^^^ I put a little chalk on the bottom of the middle knurling of the bar. That way when you touch you can see where on the shirt you touched. If you hit the IPF logo or above you're good to go...
That's a good idea, I should try that next time. There were a couple of USAPL judges there, they weren't really in proper judging positions so they were hesitant to call it legal or not, just said that it looked a little low.
When I was at a gym with unavoidable mirrors (couldn't reverse the hooks in the power rack) I just put one of those blue stretching mats up against the mirror so that I couldn't see myself at the bottom of squats. My current gym I just reverse the hooks so I look into the middle of the gym (unfortunately I can still see myself in a mirror on the opposite wall, I just try to blur my vision).
In your experience, how much extra poundage do you get out of shirts versus benching raw? Did it take a long time to get used to it?
I'm pretty sure I can reverse the hooks, it never really occurred to me to try it. I'm doing a deload squat day tomorrow, I'll give it a whirl. Looking out over the gym is more like in competition anyway.
As for the bench shirts...well, its hard to say. I've only ever benched in a shirt twice, still learning. We haven't found a shirt that really fits me right - apparently my arms are big for my size (who knew, I always thought I had kinda small arms), so we're testing out various different shirts.
That said, my raw bench right now (after losing some weight and not really recovering yet) is likely around the 280 range. I did a 325 in the shirt yesterday. So that's a 45lb jump, not too bad, but from what I'm told that's pretty low. Once I get the hang of it & we find a shirt that fits me right, I should be up to 350+.
The thing with gear, is that it helps everyone a different amount. Its a combination of having the right shirt/suit, knowing how to use it properly, as well as where your weak point on the lift is. For example - the deadlift. Most people get very little out of a deadlift suit - maybe 5-40lbs. Some people (like my coach) pull better raw. That's because most people have a sticking point at the very top, at the lockout. Me? I struggle to get the bar an inch off the floor, where the suit helps the most. When it hits my knees, it snaps up. Hence I get about 100lbs out of a suit.