gear advice

hello there, my lifts are all inching their way up the ladder, bench closing in on 400, sumo dead last week of 550, and squat nearing on 500…

Is there a shirt that can be used for training that is used more for safety rather than adding 100’s of pounds to my lift?

similarily, what other gear do you guys recommend for safety/preservation purposes? or if at all. I dont really plan on competetion, just seeing what i am capable of.

like i said im not after extra pounds on my lifts, just keeping my joints etc happy

thanks

Yea ill just tell you what i TRAIN IN… and if you want you can give them a try they work well for me…

bench shirt
training i use the single ply inzer high perfromance hd blast…it is a great shirt probally the second best shirt i have used other than my single ply frantz denim i used to bench 405 in 2 summers ago but it split…i use this shirt for all my max effort board and foam work…i also use it on dyanmic day if i plan to go heavy on my assitant board press work…i just feel safer using it…i just got a training titan fury… one size big to train in… to see how i like it…if i like it i am going to get a custom one for my meet…

squat suit…buy the single ply metal V-type squater from elite fitness to train in… this is what i do…great suit for training…

breifs…i wear a pair of double ply power pants from inzer…i like these alot also…there also fairly cheap…i where them under the metal v-type suit on dyanmic day…i also where them to pull my speed deads in…sometime ill throw my breifs and suit on max eff day to take a heavy pull also…but on dynamic squat day i wear the power pant briefs and the metal v-type to keep me healthy…

also get some wrist wraps they will keep your elbows healthy…i use the crain wrist wraps…

to be honest i am a gear fanatic…i love training in gear it keeps me healthy year round and i am able to handle heavier weights wich makes me stronger…i love something goldberg said the other day… would a football player play without pads? …thats how i feel…i want to do everything to keep me healthy and strong on meet day and if wearing training gear helps me do that …than damit i am going to do what works…big martin

Big Martin

Not trying to be a jerk here but you said “get some wrist wraps they will keep your elbows healthy”. Did you really mean elbows? If so, can you explain further?

Thanks.

FWIW, I train speed in an old Inzer z-suit. You can get a z for like $40.

IMHO, best case scenario you for bench in your situation is troll around forums and try to find an old NGX (first gen) Fury. Call Titan and determine your the size for training fit. This could be had for pretty cheap, and should be pretty easy for you to work in and last a long time. (I wouldn’t give more than $30-50 depending on condition.) Just some random thoughts Good luck!

Another note, all of the aforementioned gear is indeed for performance enhancement AND not safety only. Some claim that the gear keeps ya healthy.

yea wristwraps help with the elbows and bicep tendons a ton…in my last training cycle my elbows and bicep tendons would get so sore i couldnt do rack lockouts because they caused me so much pain…i read somewhere to help with this problem where wrist wraps during heavy lock outs and max sets…i gave it a try and it has worked wonders…before i never wore wrist wraps in training only at a meet…now i wear them for my last 2 max sets of max effort work and on rack lock outs and i have had no pain at all since doing this…i also have begin to tape up my bicep tendon on dyanmic squat day this has helped also…big martin

bangs …i agree that all gear has performance enhancement effects…but form my personal experence gear helps a ton at keeping you healthy…i would say my joint pain, bicep tendon problems, hip strains, minor tears and pulls, have droped off by 75% at least since i have began to train in light gear…big martin

Yeah. I don’t regularly lift in gear, so I wouldn’t know…maybe time to start ‘cause I’m gettin’ older and have a constant state of aches/pains.

thanks Big Martin. I’ll give the wrist wraps a try. I’ve been having constant elbow pain for the past two weeks. On your DE squat, are you wrapping your bicep tendon tight? Do you think you would see as much improvement by using an elbow sleeve?

i wrap my whole upper arm on my left side…i take equi-block you can buy this at elitefitness it is basically icy-hot for horses…i take it and saturate my arm with it then take maskeing tape and tape my arm up as tight as i possibily can …i started doing this during the summer and my bicep tendon problems basically went away…also if your bicep tendons and elbows are bothering try to get in avery hot shower right after training and take a cups of ice with you…ice down your elbows and bicep tendon basically until it is num and then put as hot water as you can stand on it for as long as you can …repeat this about 3 times and then do it like twice a day…you can also do the whole maskeing tape upper arm wrap thing when you bench also it really helps take aways the pain…if you do this stuff for a month or so you should be fine in about a month…big martin

thanks for the info BM

is this gear that someone could get into and out of easily? im no expert on shirts etc, but from what ive read they seem a hassle to put on/take off.

without sounding ignorant exactly how do they help keep the joints healthy?

it seems to me that the change in groove from RAW would have an adverse effect.

one last Q, do you get your athletes (ie peeps not training for PL specifically) to wear gear?

thanks for your time!