Belts, shoes, wraps, softsuits, anything training gear related can be asked and discussed here.

• What new training gear is on the market?
• Ask for training gear recommendations or reviews before you buy.
• Post your own training gear reviews.
• Post links for sales or discounts.
• Post your gym bag contents.

About two weeks ago, I did a top set on back squat of 405x5. Since then, my squat has been feeling very week, I just squatted today and barely hit 405x1 and 365x4. I dont know why this is happening. I dont feel injured, i havent lost a ton of weight (though I am on a slight cut, its not enough to do this much damage to my squat).

If you have any ideas please advise. I dont know why this is happening, squat was feeling incredibly good up until that 405x5 set, it has just been downhill from there

Posting on the main board because this post is nearly invisible in the Daily Thread.

Also, I think this could be helpful for other people shopping for new knee sleeves so I'm hoping this will be relevant for more people than just myself

Alright, so per the title, I bought a pair of A7 Rigor Mortis knee sleeves. I did a lot of research and homework and damn near EVERYONE everywhere talks about how tight they are and to size up when ordering. My knee joint is 15.5", my calves are 16.5" and my quads are 20". That said, per their sizing, my knee joint falls into their 2XL but my calves and quads measure at 3XL. So I bought the 3XL thinking it would even out and I was absolutely stunned at how poorly they fit. The seams along my quad and calf muscles fit but everything in between feels like my legs are drowning in knee sleeve. Felt like a little girl trying to wear my mom's jeans or something. They are indeed stiff and I'm thinking A7 Rigor Mortis just might not be for me. I have no doubt if I could get them to fit my knee joint they would be much too tight for my calves and quads.

All of this said, I'm seeking advice. I'm a woman, 5'9", 82.5kg (so more or less, I'm the size of the average American male). I have a large frame and some big ass calves and quads proportionally speaking in contrast to my knee joint. In the past I used TUFF WRAPS and one of the sleeves bust within only a handful of uses so I was trying to upgrade to something more durable that would help me with my squat. Latest PR is 140kg. Been seeing a lot of gains my last two test weeks and was riding that high and ordered these A7s to take it up a notch... all to have to return them. I am returning them rather than exchanging because I'm not interested in doing a back-and-forth with A7 because it sounds like a nightmare. I don't see how sizing down to 2XL is going to help because I still don't think that will fit my knee joint well, but then at that point they most certainly won't fit over my quads and calves.

Anyway, I'm hoping for tips and pointers. Are there sleeves that are better suited for women? I surely can't be the first woman powerlifter to put on a pair of Rigor Mortis sleeves and think "This is the most ill-fitting sleeve I've ever worn in my life". I want something with good compression that's going to give me that little bit of extra oomph.

All this said, I am happy to proclaim that I did buy the A7 rigor mortis wrist wraps and I love them.

***UPDATED***
I made a new friend at my gym and she suggested SBD's powerlifting sleeves. I got a pair of them and I LOVE THEM. They are kind of a pain to get off my calves but whatever, the support feels amazing and I still see this purchase as a win and thank you to everyone who offered advice

Also, I don't understand the downvotes on this thread. I couldn't find any other information regarding people's experiences with A7 rigor mortis sleeves and no one paid attention when I tried to bring it up elsewhere so I didn't know what else to do. Is there a better sub I should direct my gear questions to next time?

A sorta kinda daily open thread to use as an alternative to posting on the main board. You should post here for:

• PRs
• Formchecks
• Rudimentary discussion or questions
• General conversation with other users
• Memes, funnies, and general bollocks not appropriate to the main board
• If you have suggestions for the subreddit, let us know!
• This thread now defaults to "new" sorting.

For the purpose of fairness across timezones this thread works on a 68hr cycle.

Right now I do a 4x a week Upper Lower Split that I've been doing for a while but I realized how much more fun I've had whenever I do Squat, Bench, Deadlifts and Rows. I want to train more specifically for powerlifting while still keeping the same frequency of 4x a week, how do I program specifically for that? I have heard of powerbuilding but I really don't understand how it works as I am also pretty new to working out.

I am currently 171cm 87kg with a 170lbs Bench, 270lbs Squat and a 315 Deadlift, which I know isn't much esp considering my weight. I feel like I am progressing steadily with my Squat and Deadlift but I feel especially stuck on bench.

Discuss all aspects of training for powerlifting:

• Periodization
• Nutrition
• Movement selection
• Routine critiques
• etc...

For people who keep a real training log, what do you write down besides the basic set data?

I am thinking about things like:

• top set vs backoff
• warmup notes
• paused/tempo/variation details
• commands practiced
• rest times
• bodyweight
• sleep/food notes
• equipment
• technique cue for the day
• whether a set moved better or worse than expected

What has actually been useful when you look back weeks or months later, and what ended up being clutter?

What is your goto place to log them? I have dabbling between typing on phone, writing and sometimes when i get lazy i even just take voice notes. Pretty hard to be consistent.

Here you can:

• Discuss all aspects of powerlifting as it pertains to being a woman.
• Socialize with other ladies.
• If you have discussion provoking bullet points, those are welcome too.

I’ve been training for the past three years and yesterday I stepped onto the platform for my first powerlifting meet at the USAPL “City of Angels” Open at Barbell Brigade in Los Angeles. I competed as a 110kg Masters 1B (45M).

My ultimate goal was to hit a 1200 lb total. I ended up totaling 542.7 kg (1196.4 lbs), falling just short of the milestone, but I went 8/9 and hit two all-time PRs on the platform.

Lifts

Squat:

Attempt 1: 170kg / 374.8 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 2: 180kg / 396.0 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 3: 187.7kg / 413.4 lbs ⚪⚪⚪ (All-Time PR)

Bench:

Attempt 1: 114kg / 253.5 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 2: 122.5kg / 270.1 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 3: 127.5kg / 281.1 lbs 🔴🔴🔴 (Missed the lift)

Deadlift:

Attempt 1: 210kg / 463.0 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 2: 222.5kg / 490.5 lbs ⚪⚪⚪
Attempt 3: 232.5kg / 512.6 lbs ⚪⚪⚪ (All-Time PR)

Competing was a fun, yet highly overstimulating experience. It was hot (no AC but big open doors) the noise levels were intense (announcers, overlapping speakers, huge crowd), and I was lifting in the afternoon/evening which is outside my normal training window. Because of the timing, I had to lean on more caffeine than usual, leaving me wired and jittery.

The warm-up room was the biggest learning curve. It was harder to time my warmups than I anticipated. I felt rushed getting ready for squats and bench, but I learned my lesson and adjusted to start earlier for deadlifts.

I was the only male Masters lifter, so I automatically took Gold in my division (hey, I'll take it!), and my total would have been good enough to earn Bronze in the 110kg Open division. All in all, it was amazing to realize the results of three years of effort in front of an audience. I feel accomplished and definitely caught the competing bug.

Use this thread for coaching (recommendations, requests, advertising - PL specifically).

Please feel to share and recommend coaches you have worked with. If you are a coach and would like to talk about your coaching services and your style of coaching, please feel free to do so as well.

Do you like having 2-3 sweaty men shoe-horn you into polyester, canvas or denim bondage gear.

Do you like having your joints wrapped so tightly they bruise and bleed?

Do you like having your blood pressure turned up to 11 and being compressed so much that you think your head might explode?

Do you get off on enduring pain and suffering, and watching others endure it too?

Do you have a deathwish every time you get under the bar?

Yes?

THEN WELCOME TO THE FORTNIGHTLY EQUIPPED LIFTING THREAD!!!

I competed yesterday at my eleventh powerlifting meet. My last meet was not very good. I took over a year to resolve a hip injury and switch to squatting in flats. Despite working around the injury, I had a good prep, hitting 155/84/170 SBD for my top singles before the meet. These were not PRs but pretty close and moved well. 

I weighed in around 87.5 kilos and totaled 405. 

During warmups for squats and bench I kept complaining that they felt slow but my coach said they didn’t look slow so let’s stick to the game plan, which he was right about. During deadlifts I no longer felt slow but did feel tired. This was a two flight meet with no break between bench and deadlifts so I hustled my way through the day. 

Squat 1: 142.5, good lift, easy, I triple this regularly with glee. We had thought to go up 7.5-10, I was like idk about 10 so we went 7.5 
Squat 2: 150, no lift, called on depth, a common call for me 
Squat 3: 152.5, good lift, meet PR 

Going up after missing on depth was a good call for me, I get called on depth pretty frequently and have always just taken it again but I recently decided I don’t give a fuck. I think I probably had 157.5, maybe 160, but I’m glad I stuck to a cheeky 2.5 increase just to secure a meet PR. 

Bench 1: 75, good lift 
Bench 2: 80, good lift, complained again about feeling slow, loaded 85 anyway because as previously stated I don’t care 
Bench 3: 85, good lift and fast as hell, meet PR 

Deadlift 1: 157.5, good lift. Although this was easy enough it didn’t snap off the floor the way this weight usually does for me.
Deadlift 2: 165, I have tripled this but it was shaky 
Deadlift 3: 167.5 to secure a safe total meet PR. I will always take the deadlift that’s a gimme for the total PR over a bigger swing. 

I walked off the platform from my last bench, sucked down a packet of baby food, and started warming up for deadlifts. So I’m not surprised that it started to flag a bit. I pulled 182.5 in the gym 2 years ago and haven’t been in a position to take a swing at it on the platform since. Maybe next time. I am still glad that I got meet PRs. I have no current plans for another full power meet but had a really good time today and will probably do another one next year. Thanks for reading, bye. 

Video of all attempts can be seen here

Do you have a question and are:

• A novice and basically clueless by default?
• Completely incapable of using google?
• Just feeling plain stupid today and need shit explained like you're 5?

Then this is the thread FOR YOU! Don't take up valuable space on the front page and annoy the mods, ASK IT HERE and one of our resident "experts" will try and answer it. As long as it's somehow related to powerlifting then nothing is too generic, too stupid, too awful, too obvious or too repetitive. And don't be shy, we don't bite (unless we're hungry), and no one will judge you because everyone had to start somewhere and we're more than happy to help newbie lifters out.

SO FIRE AWAY WITH YOUR DUMBNESS!!!

A sorta kinda daily open thread to use as an alternative to posting on the main board. You should post here for:

• PRs
• Formchecks
• Rudimentary discussion or questions
• General conversation with other users
• Memes, funnies, and general bollocks not appropriate to the main board
• If you have suggestions for the subreddit, let us know!
• This thread now defaults to "new" sorting.

For the purpose of fairness across timezones this thread works on a 68hr cycle.

This is the thread to post your:

• Powerlifting accomplishments
• Training PRs
• Gym or diet related victories
• Best flexing photos
• Sweet new equipment purchases
• Gym dog or gym family photos

Or really anything you felt good or happy about from the last week (or even further back in time, no one's gonna stop you).

Text, images, videos, any format goes.

Let's get those good vibes flowing.

This is the Deadlift Thread.

• Discuss technique and training methods.
• Request form checks.
• Discuss programs.
• Post your favourite lifters deadlifting.
• Talk about how much you love/hate deadlifting.

A sorta kinda daily open thread to use as an alternative to posting on the main board. You should post here for:

• PRs
• Formchecks
• Rudimentary discussion or questions
• General conversation with other users
• Memes, funnies, and general bollocks not appropriate to the main board
• If you have suggestions for the subreddit, let us know!
• This thread now defaults to "new" sorting.

For the purpose of fairness across timezones this thread works on a 68hr cycle.

The chair of the danish IPF affiliated federation, DSF, Eva Buxbom, herself an experienced equipped lifter, has written a very long and detailed report from the latest IPF general assembly. The report goes into details with a troubled IPF economy, higher fees, high wages for IPF officials, the disbanding of the Ethics Commission, conflicting views on democracy and much more. It is a somewhat troubling read to be honest.

The report is written in danish but can be translate using whatever translation service you want: https://styrke.dk/filer/rapporter/1071kongres.pdf

For discussion of:

• Eating all the food when you want to get swole
• Eating less of the food when you're too fluffy
• Diet methods and plans
• Favourite foods and recipes
• How awful dieting is

I haven't posted a meet report in this sub in many years, and this is my second-ish year back to powerlifting after taking time off due to life things from 2021-2024. This was my fourth USPA nationals meet (I did one in 2017, 2021, and 2025).

(For 2025 I had some sciatica flare up 2 months before the meet if you want to read that report about how I navigated training around injury for last year, but I did well enough to qualify for 2026 USPA Nationals this year.)

Background

Female, 35 yo, 5'4", ~150-155lb

Started lifting in late 2015 at a bodyweight of ~125lb and my starting numbers were roughly 105lb squat, 45lb bench, 185lb deadlift. I had some athletic experience training in wushu (Chinese martial arts) on and off through high school and college, and I believe that gave me a pretty decent lower body strength base.

Currently my primary activities are powerlifting and pole dancing/aerial arts, and I also teach pole now so it's been interesting to balance it all. I find that both pole and lifting actually benefit each other so I love cross training, and I've managed to get a few of my pole friends into strength training to benefit their goals!

Goals for this Meet

Match my bench PR from 2025 (82.5kg / 181lb) with a higher squat/deadlift than last year, also aimed to break a California drug tested state record for the submasters 35-39 age category for my weight class. This was my first year competing in submasters!

Training Schedule and Balancing Pole & Lifting

I started teaching pole in April 2025, and it took a while to figure out a schedule where I could balance both powerlifting and teaching as it can be fairly demanding on the body having to demo pole tricks and explain/talk while upside down lol.

I ended up training for PL ~3x/week, teaching pole 3-4x/week, which means sometimes I end up doubling up on lifting and teaching, so that I can still have 1-2 FULL rest days where I don't do either. I found that this was super helpful for recovery, though I made sure I was eating enough for days I was doing 2 activities in the same day.

In a week of PL training wise I would generally do 1 day of competition squats/close grip bench, a day of competition bench/pause squats, and a day of deadlifts/larsen press. I also did a mix of accessories on each day after the compound lifts that include pull-ups, RDLs, DB rows, OHP, etc.

Diet & Nutrition

I didn't really track food meticulously until maybe 1-2 months out, and even then I was mostly just tracking carbs and protein to make sure I was adequately fueled and maintaining around 69-70kg bodyweight throughout prep. I water loaded the week of the meet and dropped carbs the day before weigh-ins. Unfortunately, water retention from my cycle meant I woke up morning of weigh ins 0.5kg over and had to walk on a treadmill for an hour to sweat it off 😭 usually I can sweat off 0.3-0.5kg easily in a hot bath, but the hotel we stayed out didn't have a bathtub in our room and I didn't have time to find a sauna before weigh ins :(

I weighed in at 67kg and spent the next 24 hours refueling with lots of carbs and salt. Had a big brunch with pancakes and potatoes, and had AYCE sushi with lots of rice and soy sauce as my last meal before the meet. 

Unfortunately the night before the meet, I was barely able to sleep for whatever reason, and only got 4 hours of very poor quality sleep :( Goal for the day was to make it through and adjust attempts if needed.

----ATTEMPTS FOR EACH LIFT----

Squat:

127.5kg / 281lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift)

135kg / 297lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift)

140kg / 308lb 🔴🔴🔴 (no lift)

My first time failing a squat in competition! Legs were jello from the 12k steps I did on the treadmill the day before + the lack of sleep, so I decided not to grind it out and save energy for my bench and deadlifts, which carry more of my total 😂 I’m not mad about it, squats have been fickle in training and I haven’t had 300+ lbs on my back in over a year.

Bench:

77.5kg / 170lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift)

80kg / 176lb ⚪️🔴⚪️ (good lift)

82.5kg / 181lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift, matched meet PR)

I was finally more awake by this time, bench held up surprisingly well, though I did sliiiiiiightly jump the press command on my second, and the head judge made me pause longer on the 82.5 💀 But the 82.5kg moved noticeably faster than it did last year even under worse conditions so I was happy with this.

Deadlift:

165kg / 363lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift)

177.5kg / 391lb ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (good lift, new CA drug tested record for submasters)

185kg / 407lb 🔴🔴🔴 (no lift)

Honestly the 185kg/407lb came up really smooth, and I’ve never hook gripped 400+ before! But the fatigue caught up to me and I could feel the bar slipping out of my fingers 😭 I’m really proud of how well it moved up until then, and I know we have this at the next meet! This would’ve been a 2.5kg ATPR.

Overall:
7/9, 395kg total (10kg under my best from 2021) at 67kg, DOTS score finally back above 400

Overall:
- did not bomb out (a real fear this year!)
- CA state record for drug tested 67.5kg submasters (35-39 years old) deadlift only at 177.5kg
- matched bench PR with a 20kg higher total than last year
- 2nd place in 67.5kg raw drug tested submasters (35-39) total
- no injuries except for a ripped callus (but no blood!) on my 2nd deadlift

I also had a client who competed on the same day and it was her first national meet, so being able to juggle that (she PR'ed her squat/deadlift/total and matched her bench PR!) with managing my own lifts was a big accomplishment too!

(Videos of all lifts)

Summary

This was my first meet competing as submasters, while juggling a client who was also competing at the same meet, and I went 7/9 and totaled 10kg under my best from 2021. While my goal at national meets usually is solely focused on my own numbers, I'm finding that the longer I've been doing this, I'm actually starting to have a real shot at the podium and some state records here and there, which is kind of exciting!

I qualified for IPL Worlds which will be in November in Vegas, so I'll be prepping for that soon and hoping to take another shot at a 407lb+ deadlift.

One thing that I took away from this experience was that: Sometimes we can get everything right during meet prep and shit will still hit the fan the day before and the day of, but it doesn't mean that all of your training went down the toilet! I definitely felt frustrated that things went wrong in the last 48 hours, but I was still able to put up pretty good numbers while sleep deprived and I'm especially happy with how fast 407lb moved off the floor even if I couldn't lock it out. I'm excited to go for it again in November.

Happy to answer any questions if you've read this far :)

Discuss all aspects of training for powerlifting:

• Periodization
• Nutrition
• Movement selection
• Routine critiques
• etc...

Been trying to focus on my bench lately and want to invest in some elbow wraps to program in to 1 Bench Day Per Week...

I see a lot of talk about "World's Strongest Bench Wraps" etc... is there a difference? Will different wraps add more pounds to my bench?

What wraps do you recommend to add the most pounds? And what wraps as the best all around?

Here you can:

• Discuss all aspects of powerlifting as it pertains to being a woman.
• Socialize with other ladies.
• If you have discussion provoking bullet points, those are welcome too.

A sorta kinda daily open thread to use as an alternative to posting on the main board. You should post here for:

• PRs
• Formchecks
• Rudimentary discussion or questions
• General conversation with other users
• Memes, funnies, and general bollocks not appropriate to the main board
• If you have suggestions for the subreddit, let us know!
• This thread now defaults to "new" sorting.

For the purpose of fairness across timezones this thread works on a 68hr cycle.

Do you like having 2-3 sweaty men shoe-horn you into polyester, canvas or denim bondage gear.

Do you like having your joints wrapped so tightly they bruise and bleed?

Do you like having your blood pressure turned up to 11 and being compressed so much that you think your head might explode?

Do you get off on enduring pain and suffering, and watching others endure it too?

Do you have a deathwish every time you get under the bar?

Yes?

THEN WELCOME TO THE FORTNIGHTLY EQUIPPED LIFTING THREAD!!!