Originally Posted by
kite
Well T-man this is a widely debated topic in the pl community and the way you described raw vs equipped is really kinda ignorant. Lot's of folks use the same arguement on steroids and even otc supps. If moving big weight in gear was as easy as many seem to think everyone would be doing it. It takes a tremendous amount of training, working on technique, etc.... to master your gear. Many benchers, myself included use gear not only as a means to move the maximum amount of weight possible but to also avoid injury. My shoulders are shit and my raw bench sucks royal fukking ass and any time I try going heavy full range on the bench raw my shoulders are killing me for weeks. I've had surgery on one and the other prolly won't be too far away. Check out Tommy Fannon's article that I posted, it is a good read on gear.