Utilizing Powerlifting Gear for Raw Powerlifting and Hypertrophy

Joshua Miller

Raw powerlifting and geared powerlifting are two different monsters, but they are monsters that can play well together. While geared powerlifting makes lifting abstract for the casual spectator with numbers inflated by hundreds of pounds over raw numbers, it also provides tools that can help the raw lifter’s training. In this article we will discuss how both raw and geared training has its place in training, regardless of whether the competitor competes raw or geared.

               It is intuitive to most that a certain amount of raw training is crucial for geared powerlifting. Assistance work is rarely performed geared, and secondary variations are often performed raw as well. Sometimes even primary work is performed raw, either in rotation or during specific periods of time. While it stands to reason and is even common sense to focus on getting stronger raw to move more weight, a less commonly utilized, but valuable tool is the use of powerlifting equipment for raw training. Powerlifting equipment offers several distinct advantages to raw lifters that make including gear a worthwhile consideration.

               Often you will hear old school guys talk about tossing on light briefs to squat to “keep their hips tight”. Geared squats are one of the best cues for opening and keeping the hips open during a squat. You simply cannot squat without opening your hips into the gear. While geared squatting is certainly different from raw squatting, it can still be a useful drill to teach someone how to not only open their hips, but to keep them open under weight that feels heavy to them. There are many other tools that are better for initially teaching a lifter to open the hips, and this is not something you would consider for the average fitness enthusiast, but for powerlifters who must learn to be comfortable under heavy loads gear can serve as effective a great technique tool for opening the hips and maintaining torso position under heavy loads. Gear provides external feedback to improve body awareness as you descend into a squat. This particular benefit is like the way in which knee sleeves help, not by providing  by providing external feedback. The degree of compression from briefs or a suit is much higher though, and as a result absorbs eccentric load and reduces recovery costs of training, allowing for faster recovery after.

               If you are around guys who use powerlifting equipment, you are likely to hear someone say they are going to “toss on some light briefs because they feel beat up”. We all know the eccentric phase causes the most muscular damage and has the highest recovery cost. Although there is no clinical data to support what I am about to say (because there is and likely never will be research performed on geared powerlifting), it is logical to assume that during the eccentric portion of the lift, much of the eccentric load is absorbed by the gear. The lifter is able to focus on exploding up for the concentric portion much more, and the muscle is kept at a peak contraction for longer on the concentric because the strength curve has been changed to level out areas with mechanical disadvantages. The result here is a reduced recovery cost, while a congruent or arguably favorable opportunity for concentric strength production. To put it simply, it really does seem to allow a lifter to get “less beat up” from training. This can be a benefit for old guys who don’t want to stop lifting, or for anyone to utilize as a form of deload. Personally, I like to keep my loads as they would have been raw, and utilize light briefs when I am in need of a deload from time to time. I will also utilize light briefs for hypertrophy focused sessions at times.

               There are several reasons I find powerlifing equipment useful for hypertrophy training. Although it does likely absorb some eccentric force, and we all know that eccentric contractions are great for hypertrophy, it also has an interesting benefits for hypertrophy training. First is the ability of gear to level the strength curve. At the bottom of most movements, you are at a mechanical disadvantage and this is where your peak contractions occur. Your ability to train all of the muscles used in the exercise to the same point of fatigue, or to failure will be limited by this point. By being at its most loaded up and providing the most assistance in these positions powerlifting gear is able to eliminate this mechanical disadvantage. If you find the right gear for you/the load being used then you will be able to feel everything close to failure at the same time. It is a wonderfully terrible feeling to have the glutes and quads reach near failure at the same time on a set of squats and to even have the hamstrings pumped up massively from it. This is because the muscles are kept at a peak contraction longer, because as you reverse it is as if the load is increasing due to the increased contribution from the body as the contribution from the gear decreases. That same set of squats in briefs will include more reps than you would’ve gotten raw too! That means you keep the muscle under peak contraction throughout a greater range of motion AND you increase the time under tension. This makes powerlifting gear a powerful tool for yet another purpose—building muscle—and should be in your coach’s/lifter’s toolbox.

               To effectively apply these modalities to your training or your client’s training, it is important to consider type of gear you are using for your goals. If you are a raw lifter looking to enhance your raw lifting by applying gear in training, I would suggest using older generation single ply equipment. Squats and deadlifts are the easiest to apply this to, because the older generation squat and deadlift suit/briefs aren’t too restrictive and allow your natural groove for the most part, although the groove may be slightly more posterior chain dominant. I do not utilize this strategy on upper body training, as bench shirts are restrictive and hard to use solo. They also change the groove more than older generation single ply gear would for a squat or deadlift, as do devices like the slingshot or RAM. That being said, some do find this strategy useful in improving/prolonging their career. Personally, I would stick to using this information for squats, deadlifts and variations thereof.

               In conclusion, I encourage lifters to keep an open mind with their training. Use every tool that is out there, so that you can end up stronger and less beat up than lifters that came before you. Powerlifting gear can be a valuable tool, even for the raw lifter, to get bigger, stronger, and stay healthier! If you have not considered incorporating gear into your raw training, it might be time! Would you like to learn more about this topic or any others? Let us know at ntbfwtrainingsystems@gmail.com
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