Questions about geared lifting

[BFGUITAR]

Last week I nailed 405 and did a very nice 415 squat. The squat was as perfect as can be. No stalling at all. Today I did 405 which was a tad high but looked good but got completely destroyed by 425. I came up about 3-4 inches and failed. I made a huge mistake/discovery today... the suit will actually make you lift less if you don't force it to make you lift more (if that makes sense).

Excuse my little rant as I type what I think with broken blood vessels all over my face but I am just speaking from what I have noticed personally.

The suit changes the entire squat game. I did not think it would be so drastic but my entire thought process during the lift has been changed. I never considered squat speed and how I bring my knees out to be such massive factors but they do. Chest up has a whole new meaning as well. Keeping your chest up is 1000 times harder when you have a suit tugging at you.

Now to my issue... squat speed. I have seen people in suits go down brutally slow and than push the second the break parallel. I have seen others move down relatively fast and as soon as they break use that pop off the bottom to help themselves up. I tried the slow moving option and it failed me. Last week I did the "drop faster" method and it seemed to work. Which is the preferred method? I find if I go too slow I run out of steam by the time I get to the bottom. If I move faster I concentrate on keeping tight and following the groove and finally punch out of the bottom once I break. I don't have a specific question about this but am curious to have some input from you guys.

My next issue seems to be keeping everything in mind during the squat with a suit. I guess this is just like learning to squat for the first time... remembering to flex your back, keep the arch, not to go on your toes... I think more time with the suit will help this problem.
I feel like a beginner again lol.

[Cricket_Fire]

The really slow desent is usually because of jacked up suits ime. You're in single ply right?

[BFGUITAR]

Yes a single ply suit.
I didn't know that's why people move so slowly. You learn something new every day lol.

[MarcusWild]

Yeah, single ply people usually descend quicker to get more rebound. Multi ply usually descend slower because the gear is more restrictive. In multi ply, most people have someone that calls their depth. You rarely see that in single ply because the descent is too fast. The closest thing is Super Training uses a "dip" call when single ply lifters are close to depth.

[deeder]

You basically want to drop down as fast as you can while staying tight and in control. Maybe this is different in multi-ply gear but this seems to be the case with single ply. The tight and in control part is what's hard. I squat down pretty fast when I'm squatting raw and I always feel like I'm moving pretty quick in my suit but it always looks brutally slow on camera.

How fast you can go down without getting out of the groove is going to depend on how tight the suit is, how high or low you wear the legs, how tight your straps are and where on your shoulders you wear them, and obviously how strong and experienced you are in the suit.

[BFGUITAR]

Marcus one of the people I workout with does something like that... the little dip.
So there is a lot to keep in mind now with this suit. I guess a lot of suited squatting is in my future.

[Sean S]

As was already said, as long as you are tight and under control, the faster descent is fine.
You also mentioned failing 3-4" out of the hole. Remember than even though the suit will pop you out of the hole, you still have to push hard out of the hole so you don't stall out as soon as the suit support decreases. It took me a long time to really learn this in both the SQ and BP.

[BFGUITAR]

As was already said, as long as you are tight and under control, the faster descent is fine.
You also mentioned failing 3-4" out of the hole. Remember than even though the suit will pop you out of the hole, you still have to push hard out of the hole so you don't stall out as soon as the suit support decreases. It took me a long time to really learn this in both the SQ and BP.

It's something I have to get use to. I guess this is why band work helps so much as well. Thanks for the help!

[Detard]

As you get more time in the suit, you'll learn what works for you and what doesnt. Eventually everything will become second nature, and the only thing you have to worry about is the pressure in your head.

[Sensei]

Finding the groove (i.e. the path of MOST resistance AND assistance - I talked about this in one of the Squat Rx videos) is key. There are a lot of people who accelerate into the hole and that seems to help them hit depth. You can't argue with results and it seems to work for them, but they are sacrificing some tension to do it.

[theBarzeen]

like others have said...... it's both a personal thing and a gear issue.... if your suit is really tight and really supportive you have to slow it down a little bit so you can load the suit and keep form..... trying to drop and bounce out of the hole with a BOSS or a canvas will leave you on the floor.... the old timers ( and some IPF guys now) drop really fast to get the rebound out of the hole with a flimsier suit....

[Lones Green]

It sounds like you're learning some new stuff, BFGUITAR.

Keep focused, it takes a lot to learn your gear.

[BFGUITAR]

Thanks guys I'm really learning a lot. Finding the groove is quite the task. Here is one of my squats. In terms of speed... is the decent fast slow or moderate? Just so I can get an idea of where I stand.

Video

[gopostal42]

not a bad squat, just tweak with technique and you'll find what works for you and the suit. your knees came a good bit forward so that means theres a good bit more to get out of the suit also