21 Jul From Raw to Gear
By Daniel Dalenberg
Part 1: Why?
For over a decade of training and competing in powerlifting, I have always lifted raw. Sometimes with wraps, sometimes without. With the exception of one multi-ply meet that I did in the spring of 2010, I have always entered the Raw-Open class. Lots of different weight classes, as light as 165 and as heavy as 275. After 30+ meets this way, I’ve decided to take on a new challenge within powerlifting and fully commit to training for a multi-ply meet.
[wa-wps]
Why?
Admiration of Others
Something that I have always admired in a variety of lifters is the ability to compete in different divisions, federations and/or weight classes and still perform at an exceptionally high level. A couple of my favorite examples are Vincent Dizenzo and Sam Byrd. Dizenzo has benched over 600 raw in three weight classes and over 800 multi-ply in 3 weight classes. He capped it off with a 900 pound press. Sam on the other hand has been a dominate squatter across multiple weight classes both raw and equipped with multiple 1000+ squats and a 915 raw squat. Strong is strong, and both Vincent and Sam are proof of that.
I’ve always thought that was so cool that those guys had done so well in both disciplines. Rather than just continuing to admire those accomplishments I’d like to take a swing at doing it myself. I’ve put a few respectable raw totals, and by no means am I done there, but I’d like to pursue both and work towards a respectable equipped total as well.
Shifting Goals
Several years ago I set a long term goal of totaling 2000 raw. Since that time I have done it twice. I do have more goals that I would like to accomplish raw and bigger totals I want to chase as a raw powerlifter. However, 12 years of the same thing was getting a little boring. Especially after hitting that long term goal there didn’t seem to be as much purpose for what I was doing. It felt a little empty. I still want more but what I was doing had gotten stale and I wanted a new challenge. A part of that new challenge is the personal goal of lifting at a high level as both an equipped and raw lifter. Long term what I would like to do is have a top ten all time total both raw and equipped. Ideally, I would like to put up those 2 totals within 12-24 months of one another. I want to be another example of “strong is strong.”
Fascination
Have you ever been around multi-ply gear? The new stuff especially is nothing short of entertaining to play with. When my training partner got his Leviathan Ultra Pro, I think I was almost as excited as he was to play with it and learn how to adjust it. There is something fun and challenging that appeals to my engineering side about gear. Being able to play with how the suit fits, how a shirt is worn and have such a big impact on the results is an interesting game. Training with a few established multi-ply lifters has been a great experience and helping them with their gear and learning how to adjust has peaked my interest in doing it myself.
I was part of the way there
I like to poke fun at my “raw” lifting. Raw- with 3 meter knee wraps, monolift and the best bars and benches money can buy. Yes, by the federation’s definition I was lifting raw, but it sure is a lot of equipment to wear while lifting. I’ve used lots of different knee wraps looking for the perfect pair. I actually have 4 pairs in my bag. 2 of which are training/warm up wraps another that I take projected meet attempts in training and yet a fourth pair that I actually wear in meets. Isn’t that a little ridiculous? But I digress…
Point is, I was already wearing a lot of gear and not one single piece of it has anything to do with anything but lifting more weight. I only wear wraps, sleeves, belts, etc. for the purpose of lifting heavier weight. With that mindset, I finally realized, why not just go all in? I wear a bunch of stuff for the purpose of carry over so I might as well add the last pieces and lift multi-ply.
The Future
Next up for me will be a full power multi-ply meet in the fall of 2016. I am part of the way into training for it and as of this writing a whole bunch of Inzer gear is making its way to my house. I’m not done raw and will eventually rotate back and forth between competing equipped and raw. But for now, I will be lifting equipped with the goal of getting qualified for the 2017 XPC Arnold Classic Finals.
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Photo Credit: Trey Vollmer of Vollmer Visuals
Daniel Dalenberg
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