Gear

[Drew07]

Hi Rip,

Are there any training benefits to using gear such as squat suits, deadlift suits, bench shirts, briefs and so forth?

For example, does a geared deadlift carry any benefits for grip strength? Or can it have a training effect to overcome sticking points at different positons in a lift?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why do powerlifters use suits and wraps?

[Drew07]

To lift more weight? Is there also a training/hormonal effect of lifting heavier loads on muscle, ligament, cartilage and bone? And perhaps also a benefit, mentally, of having a heavier weight across your back, or in your hands?

[biggah_traps]

Why do powerlifters use suits and wraps?

To lift more weight than they could raw. Does this mean gear might be useful as a way to work part of the range of motion extra hard - so a shirted bench would allow extremely heavy bench top half reps in the same way a rack pull allows extremely heavy top half of deadlift reps?

[Mark Rippetoe]

And if you are training for a suit-and-wraps meet, that makes perfect sense.

[Jason Donaldson]

To lift more weight than they could raw. Does this mean gear might be useful as a way to work part of the range of motion extra hard - so a shirted bench would allow extremely heavy bench top half reps in the same way a rack pull allows extremely heavy top half of deadlift reps?

Or you could save money and hassle and do pin benches from the equipment you already use...

[dalan]

To lift more weight than they could raw. Does this mean gear might be useful as a way to work part of the range of motion extra hard - so a shirted bench would allow extremely heavy bench top half reps in the same way a rack pull allows extremely heavy top half of deadlift reps?

What Jason said is the obvious answer but besides that, supportive equipment isn't a "throw it on and lift more" type of deal like people think it is. When that stuff first came out, anyone could pretty much put on an Inzer Blast shirt and use it but the trade off was, it also didn't do much. Modern gear is much more finicky, difficult to learn and difficult to use effectively. If you want to go down that road, get a Slingshot or a Titan Ram or something, those you can just put on and use in short order, but Jason's response is really the best response for what you seem to be looking for.