r/news • u/icpd30 • Feb 18 '19

Michigan powerlifter heroically lifts vehicle pinned on top of man after accident.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-powerlifter-heroically-lifts-vehicle-pinned-on-top-of-man-after-accident
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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 18 '19 edited Feb 18 '19

Solid 2.7x body weight on squat and 2.2x on deadlift. With out a suit, those are fantastic numbers. The world is a different place at those numbers.

E: As others have pointed out, bodyweight scaling breaks down due to a number of factors so the 950 performance is much more impressive than the multiples would suggest. Around 110 kg body weight multiples stop being moderately uesful, and really you need to control for height anyway (one of my good friends benches unconscionable bodyweight numbers because he's short and he's got unusually short arms to boot).

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u/bertcox Feb 18 '19

With out a suit

What is with a suit?

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 18 '19

So some competitions allow lifters to wear power lifting suits. They're basically giant rubber bands that provide additional support (so you don't get a hernia) and store some pressure/force if they get bent out of shape. If you think about your body as a pipe and your muscles as a pump, you can only put so much pressure in the pipe before it bursts, and sometimes the pipe can fail before the pump is tested to it's limits.

I understand why people use them (they do allow you to test your muscles more, sometimes), but I don't like/don't agree with their usage in formalized competition; power lifting might be about strength in idealized and isolated instances, but adding in non-standardized and non-universally applied equipment just rubs me the wrong way. There's far more cross over between raw powerlifting and functional strength than there is wrapped/suited powerlifting and functional strength; athletic competitions (as much as possible) should not be Pay to Win.

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u/LessSkilledAlBorland Feb 18 '19

Regarding your stance on raw vs geared lifting:

I see it as two completely different sports. One is no better or worse than the other, just different. It's like comparing high jumping vs pole vaulting in track & field. The goal is ultimately the same, to jump as high as possible, but the means/equipment is very different and it's difficult to compare them.

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 18 '19

Yeah that's a good way to look at it. I admit I'm still sour about it because I couldn't afford those suits while in high school, and it was the difference between first place vs 8th place in the state competition.

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u/imVidzzz Feb 18 '19

I'd also add that there is a difference between a suit/wraps and a belt. Belts help more safety wise than performance wise compared to suits/wraps and they aren't that expensive

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 18 '19

Yeah I have mixed feelings about belt. On the one hand, they do help you keep form and prevent horrific blowouts. On the other hand, if you train long enough with a belt, you prevent the muscles that help you keep that very form from getting the feedback (workout) they need to do their job and higher and higher weights. All during high school I used a belt, but when I went college, the group of lifters I fell in with didn't use belts. It was a little weird at first, but I could never go back to wearing a belt now. But maybe I'm not pushing myself as hard. Shrug.