04 Aug Squatting in a Canvas Suit v. Squatting in a Polyester Suit
By Dain Soppelsa/Friends of PRS
When you compare getting a polyester suit on and off with getting a canvas suit on and off they couldn’t be any more different. A poly usually takes considerable effort to get on and several tries with a person assisting you. It does however come off very quickly and easily. A canvas suit goes on very easy with much less effort than it takes with a poly. It does take considerable effort and several helpers that know what they’re doing to get the suit off. The canvas does not stretch at all, so after lifting and getting your muscles all pumped up it is a bear to get it off. Don’t despair, thanks to John Inzer and his Leviathan Ultra-Pro, it now takes seconds to get a canvas suit on or off. It’s very simple to adjust and use and I personally love it. You don’t have to break a sweat to get this suit on and off.
[wa-wps]
I personally believe that a poly suit works best for a narrow to moderate stance squatter. I use a wide stance during my time in a poly suit and I always felt like the suit was working against me. I felt like my knees were being pushed in and forward the whole way up and down. I never felt comfortable. I think my stance was just too wide for the way the poly suit is cut. I feel the canvas suit works best for a moderate to wide stance squatter. As soon as you put it on, you can feel it opening your hips up, even when you’re just walking around in the suit. It is much easier to open your hips during a lift. As soon as I started using a canvas suit, I felt it was working with my form and not against it.
As far as support goes, the poly suit feels fairly supportive in the mid-section, but there’s enough stretch and give to the material itself so you can comfortably squat upright or slightly bent at the waist. It also makes getting your breath before squatting and holding it in very easy. A canvas suit feels extremely supportive in the mid-section. In my opinion, the most comfortable and efficient way to squat in it, is as upright as possible. If you bend at the waist too much it feels like the suit locks you up and wants to push you forward on the descent. It makes it harder to sit back into the suit as well. It is also more difficult to get your breath before squatting and to hold it in.
I would definitely say that you can pull the straps nearly as tight as you want in a poly without much trouble breaking your form or hitting depth. In the canvas, if you pull them too tight, it may stop you before you break parallel and makes it much harder to breathe. I learned that the hard way during one session where I had my training partners really crank the straps. I may or may not have decided to take a “nap” on the way up with something over 900 pounds. My spotters Kelly Parker and Dan Dalenberg had their spotting skills tested that day…
The descent in a poly suit can be as fast as you feel comfortable doing. There’s enough stretch in the material, even when it’s tight, for a relatively quick descent. In a canvas suit, a more controlled descent works best in my experience. You will be more successful if you work with the suit and take what it gives you as far as descent speed. I’ve always felt more pressure in a canvas, especially on the descent the closer you get to depth. I feel a more controlled descent works best for hitting the groove correctly. If you try to go too fast, you may lose it backwards or just get stuck part of the way down if you miss the groove of the suit.
Hitting depth in a poly suit is relatively easy, it doesn’t bind up much on the way down or in the hole nearly as much as the canvas. There isn’t much stopping power with a poly though, if that’s something you look for in a suit. In a canvas suit however, it is very difficult to hit depth. In my experience, it gets exponentially tighter the closer you get to parallel and below. This makes it imperative that you flare your knees out as hard as possible in the hole, when it feels like you can’t go any lower. If you don’t push your knees out enough, don’t plan on hitting depth. If stopping power in the hole is what you want, a canvas will absolutely give it to you.
The rebound out of the hole in a poly suit is very good. I have always felt a lot of speed and pop out of the hole when using a poly suit, so be ready for that. Don’t be surprised when it pops up easily and then forget to keep pushing all the way through to the top of the lift. You have to be ready to finish it or you may get stuck. The support gives out towards the top and you have to finish it with brute force. In a canvas the rebound is fair. I feel a lot of support out of the bottom, but not nearly as much rebound as a poly suit. It’s more of a constant support all the way through the lift, than a big pop out of the hole. The poly suit seems to give out about 2/3 of the way up, so the lockout can be tougher than the start. The canvas suit feels supportive the whole way through to lockout. It never slacks or stops giving support throughout the movement.
I personally have spent more time in poly suits, but definitely prefer a canvas suit. I feel like based on my build, my stance and my technique, it works best for me. I feel like I’m more consistent in a canvas suit as well. I know what to expect. Everybody is different. So, I recommend trying both suits before you make the choice on what’s going to give you the best opportunity for the biggest squat possible.
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