Reply With QuoteAt the beginning of the week, I planned on making this a raw lifting day. However, a PL buddy who is a self-professed gear whore insisted that I could use my HardCore for deadlifts by wearing it backwards. I've heard of people doing that before, but hadn't thought about it anytime recently. So I decided to try it tonight, in case I'm going to order a new suit for DL.
1. Deadlift - all reps done from a dead stop. Stood up straight to reset on some.
raw: 135/6; 225/5; 315/3
add erector shirt: 375/1
add backwards suit, straps down: 425/2
add belt: 425/2; 465/2
straps up: 505/1, 1
This was all I had time for, as I got to the gym much later than I planned. I count it as an extremely helpful and productive session for the following reasons:
* I learned that my friend may be right. Wearing the suit backwards was a very different experience from wearing it normally like I did last week. I definitely got good pop off the floor, but...
* I realized that I need to learn to "beat the suit", kind of like I need to learn to "beat the shirt" for benching. Meaning that the weight has slows down or sticks at the point where the gear stops helping, and I have to accelerate through it or risk losing the lift. This will just take practice. Besides that...
* Due to oxygen deprivation, I found that I probably won't be able to use the erector shirt with this suit. No real loss, because it barely cost anything, but I could hardly breathe once the straps went up for the 505 singles. By comparison, I used it with a HardCore last year and deadlifted 568 lbs at a mock meet last December. But that HardCore was a size 35. This one is a 32.
When I say I couldn't breathe, I mean I tried it 2 ways, and neither worked. The first set, I did what I normally do: grab the bar, get in position, then take a big breath, hold and pull. Well, the breath I took wasn't so big. Several attempts at a deep breath failed, so I just did what I could and pulled it. The second set, I tried something new: I got my feet set, took a pretty deep breath while standing upright, then grabbed the bar, got in position and pulled. I'm not used to holding my breath that long, and I don't think I want to get used to it. I felt like my head would explode when I started the lift. When it was over, I had a terrible tingling feeling all over my face. Didn't like that too much. I'll try it without the shirt next time. If I still can't breathe, I know it's the suit.
I'm going to try to get to the gym after work tomorrow, because I didn't get to do the upper back/tricep work I had in mind for this session. They close at 7 on Saturdays, so time limitations may dictate that it's weighted chins/dips for as many sets as I can fit in.
Geez, a 25 lb loss over the summer? Reminds me of when I started delivering mail. LOL Can't imagine they would have wanted him to drop that kind of weight. Uncle might have to be an online strength/conditioning coach.Originally Posted by hbriem
