The Overkill Canvas Squat Suit(s)
About two weeks ago I wrote about the legendary Frantz canvas squat suits. I also mentioned in this that I have and use one. While these are no longer made, there is a modern and very powerful evolution of them from Overkill.
For those who don't know, Rudy Rosales got his start in making gear under the late Ernie Frantz. In fact, Overkill began because Frantz did not have a modern poly bench shirt. Knowing this, the Overkill squat suit makes a lot of sense and you can start to spot a lot of similarities. Both are made from a similar, thin grade of canvas (as opposed to the duct canvas used on the OG Leviathan, for example) and have a similar cut. The picture below shows the cut of the crotch of my Frantz and my training partner Ralph Talotti's Overkill canvas.
As is apparent, the leg attachments and crotch are almost exactly the same. Holding both, while obviously the Overkill feels stiffer as it is much newer and less used, both are similar in that they are thin.
This thin canvas, however, means that to get the same amount out of it as a thicker suit, it needs to be worn much tighter. When seeing big lifters wear these, in the words of my friend Matt Brooks, they look "painted on."
I also want to note the sides of Overkill squat suits. Some think the black strip on the side is poly, like other suits; however that could not be farther from the truth. It's actually ballistic nylon, so unlike a poly panel- this does not offer an expansion.
That's really all you can say with much certainty about these suits. All Overkill gear is custom made to each lifter, and Rudy can really do anything you need, so there is lots of variants.
Going into these variants, there is quite a few.
50/50
As I'm sure most are familiar with, lots of the Overkill canvas suits (like Ralph's above) have a polyester chest plate, which allows some more stretch around the chest, supposedly to make taking in air easier. The 50/50 goes a bit farther and has an entirely polyester front and all canvas back.
Few have these, they aren't very popular in comparison to the other Overkill suits and the only lifter I can think of who uses one right now is Mike Grasso, shown below.
As you can see, the whole front is blackline poly and while not a side angle, the crotch is canvas and at the bottom of his squat you can see the rear canvas legs showing.
Regular Color Variants
As Overkill has grown and changed suppliers over the years, so have their materials. You can see traces of this in old gear passed around, as well as brand new gear showcasing new materials in use. First is Nick Wells, who has a regular Overkill canvas with the old maroon redline poly on the chest.
Much more radically different is the very rare black canvas. I do not know if this is any thicker or thinner, but it is certainly different.
John Compean has one, and you can see the black canvas and poly up close below.
Rebecca Roberts also has one, and not only is it black canvas- but it also has a new redline poly chestplate with the new logo.
Full Canvas
The last variant is the full canvas. Rudy does not officially have this on his order forms (yet/at time of writing) but as far as I know, two are in circulation. They belong to Brian Hill and Connor Karwowski. I figure that since both came from lifting in Inzer gear, Brian even being sponsored by them; they were used to the support of all over canvas and had Rudy make this for them to bridge the gap.
