15 Dec What I Have Learned From Multi-ply Lifting: Tips for Newbies
By: Lisa Guggisberg
I’ve gotten some experience with multi-ply lifting under my belt with two meets now. By NO means am I an expert on geared lifting. I am still a multi-ply newbie and looking at it with fresh eyes as opposed to a seasoned geared lifter. It’s all still very new and exciting to me as I am still learning a lot each time I gear-up. Initially, I wasn’t sure how my transition from raw to geared lifting was going to go. I am lucky that I have access to experienced and knowledgeable advice on learning how to lift in gear, however you can’t really appreciate what is being said until you put the gear on and experience it for yourself. Here are a few things I have learned from wearing gear:
[wa-wps]Form is King
The slightest deviation in form can be disastrous for a geared lifter. As a raw lifter if I didn’t sit back into my knee wraps, got out of the groove, or leaned forward a little too much I could still grind out a squat. In gear you can’t really do this. Don’t sit back far enough and you’ll never be able to open up and hit depth, lean to far forward and the bar probably won’t go back up. Same with the bench, you can miss groove a raw bench and still grind it out. Miss groove or lose form in a bench in a shirt and good luck. I learned this lesson hard at a meet where I didn’t flair my elbows and threw the loaded bar back into my face. Luckily there were face savers on the bench and the spotters were on point. The gear will take over if you don’t execute form correctly and a lot of times you cannot correct and save the lift.
Don’t cut weight until you are more experienced in gear
Raw or geared – a new lifter shouldn’t think about doing a weight cut for a meet until they are more experienced. Too many factors can go wrong when you aren’t experienced enough to handle a weight cut, add gear into the mix and it’s just more variables of things that could go wrong. Cutting weight when you are a geared lifter means you run the risk of not fitting into your gear after you re-feed, you can under re-feed or not fill out enough and causing your gear to fit loose. Over re-feed and over bloat and run the risk of not fitting into your gear. It’s a fine line to walk and has to be executed correctly if you’re going to cut weight. Do your first few meets without doing a weight cut and focus on getting accustomed to lifting in gear at a meet then think about doing a weight cut.
Gear is a lot of work
I sometimes miss the days when I could walk into the gym with belt, knee sleeves and if using them, knee wraps. Now, I lug around a bag bigger than I am just to carry all my gear. That’s work. Struggling to squeeze into a pair of briefs, I usually work up a good sweat and get a little winded trying to get my briefs on, its work. Being able to push down to hit depth in a squat is a lot of work, being able to touch in a bench shirt is painful and takes a lot of practice. Ever hear a handler yell out “Keep working”? If you’ve ever been in gear you know exactly what that means, it’s those last few inches that are so tough and where you really gotta push through the uncomfortable pressure from the suit or the shirt ripping into your triceps on the bench or trying to pull those hips and squeeze those glutes to lock out a deadlift. It’s all work that I never experienced in raw work before and again nothing can really prepare you for it until you put the gear on.
Be patient
Two reasons you have to exemplify patience with gear. One, the learning curve. You have to be able to understand that your form will change once you put gear on. For example adjusting to a wider squat stance, bringing the bar on the bench lower on your belly than a raw bench, getting into position on the deadlift. Also, you can’t just put the gear on and instantly squat, push and pull 100lbs over your raw maxes. It just doesn’t work that way. I spent my first two to three weeks just learning how to sit back into my briefs using weight that I normally crush raw. I am still learning this. So although it may be frustrating at first when you put the gear on stick with it and be patient.
Second, for a geared lifter everything is so much slower on your lifts. Squat descent is slowed down as you push to depth and this is where you need to “keep working” and not anticipate anything. Ride it out and be ready stay with it, then turn it around when you hit depth. There is no dive bombing into the squat with a suit on. Bench is the same, stay with it, keep pushing to touch the chest. As I have been told, find the most uncomfortable spot, the point where it really hurts and stay in that groove and keep pushing. Take your time setting up for the deadlift. It’s much harder for me to find the “lifters wedge” in gear so I have to take a little more time on my set up to get there.
Your weak points will change
I have always been really strong on my deadlift lockout. It was quite a shock when I threw on a suit and couldn’t snap my lockout that I am so used to being able to do. Bench is the same, raw my weak point has always been off my chest, geared it is at lock out. My weak points have changed which means new things to work on to correct those weak points. Who knows what will happen when I go back to raw work. They will probably change again.
It may be a lot of work and frustrating at times but I love multi-ply lifting. It’s a challenge and a new learning experience for me that can, in my opinion, only help me grow overall as a better lifter.
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