Metal Pro Squat Suit and
Metal Ace Squat Suit
out perform all canvas suits. To
illustrate this point we have seen well over 50 pound jumps on all our sponsored
guys squats when changing from Canvas to Metal. You may be
asking why we are running this article when we do not sell Canvas Squat Suits.
This is a great question and I will do my best to address it. While we know the
Metal Pro Squat Suit and
Metal Ace Squat Suit
out perform all canvas suits. To
illustrate this point we have seen well over 50 pound jumps on all our sponsored
guys squats when changing from Canvas to Metal.
This is Marc Bartleys own words.
"Just when I didn't the Metal Pro Squatter suit could get any better, along comes the Metal Ace Squatter. I got this suit 4 weeks before the Arnold Classic and knew instantly this was the suit I was going to wear, no doubt!! This is the next level suit hands down. If you are a medium to wide stance squatter and are using something else, you are missing at least 100lbs. on your squat. It's that good. Put it this way, I was worried more about my knee wraps then the Ace suit. 1107 was cake. I should have gone to 1201!!!"
Don’t believe me? You can ask them yourself. They all have logs on our Q and A (http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/) and would be more and happy to share with you the results they have had.
The main reason to run this is not profit driven (how can it be) but for the betterment of the sport. I personally have seen FAR too many injuries from lifters who have no freaking idea what they are doing with their Canvas gear. The one that I can’t get out of my head was a spiral femur fracture at the IPA nations we hosted. Some would say he had no business in Canvas but from what I saw he had NO IDEA what he was doing with his gear.
This article discusses what to do if your choice is canvas. If we don’t run this then who will? So sales and profits aside we are doing what we feel is the right thing to do to make the sport safer.
This is what makes us different then the competition. Do you think they would ever place an article on their site sharing how to use the Metal Ace Suit?
What you choose to use it up to you. Yes, we prefer you give Metal a shot and see what we have seen but understand you have the right to use what you want. This is one right we love about the sport and respect about this country.
Be strong and lift safe,
Dave Tate
In this modern era of geared powerlifting, there’s an incredible variety of brands of squat suits as well as the materials used to make them. The canvas squat suit is one of the most common types of suits and can result in big squats or big bomb outs if it’s not used correctly. Keep reading if you want to iron out some of the common problems with using canvas and learn how to maximize the canvas suit.
The very first two things that you need to consider are should you be using canvas and are you ready for canvas. If you like to descend fast or you like a big poly pop out of the hole, then don’t bother with canvas, as there are many great poly suits out there. When it comes to whether or not someone is ready for canvas, nothing makes me cringe more than seeing a new lifter with only a meet or two under his belt and mediocre to poor numbers get into a canvas suit. I know that with all these big, geared numbers being put up these days it’s very tempting to jump into the strongest gear right away. Maybe I have an outdated mentality, but I think people who are new to the sport need to focus on technique, getting a few meets under their belt, and building a strong base of strength. Start off in some weak single ply gear and slowly work your way up to a tighter double ply poly. Get yourself in a canvas only after you have squatted some decent numbers in tight poly. I didn’t even look at a canvas suit until I had squatted 800 lbs in a single ply hardcore with single ply briefs at 275 lbs. Waiting until you are strong enough will help you gain more long term progress and prevent a potential disastrous injury (no one wants a femur fracture).
With the canvas suit, the most important factor is the fit. Your canvas suit may be easy to get into, but if it takes less than two people to get you out of it, then you’re wasting your time and are not getting the most out of your suit. The hips are the most important area for it to be tight in because this is the area that will give the maximal support while squatting. In my opinion, the legs need to be tight as well, though not as tight as in the hips. However, if you can get more than two fingers between the leg and the suit, then it is too loose. This tightness in the legs and hips comes into play when loading the suit.
The two most common brands are the Frantz double canvas and the Ginny Phillips custom double canvas. I have worn both. I thought the Frantz was good for a canvas beginner but too easy to blow out. The Ginny is stronger, custom made, and well worth the money. It may take more weight to get to parallel and may take more than your previous squat PR to get depth, but you must accept this mentally and prepare for using much more weight.
When warming up, don’t ever force depth or sacrifice technique in order to make depth. Depth matters only on the platform, and you should reinforce only good upright torso squatting technique as opposed to bending forward in a vain attempt to get more depth. Do not use briefs right away in the canvas suit because it may just be too much gear for you to start off with. Learn the groove of the suit, get comfortable in it, and then get yourself a pair of briefs. Start off with some cheap single or double ply poly briefs and do a few meets in them. Then, if you’ve put up some good squats, think about the more jacked up briefs. I use Metal Viking briefs (I’m not sponsored) and really enjoy using them. However, because of their strength, it took a while for me to learn how to use them without being thrown out of my natural groove. I waited until I had squatted 1008 lbs before I got into the jacked up Vikings.
The set up is the next thing that must be addressed. When using a canvas suit, your mobility is decreased considerably. As a result, foot placement is key. If your feet are an inch or two back or forward from what is optimal, you could have major problems. The very first thing that I do is grip the bar evenly and then place my feet slightly in front of me to the point where I feel that if I let go of the bar at that moment, I would fall backwards. I squat wide, and I find that if my feet are not nice and forward, then it is very difficult to unrack big weight and stabilize it. I think a high bar position on my back allows me to stay more upright when I squat in canvas, but, however you like the bar, make sure that you’re squeezing your upper back with your elbows down. Make sure your weight is over your entire foot, not just on the heel. When unracking the weight, get a belly full of air, tighten your abs, and unrack it by just bringing your hips forward and your head and chest upwards, using more hip than back to unrack. This is easy if your feet are in the proper position. For me, the optimal position to be in when I unrack is totally upright with my back arched as opposed to a slightly bent at the waist arched position which some people use.
After unracking, let out about half of your air and then get more air in until you are ready to squat. If you find that it’s difficult to get more air under heavy weight, then you need stronger abs and much more training under heavy tension. Once you feel balanced and ready, break at the hips, sitting back. At the same time, force your knees outward as hard as possible, spreading the floor with your feet. Don’t do this too fast. This will build tension, load the suit, and make a huge difference in what you get out of your canvas. I actually blew the left leg on a Ginny Phillips double canvas suit on my descent with 1014 lbs at the APF Senior Nationals because I was loading my suit that hard. Ginny knows of no one other than me to do that.
After you break and load your suit properly, sit straight down so that your torso is totally upright. If you’re bending forward in the torso more than a few degrees, you’re shortchanging yourself and making your back do way too much work. When it comes to getting depth, be patient because it might take a little while before your buddy gives you the up command. Just stay tight and balanced, sitting in the hole like you sit on a box in training. Some people like to let it go a little bit and get a quick dip in the hole to make depth. If you can do this, more power to you. I usually end up just descending slowly and as tight as possible, and my squats often look like pauses. However, that’s why we squat off a box.
Another thing that needs to be considered is the tightness of your straps. If you need your straps cranked down just to get an opener, you may end up with some depth problems. You may need to get either more confident or stronger to get the most out of your suit. Crank the straps tighter when the weight gets heavier.
Finally, there’s training. I follow a basic Westside type template. I may take weight in my canvas twice in the six months leading up to my meet. If you are new to canvas, then get in it a little more often. I usually wear an old single poly suit with the straps down during most of my speed squat cycles. During the speed strength phase, wear your canvas with the straps down if you feel that you need more practice with the groove. Although some great lifters will disagree with me on this point, I like wearing my canvas with the straps down during my circa max phase. My reasoning is that I think it allows me to get more comfortable with the groove of the suit and at the same time handle more band tension and weight than without it. It also builds my confidence under super heavy weights. Be careful about wearing briefs under the suit while box squatting though. Sometimes the combination of the suit, briefs, and box squatting can be a little too unnatural and throw you off. Usually this is more of a problem with the stronger briefs out there.
I hope this has helped all those out there who squat in canvas or want to squat in canvas. If you want to squat big in canvas, all of these factors are incredibly important. The last bit is just confidence, and that’s up to you. So squat big because it’s all just a number.
Charles Fay is a 26-year-old strength coach and personal trainer who works at Hardcore Fitness in Boca Raton, Florida. He has a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Bloomsburg University where he was a three year starter for the football team. Charles trains at Southside Barbell, and his best lifts are a 1052 lb squat, a 639 lb bench, a 722 lb deadlift, and a 2413 lb total.
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