I know, it’s very unusual, it’s really hard to believe having seen him squat 400+ that this is all he can do in sleeves. I only get 25lb from them but that’s me not knowing how to use sleeves.
I think the most carryover I heard of anyone getting is Eric Lilliebridge, best wrapped squat is 1052 and sleeves is 920. But he only ever did a couple meets without wraps and from what I saw he wasn’t even going over about 70% before putting them on. Belkin was an IPF raw champion (and squatted just short of 700lbs weighing 20lbs less) and only uses wraps the last few weeks before a meet, I find it really strange. He also did a high bar extra deep squat (his usual assistance movement) with 300kg if I remember correctly. Only he could tell you what’s going on.
When he said he was doing a meet in sleeves I was expecting him to squat around 800.
Hard to say because I almost NEVER push my unwrapped squat. This February however, out of curiosity I worked up to a heavy single, 635 lbs. If I recall, it felt like I’d be lucky to have another 10-20 lbs. 3 months prior I squatted 750 in wraps in training so… maybe 100 lbs max?
Based on my experience, I’m willing to bet a bit over 100 lbs for high level guys is probably the realistic limit to wrap carryover. So what I mean by that is that if a guy spent significant time optimizing both lifts, I would be surprised they couldn’t get their sleeve squat close to 100 lbs of their wrap.
I think the biggest difference (and what is going on with Belkin) is that sleeves seem to be judged stricter, even outside of the IPF and affiliates. I bet if Belkin did a sleeve squat to the same standard as he normally gets wrapped squats passed (not that I think they are high) he would probably be good for mid 7s.
There are some exceptions I’m sure though. My good friend Nick Ramey, for example, is a 900 lb squatter in wraps but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him squat over 7 in sleeves. For him… he has a quad (I think) tendon that was ruptured in high school and never healed right, so wraps give him some confidence in that holding together. Additionally, he is a very slow, controlled squatter and uses a ton of tactile feedback from the wraps to help in maintain positioning. So there’s always going to be outliers like that, but I think the main factors for big discrepancies are judging and not being “optimized” for one lift over the other.
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The thing with Belkin is that his non-wrapped squat hasn’t really increased at all since he was in the IPF in a lower weight class and passing drug tests. You would think there would be more correlation between the two, especially considering he doesn’t use wraps all the time either. If he’s far out from a meet then he doesn’t use wraps at all.
Yeah who knows, he may definitely just be one of those outliers that the wrap really does make all the difference. I do think held to wrap standards he would be good for mid 7s in sleeves though.
Even though, near 7s drug tested to mid 7s non tested over 6 years is pretty unimpressive to be honest, but then again looking at his bench it hasn’t really improved as much as you would think. in 2014 he benched 474 in the IPF, only 30ish lbs less than his typical low 5s he does now. I think if anything, this is probably a testament to the insignificance of IPF drug testing, at least in the Russian branch.
Maybe a more fair comparison is to look at his best IPF raw squat and compare to his subsequent wrapped squats. Best sleeve squat was 694, 1 year later he hit 760 in wraps, then 2 years later 815. More in that +100ish lbs range I’m familiar with. I really do think just being out of practice with tuning his sleeved squat for comp maxes might be part of the reason why he has a 200 lb differential now.
There is an interview where he says his shoulders are messed up, also his bench in this meet was 30kg short of his best.
He tested positive for something but it wasn’t a steroid, can’t remember what. But yeah, I have little faith in WADA. Just look what happened after Kelly Branton tested positive for a whole list of shit (and tried to blame it on a supplement, and he was sponsored by a supplement company taht does 3rd party testing). Several other guys whose lifts were off the charts suddenly had bad meets, lifts down by 20%+. They do some testing, but not enough that it cant be beaten and there is always the risk of samples being switched or other corruption. Might as well compete untested and stay clean.
It sounds like maybe he was on more shit in the IPF
This excuse that guys who get popped come up with makes fuck-all sense. I don’t know details on detection levels, but think about this… everything you add to a bottle of some supplement powder ups the production cost and cuts your margins. My understanding is that suppliments that are actually dosed properly have pretty shit profit margins, which is why most companies cut the dosing significantly from the values reported in the literature they cite. But companies are out there dumping $50 worth of d-bol into a $30 bottle of pre???
And if you say “well maybe some companies are just micro dosing their products enough for it to be picked up on a lifter’s test”… again I say… what the fuck is the point??? Underdosing a steroid isn’t going to do shit for performance, so it’s not like it makes your product look better and again… it just drives up costs.
Maybe someone out there is straight up not putting any of the active ingredient, and replacing it with a cost-equivalent amount of an oral, but that seems pretty damn far fetched to me. Anyway just my rants, I’m sure someone on here is much more knowledgeable on the subject and could clear things up.
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While I agree that tgis is usually just a BS excuse, there are quite a number of things that can trigger a positive without actually being particularly beneficial, and can end up in a supplement as filler. The test boosters sometimes have actual steroids in some form in them at times, because it’s actually super cheap to do if you are buying raw stuff at the wholesale level. It’s not like they’re scoring it from the pusher at the gym with his mark-up. The generic raw stuff is ridiculously cheap, often way cheaper than the actual supplement substance being touted. Which is not to say it’s a real reson for the fail, it’s not.
There are some supplements that were found to contain banned stimulantsnot listed on the label and prohormones, but I’m not aware of any that had actual anabolic steroids in them.
Wouldn’t that crash your natural test production?
Sure, when you stop mostly. Then you can tell “It really works” and you get back on it right away, LOL. Never mind what it does to your HPTA and how it affects you down the line. Capitalism at it’s finest.
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This is a Belkin thread but also a ATWR Total in Sleeves thread so here is Rouska with a warm up meet 5 weeks out from the main event. 920kg / 2028 lb total @ RPE 9. Another 40-50kg across the three lifts seems doable.
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If he went untested he would beat Yury in no time. Even if he’s not clean he at least has to cycle off to beat the test, that will cost a few pounds at least. And then add a 24hr water cut to the equation, Yury needs to get his squat up.
Rouska with 2100 in training. Higher RPEs than the meet he did. Might just be a little bit more there. Very close to beating the untested record.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGdEVDOAdz3/?igshid=13432srfin7dt
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What was up with that? I saw he did the meet a week ago and thought he posted about doing a heavier meet now. Did he do a gym meet for the heaviest one? Just don’t get the point
Something to do with beating a test?
I think this is more or less his usual training. Fluctuates a bit but he usually works up to a heavy single (sometimes dubs or triples) on all three lifts anyways 85% + so the “meet” was like another training day. Think he is a few weeks out from he target meet. The previous one was like a warm up meet
I thought this was his “target” meet