Turbolag
TID's Official Donut Tester
- Oct 14, 2012
- 7,400
- 1,255
I don't know, as someone who has been in powerlifting since the beginning and seen the changes the gear has made, I really don't know. Massive weights, very strong people but where is the sport going.
Tiny is a great guy and super strong, enough said.
1968 Senior Nationals in LA, Inzer, etc were just kids then, PL's used thin OL belts turned backwards, wore several pair of tight blue jean cutoffs, wrapped bedsheets or inner tubes around their waists, this meet was what opened peoples' eyes to how you could "demonstrate your strength." and opened some ppl's eyes to how you could make money inventing and marketing all different variations of squat suits, deadlift suits, bench shirts, PL panties, and wraps for wrists, elbows and knees.
Phooey. Tiny and others ARE really way stronger than I am, but the numbers are meaningless. Many ppl first got into iron originally to get bigger/better at HS football or other sports, or to fare better in street fights, and none of that allows you and your helpers time to get your gear on just right so you can demonstrate what you can do.
The reality is 3/4 of that weight would be to much for the majority of us shirt or no shirt and the idea that the shirt does all the work is nothing more than ignorance. Putting on a bench shirt doesn't add 200lbs to someone's bench. If it was that easy everyone would do it. There are some who try to lift equipped and fail miserably. They actually lift LESS equipped than they do raw.
I can honestly say I was guilty of this same thought process a long time ago. It wasn't till I got to train with Curtis Leslie and Steve Goggins that my eyes were opened to what it really is. It's hard work either way and the lifter still has to do ALL the work. The equipment provides a safer enviornment to lift in and the gear does aid the lifter BUT if you put a bench shirt on a bench it won't lift the bar by itself.
We can debate whether we feel the lift was good or not but in the end ALL that matters is the lift was good in the eyes of the judges. Congrats to Tiny for moving superhuman weight.
You don't have to like equipped lifting but you have to respect it. Those guys/girls who compete equipped are pushing their bodies to the limit just like us raw lifters. Those who think the shirt, suits, briefs, wraps do all the work.... go to any PLing gym, ask to try someone's old equipment, and show them how easy it is.
This isn't a thread on geared lifting, it was about a single lift.....
There are currently 0 members watching this topic