To build more strength lift raw or geared.....

[Ryan Bracewell]

Over the past year I have been debating with a few big time powerlifters and pro strongmen about what is best to build max strength.

Here are some of the pro/con arguments I have heard or developed:

-by lifting raw you are force to use more of your natural strength to move equal weight with gear
-Suits/shirts require a specialization in technique that can take of time a strongman could use for something else
-by wearing gear you are able to lift more, thus overloading the muscles with a weight you could not hit raw. this overload will help stimulate strength that lifting raw can not.
-suits can help protect the joints which can allow you to lift heavy more often(this only applies if you stick with single ply type gear)
-not worth using squat or bench gear since you dont use it in most strongman contests.
-using gear exposes your weaknesses as you get to weights beyond your raw limit.

I will add more as I remember some of my conversations. What do you guys think.....?

[robert da strongman]

i guess if you are allowed to use gear in competition then you might want to train with it.
does gear make you stronger? probably not since it assists the lift. the muscles are doing the lift.

[crashcrew56]

I think gear can be a good tool for a strongman competitor that is far out from doing a competition. I think a 6-8 week training cycle with lighter gear could benefit a strongman competitor.

[Ryan Bracewell]

I fall on both sides of the fence personally. Excluding the cost of suits, I do believe in the overload principle of using gear and think it could help stimulate additional raw strength via cns stimulation. However, I also find that lifting raw, especially completely raw without a belt, can help stimulate additional muscle fibers in lifts like deadlift.

[PowerCoach]

I think you're correct Ryan, with the view being 'both sides of the fence'.

With strength sports, I'm of the opinion there are no absolutes, as with absolutes comes a halt in progress.
The body and CNS requires constant stimulation for progress, due to its amazing adaptive traits, which genetically exist within our DNA, as a 'survival code' if you will.

Raw or Equipped both offer the lifter variety and a means to an end....progress.

[s2h]

i would think there is a huge mental aspect to all of this...by doing assisted lifts via the suits it would give you a mental edge...that you can handle more wieght..kinda like that mystery spot that makes you "bench" a wieght you have been stuck at..how much of this would you say is mental??

[Ryan Bracewell]

i would think there is a huge mental aspect to all of this...by doing assisted lifts via the suits it would give you a mental edge...that you can handle more wieght..kinda like that mystery spot that makes you "bench" a wieght you have been stuck at..how much of this would you say is mental??

I think it can work in both directions. For Example, if I have been using my deadlift suit for a few sessions, when I go without it I am fearless with the weight because I know my raw max is within my suited max. So doing 765 raw seems like nothing mentally when I did 850 with a suit a week or 2 before. But on the opposite end of this, mentally it can be frustrating when you are warming up and all of a sudden the weight you lifted in a suit that went up like a hot knife through butter, and without the suit its a strain. It goes up but when one week its cake, and the next week its hard the mind can throw you off.

Hope that makes sense. my explanation felt a little long winded.

[s2h]

I think it can work in both directions. For Example, if I have been using my deadlift suit for a few sessions, when I go without it I am fearless with the weight because I know my raw max is within my suited max. So doing 765 raw seems like nothing mentally when I did 850 with a suit a week or 2 before. But on the opposite end of this, mentally it can be frustrating when you are warming up and all of a sudden the weight you lifted in a suit that went up like a hot knife through butter, and without the suit its a strain. It goes up but when one week its cake, and the next week its hard the mind can throw you off.

Hope that makes sense. my explanation felt a little long winded.makes sense...