Lifting Equipped

[Kev]

When lifting raw, but you want to transition into using shirts and suits, is there any specific way of knowing when to do it?
For example, I can only bench 260 raw, would there even be a point to me trying a shirt because the weight is too light?

[robert da strongman]

i dont think it matters.

are you planning on competing?

[tjoe]

You could start working into some shirt training anytime.
I think the big thing to keep in mind would the type of shirt you end up getting. You wouldn't be able to get a dbl ply denim (for example) because you would not be able to use enough weight to get the bar to touch.
-Try looking into a very basic single ply shirt.
-Start hammering the triceps real hard and heavy (since the shirt will help you off the bottom, your tris will have to "learn" to lock out more weight than you would normally press)
-Find some other PLers in your area that may be willing to show your the ropes and perhaps even work your way into a group if possible.
-research, research, research!

[Ryan Bracewell]

how old are you?

[Kev]

how old are you?


I'm 20

[Kev]

i dont think it matters.

are you planning on competing?

Hopefully sometime down the line, there are local competitions every few months so I'm going to go and check one out, get a feel for what goes on, then pick one to work towards. There are comps that are specifically drug free which i'll obviously go for.

[Kev]

You could start working into some shirt training anytime.
I think the big thing to keep in mind would the type of shirt you end up getting. You wouldn't be able to get a dbl ply denim (for example) because you would not be able to use enough weight to get the bar to touch.
-Try looking into a very basic single ply shirt.
-Start hammering the triceps real hard and heavy (since the shirt will help you off the bottom, your tris will have to "learn" to lock out more weight than you would normally press)
-Find some other PLers in your area that may be willing to show your the ropes and perhaps even work your way into a group if possible.
-research, research, research!

I'm going to start heavy floor presses to hopefully bring up the lockout strength. What would be the best time to incorporate them into training? The program i've come up with has two bench days: a lighter higher rep day on Tuesday and then a heavy day going as low as 3 or even 2 reps on Saturday.

[Ryan Bracewell]

Kev, the reason I asked your age is because my personally feeling on suits/shirts is the same as my opinion on AAS. There is nothing wrong with using them, but I do feel its best to have a good foundation before using these things. Only you will know if you have a good foundation already. For example, I never touched a suit or even knees wraps, until my squat was over 550 and my deadlift was at 700. My guess is that if you can not bench 315 without a shirt, assuming your not 150lbs, then you have plenty of room to grow or you need to fix some technique issue first.

[Kev]

Kev, the reason I asked your age is because my personally feeling on suits/shirts is the same as my opinion on AAS. There is nothing wrong with using them, but I do feel its best to have a good foundation before using these things. Only you will know if you have a good foundation already. For example, I never touched a suit or even knees wraps, until my squat was over 550 and my deadlift was at 700. My guess is that if you can not bench 315 without a shirt, assuming your not 150lbs, then you have plenty of room to grow or you need to fix some technique issue first.

That's actually what I was thinking, that I'd get up to 3 plates before buying a shirt, you posting that has sort of solidified that idea. I've been watching powerlifting clips on youtube, as well as Ryan Kennelly's Road to the Arnold film, and I definitely see some changes that need to happen to my form immediately. Hopefully the weight will be up a bit then.

[tjoe]

Good advice Ryan.
Kev, how close are you to 315 now?

[Kev]

Good advice Ryan.
Kev, how close are you to 315 now?

It's hard to say, but i'll find out saturday. I've done 260 for 2 reps myself then bit of help on the third. I think my form will be improved come this saturday and I won't be doing nearly as many reps in the warmup and first few sets as I've done in the past, so I plan on getting a nice little PR :cool:

[tjoe]

As far as 2 seperate bench days go... I wouldn't mind seeing you do something like a 5x5 routine on one day and then rather than another direct bench day, hit tris real hard starting off with the floor press working up to singles and trying to improve on them every time. The when it stalls out switch the floor press over to something else.
Lots of ways to go about it but thats one idea...

[Kev]

As far as 2 seperate bench days go... I wouldn't mind seeing you do something like a 5x5 routine on one day and then rather than another direct bench day, hit tris real hard starting off with the floor press working up to singles and trying to improve on them every time. The when it stalls out switch the floor press over to something else.
Lots of ways to go about it but thats one idea...

Thanks for the input, I'm taking it all onboard. Training is actually starting to sound fun again. The high volume bodybuilder style training just doesn't appeal to me like it used to.