet. It is partly why i am asking about gear and etc now, so i can start out training with it and starting learning how to use it properly.

I went a size up off of my pro briefs for my pro squatter, and I still get a lot out of the bottoms with no briefs under them. Things will stretch out some, but my experience has been the metal gear doesn’t stretch so much that you can’t fill them out by gaining a few lbs or just having them taken in a little. So yes, the sizing chart on EFS is accurate. You can always exchange for a size up if need be. The customer support there is excellent.

[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
BigSkwatta sorry i missed this earlier. Thanks for the vender recommendations, i have heard that inzer can take awhile, but i haven’t heard much about how long titan takes to deliver. I was looking at the price on the titan site and if i’m looking at the right ones they are 60.00.

Pete, thanks for the tips. I am curious how much of a difference there is between the predators and the metal pros, those do seem to be the two best options for me as of now. They both are similar in price, as well as they aren’t a major issue to put on.

Any tips on sizing, based on the sizing charts, are they pretty accurate?[/quote]

The Pred’s are not that easy to get on by yourself. Also, another note, if you have a gut, they aren’t friendly to that. The Pros on the other hand are much more gut accommodating.

For sizing always go by your thigh size in my experience. You can always get the hips taken in by a skilled seamstress, but you can’t always squeeze you thigh into a tighter hole. God that sounds bad…

BTW I have a training partner with a shitload of briefs ranging in sizes for the 242 to 308 weight class (think Shelby on, Shelby off). All Pros. PM me your measurements and I might be able to broker you a deal on a used pair.

Stronghold, thanks again for the advice. Though i have ordered from efs, got alot of bands and etc, and as you said the service there is great. I haven’t ordered anything where sizing was really important, and i’ve read a few posts where some have had a little trouble with it. Before i do order, i will send jo an email to double check that i am getting the closest size that i can for me.

[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
BigSkwatta, thank you for your advice. I would love to find a “good” powerlifting gym in my area. I have looked around, but perhaps i need to advertise to see if there is a home gym that has a good crew.

[/quote]

What area are you in? I would post about it on outlaw powerlifting. They offer some good advice about that. I would post on here too, and maybe throw a flyer up in the gym or something. Shit if I was wanting to get into gear I would post an ad in the paper.

i got some fairly loose metal pro’s the first time i got any gear and the first time i used them i got about a 70 pound carryover and looking back i wasn’t really letting them do there job. i also train alone at the moment and they are easy to get in and out of. i squat super wide so things will be different for a closer stance. FTS is the way to go when ordering, they helped out a lot.

Bigskwatta, i do have a few gyms that i’ve found, and they seem okay via the ads and websites. I haven’t actually gone to them in person yet. Part of that is i already have 2 gym memberships. One is my school gym and it actually is a pretty good place to lift, i would say the only downsides for a powerlifter there is there isn’t a variety of bars to use(maybe also a good deadlift bar), or band pegs. The other gym is a golds gyms, really crowded, only one good squat rack, but it also has bars or atachments that i can use for bands. If i find an alternative i will change out the golds gym for the other.

There are two gyms that i am looking into, one looks promising for powerlifting, the other has tires and hammers that i could use for cardio stuff. I more than likely will sign up for both in the next month or so to see what they are like. I have to wait until july to terminate my golds membership due to the contract stuff, but it’s only about $20 a month.

boldar, thanks for your experience. I am more than likely going to get metal pros as my first trial if you will with powerlifting briefs. If i can find a good crew to work with and it’s okay to use gear with them and etc i will probably go with metal ace. FTS? Do you mean elite fts by chance? If so, so far i would agree. Even though i haven’t ordered anything from inzer or titan or anyone else as of yet.

Go off your pelvis around measurement. So if your hips are 48" get a size 48. Anything above that go up a size. This is straight from Jo Jordan’s recommendations, EliteFTS’s resident gear whore. I have a 56 brief and a 64 Ace

[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
BigSkwatta, thank you for your advice. I would love to find a “good” powerlifting gym in my area. I have looked around, but perhaps i need to advertise to see if there is a home gym that has a good crew. [/quote]

I drive 4 hours once a week just to train at a real / worthwhile gym. I’ve heard of guys driving longer distances to train with Bill Crawford on a regular basis. It’s time well spent and when you start screwing with equipment, shit starts getting potentially dangerous quick.