My Complaints About Equipped Powerlifting

[John Beatty]

I liked Eddie (definitely a hero of mine) before I ever met him, as most of his DL's were in a singlet, not a suit. 900+ in a singlet & belt, at 220. That's a pull. His favorite wraps were Marathon Double Goldlines (which are nothing compared to today's wraps), I gave him his last new pair. He wore single ply suits, and his best (according to him, it was actually his second best, but he felt it was his best) ever squat was in a ratty, four year old suit that was full of runs. Eddie never got the hang of shirts, though, he'd only get 20 lbs or so out of them, he hated shirts.

Yeah man. Coan is a hero to just about everyone. Definitely one of the few powerlifters who will be remembered forever.

I love Coan's insistence on powerlifters walking out the weight on the squat. It's always struck me as strange how powerlifters will whine about having to walk out an 800 pound squat, but strongmen will walk 100 feet with an 800 pound yoke. I told that to the last powerlifter who complained about having to walk out the weight, and he just gave me a thoughtful stare.

-Rex

I totally agree, on the walkout, I HATE monolifts. Guys that compare themselves to Coan now with the super gear & totals tick me off. It doesn't seem to bother Eddie, but as a friend of his and a bit of a stubborn old timer, it bothers me. He says, and I totally believe him, he didn't care about records, he just wanted to see how much he could do. When I did the interview with him for STRONG!, he didn't even know how many WR's he'd set.

[Jacobs86]

i cant stand bench shirts i think they are total bullshit, the raw record is like 715 and the bench shirted record is like 1050, i mean comon gimme a break. I dont see the purpose in them, why were they created to boost egos?

Originally for safety, but eventually for the typical American way of doing things: bigger is better no matter how you do it.

-Rex

nail on the head. Will never use suits or shirts. It's effectively I suppose almost having a spotter on the lift - rendering it void. Well, in my opinion anyway. That being said, the amount of weight being used - the blokes using suits/shirts have staggering strength levels already, so I'm not attacking them at all.