Equipment Considerations

Equipment

It’s easy to overlook this important topic, throw on a pair of shorts and t-shirt, head to the gym and load up a bar. However making poor choices in the gear you use can have a significant effect on your lifts, particularly as the plates stack up.

Personal Equipment

I don’t care how pretty you look for your favorite social media account and all your adoring fans, but there are considerations to make when gearing up.

T-Shirt:

For best squat results use a snug cotton t-shirt. The bar will be less likely to slide on a t-shirt than on your bare skin, and a tight t-shirt will be less prone to sliding between the bar and your skin.

Shoes:

There are a lot of choices here, but the number one thing not to do is to use a running shoe, or sneaker with a squishy sole. You want shoes with a solid sole, or they will compress under your weight and the weight of the bar drastically reducing your stability.

Using a squat or weightlifting shoe with a raised heel can improve your squat mechanics by lengthening the distance from your knee to the floor. This helps your squat mechanics by balancing your shin length with your femur length. It can also improve your lifting pattern if you have limited ankle mobility.

Converse ‘chucks’ are also a favorite squat shoe. The broad, solid sole gives you a very stable squat platform.

Power Belt:

Generally speaking, most people will lift more with a belt. Your belt helps increase your intra abdominal pressure increasing your core stability. This stabilizes your spine in your lower back making it a much better lever to transfer power from your legs to the bar.

Before putting on a belt, practice your breathing and bracing technique so you have good core stability without the belt. Your belt should be a force enhancer, not a crutch.

Although I do like to lift and coach a certain amount of beltless squats to practice building core strength and perfecting bracing techniques, training without the belt does limit the weight you can lift. As a rule of thumb, 80% of your squat 1RM is a good place to start belting up.

Chalk:

The purpose of chalk is to limit the bar from slipping – in your hands, on your back. Chalking your hands when squatting helps you grip the bar, and keep your hands positioned so that they do not slide as you lift, which can reduce your upper back tightness. Chalking a swath across your back and shoulders where the bar rests can reduce the bar’s tendency to slip out of place.

If your gym does not allow chalk, it is likely not the best place to get exceptionally strong.

Gym Equipment

Squat rack:

Set the rack height to the upper part of your chest so that you can unrack and easily clear the pins without either having to do a partial squat or get up on your tippy toes to unrack. Keep in mind that (depending on the type of bar you use) the bar will begin bending around 500-600lbs and you’ll need more room to clear the rack.

If you’re using a power cage, set the safety pins low enough so that you can squat to full depth without bumping them, and high enough so that you can reach them without being crushed if you fail. Your rep, not your life, a failure wouldn’t be taking this course.

Always set up the squat rack so that you can face away from the mirror. Your motion in the mirror will distract you causing your form to falter. No, you cannot watch your form and depth in the mirror while you squat.

If your gym does not have a squat rack that allows you to face away from the mirror, it is likely not the best place to get exceptionally strong.

Bar:

There are a number of important considerations when it comes to selecting the best bar to squat with.

• Condition: If the bar is bent, it has a tendency to roll as you unrack, or worse yet during your descent, throwing you out of your groove. If the bar does not have good knurling it may be more difficult hold to keep in place on your back.
• Whip: If the bar has a significant amount of whip it could impact your stability, particularly as the weights stack up. The plates could start to bounce when you walkout and when you finish your reps throwing you off. The best case is to use a stiff bar when squatting.
• Knurling and ring position: Use a bar that has knurling in the center. This helps keep the bar in position on your back. If it is smooth where it contacts your back, even with chalk it may be difficult to keep in place, particularly with the low bar position. If you’re not using a standard powerlifting bar, keep in mind that the ring positions on different bars can be different. Although this doesn’t impact your squat significantly it may make it more difficult to find a consistent hand position.
• Bar weight: Typically bars weigh 20kg or 45lbs. Specialty bars often have different weights. Many bars designed specifically for the squat, for example, are heavier than a standard competition or run of the mill gym bar.

The best case is to use a bar designed for powerlifting that is in good condition. If you train at a commercial gym and that is not possible be picky about the bar you use. Don’t be shy about asking to trade bars if someone is using your favorite bar for a lift that doesn’t require as careful bar selection.

You are likely to spend a great deal of time in your gym under the bar. Consider taking a few moments to select effective gear to make that time as productive as possible.