If you are involved in powerlifting or strength training, you have probably heard about powerlifting gear, supportive suits and wraps designed to help you lift heavier weights. This is known as equipped powerlifting.
What is Powerlifting Gear?
In the squat, lifters wear suits that look similar to singlets, but the material is much stiffer and tighter. This makes it harder to sit down while also giving extra support and helping you out of the bottom position. The suit helps you stay upright and keep your hips aligned.
The knees are supported by knee wraps, stiff, highly elastic bands wrapped tightly around the knees, sometimes so tight that bending them becomes nearly impossible. Lifting with knee wraps requires heavy weights and solid technique to descend and stand back up properly. Usually, the biggest challenge in an equipped squat is reaching proper depth, not standing up again.
In the bench press, lifters use a bench press shirt. It is made from the same stiff material as the squat suit, but the sleeves are set closer together. When wearing a bench shirt, your arms are forced slightly forward. Just like in the squat, the hardest part is lowering the bar, bending your arms, and bringing it to your chest. If you can touch your chest under control, you will usually be able to complete the lift.
The deadlift is different. You wear more or less the same type of suit as in the squat, but since the movement begins with a concentric phase, lifting the weight rather than lowering it first, you do not get the same opportunity to load or compress the suit. This means you gain less assistance from the material compared to the squat or bench press.
Even in classic powerlifting today, a belt and some knee sleeves might add 15 to 25 kilograms / 33 to 55 pounds in the squat. On the equipped side, carryovers of 50 to 150 kilograms / 110 to 330 pounds with suits and knee wraps are common. In the bench press, carryovers can reach up to 200 kilograms / 440 pounds.
With the biggest carryovers comes the greatest expertise. Some people get a lot out of the equipment the first time they try it, while others never make it work. Those who master it practice diligently and truly make it their craft. For some lifters who were not the most genetically gifted, the equipment offered an opportunity, and an extra skill was required to maximize its benefit.
Early Equipment: Belts and Wraps
If we look at the history of powerlifting gear, suits appeared around 1976. But wraps and belts were used earlier. Wrapped knees and weightlifting belts were part of the sport from the mid-1960s, when powerlifting emerged from Olympic weightlifting, where belts and wraps were already standard.
From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, lifters mainly used traditional weightlifting belts. Around the mid-1970s, the power belt appeared, a belt with the same width all around, unlike the weightlifting belt, which was wider in the back and narrower in the front.
Many lifters experimented by turning the weightlifting belt around, positioning the wider back portion at the front to create greater abdominal pressure during the squat and deadlift. At first it was not allowed to turn the belt around. But over time that rule changed.
Wraps were initially similar to pharmacy bandages. From 1964 until 1972, it was allowed to wrap both elbows and knees. When the IPF, International Powerlifting Federation, formed in November 1972, they banned elbow wraps. Had they not, elbow wraps might still be used in powerlifting today.
Why Equipment Appeared
In all sports, athletes want to perform their best. If something makes lifting easier, you use it. In modern raw or classic powerlifting, belts and knee sleeves are standard. If a sleeve can add a few kilos or pounds, lifters will use it, unless tied to a specific brand. Essentially, everyone wants to get the most from their supportive gear.
In 1973, belts and wraps were not widely used. By 1974, they were reintroduced, and most lifters wore them. Squat suits appeared in 1976, and by 1977, most lifters had adopted them. From that point, the equipment evolved gradually, first the squat suit, then wraps, deadlift suits, and bench press shirts.
The same progression can be seen in classic powerlifting, but on a smaller scale. In 2012, the IPF held its first World Cup, an unofficial world championship. The rules allowed belts, wrist wraps, and 7mm knee sleeves. Lifters used Rehband and Titan sleeves. In 2013, SBD appeared with knee sleeves that could actually add a few kilos / pounds. Not much, but if you got a tight pair you could slip them on your knees. Some said it could add up to 10 kilograms / 22 pounds. I believe the physical carryover is closer to 5 kilograms / 11 pounds, but there could also be a mental carryover resulting in close to 10 kilograms / 22 pounds.
In the early 2020s, Inzer introduced stiff knee sleeves. These can add around 10 kilograms / 22 pounds to your squat, and some say even more. From 2012 until 2025, we have gone from ordinary knee sleeves used for all-day activities, to harder performance sleeves, and then to the stiffest sleeves designed solely to maximize kilos in the squat. The same progression is happening in classic lifting, but it is only a matter of a few kilos / pounds.
It is not surprising that the evolution of equipment happened as it did. It would be strange if progress had stopped in the first ten years, because we probably would not have equipped or classic powerlifting today, only raw powerlifting.
The Squat Suit
I cannot pinpoint exactly when the first squat suit was made or worn, but talking to lifters and reading accounts from the time, it seems clear that the suit appeared around 1976.
I am from Sweden, and Swedish lifters who competed at the World Championships from 1973 onward report first seeing suits at the 1976 Worlds, worn by American and British lifters. The World Championships took place in November, so at the Swedish Nationals in 1977, lifters who had brought suits home were not allowed to wear them in competition. They were allowed to use them in exhibitions.
This made Ulf Morin the first Swede to squat 300 kilograms / 661 pounds at an exhibition in Malmö, Sweden, in February 1977. Knee wraps also evolved during the mid- to late 1970s. Both the wraps and suits were extremely hard and stiff, often cutting into the skin and causing bruises, wounds, or even bleeding.
Even with suits and wraps, the difference in squat weight was small. Looking at results from 1973, 1974, and 1975, you see that nothing was allowed in 1973, and belts and wraps were allowed in 1974 and 1975. Despite the introduction of suits in 1976–1977, there was no dramatic jump in squat totals.
By around 1980, a general carryover in the squat with equipment became noticeable. Considering that belts, wraps, and suits evolved during the mid- to late 1970s, it is difficult to say which piece of equipment contributed most. Some lifters only added five to ten kilograms / 11 to 22 pounds from 1973 until the 1980s, despite significant evolution in gear.
The early 1990s saw the official introduction of multi-ply equipment, after the federation split. Lifters began adding extra layers to suits. Some wore double suits or modified them to create extra layers around the hips, like underwear made from suit material. In federations other than the IPF, such as the WPC, multi-layered fabric suits were allowed.
Today, in the 2020s, we have seen both single-ply IPF-standard suits and multi-ply suits evolve, along with knee wraps. Because the sport is practiced primarily in raw or classic divisions, however, suit development has been less dramatic than it was from the 1970s through the 2010s.
The Bench Press Shirt
When exactly the bench press shirt first appeared is difficult to confirm. It became popular in the U.S. in 1985 with John Inzer’s Blast Shirt, which was introduced in 1984. Some indications suggest that Ernie Frantz made an early version in the late 1970s.
A 1980 issue of Powerlifting USA included an ad for “The Bench Press Powerlifter’s Super Shirt” from Statesboro Fitness Gym. Even with the ad, there is no evidence that lifters gained real advantage from shirts at that time. Most still competed in a T-shirt or bare-chested.
The real breakthrough came with John Inzer in 1984, and in 1985 when Ted Arcidi broke the 318 kilograms / 700 pounds barrier with a 320 kilograms / 705 pounds bench press at the Hawaii Record Breakers meet.
Initially, the carryover from bench shirts was minimal. Whatever you could lift touch-and-go, you could pause in a shirt. Typical carryover was around ten kilograms / 22 pounds, with some lifters gaining less, others slightly more.
The big evolution of the bench press shirt occurred in the 1990s when John Inzer’s patent expired. In the following years, a fifteen kilograms / 33 pounds carryover became 150 kilograms / 330 pounds. The shirts favored stockier lifters with shorter arms. Raw lifters who may have been physically stronger could no longer keep up without gear. One of them was Brad Gillingham.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, a 250 kilograms / 551 pounds bench press in the super heavyweight class was considered impressive due to the small carryover. Brad, known for his deadlift, actually won the bench press at the IPF Powerlifting Worlds in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001. In 1999, he equaled the heaviest bench but weighed more.
The Deadlift Suit
The deadlift suit does not share the same history as the squat suit or bench press shirt. In the late 1970s, when the deadlift suit appeared, lifters more or less just used the squat suit as it was, or turned it around backwards.
Squat suits often cracked open during the squat. The deadlift suit, however, did not experience the same pressure. This is because you do not generate as much tension in the deadlift. Even with a lot of movement, the suit was not tight, so you could squat down without any weight.
While carryover from squat equipment evolved greatly in the decades following the 1970s, deadlift equipment did not. Even today, many lifters get little benefit from a deadlift suit, and some even lift less because it becomes too much of a struggle. Most gain at least something, usually more in the sumo stance, since the shorter range of motion allows for greater tension and tightness in the suit.
Lifters who have been around for decades often mention the Marathon suit, created by Larry Pacifico in the late 1970s. It became the foundation for all lifting suits. Many considered it the best deadlift suit. You got more or less the same carryover as other suits, but it was easier to handle and wear.
The limited carryover of the deadlift suit is clear. In 2011, when the IPF changed weight classes, squat and bench press records had increased significantly since the 1970s and early 1980s. The deadlift, however, had barely changed. John Kuc’s 395 kilograms / 871 pounds deadlift from the 1980 World Championships still stood.
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In the early 1980s several new suppliers of powerlifting equipment entered the market. Everyone wanted to sell their products, so advertising exploded, especially in powerlifting magazines. Companies promoted how much extra strength their gear could provide and explained which sizes lifters should choose based on waist, thigh and hip measurements, back length and how tight or supportive they wanted the equipment to feel.
More than 20 percent of the pages in Powerlifting USA became filled with ads, each manufacturer trying to convince lifters that their suit, belt or knee wraps offered the greatest advantage. It was a period of rapid equipment development and aggressive marketing that shaped the sport.
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