Which weight lifting belt?

[lyle_destroys]

Getting heavy on the deadlifts and think it's time to start using a belt again. I've only ever used the ones at the gym and never owned one. What's everyone using?

 

[NEhunter]

I use an Inzer when needed. Great belt.

Power Belts

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inzernet.com

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Best belts....

 

[GunsUp]

Believe it or not I wear my backpack belt to work out

 

[Poser]

I use a pioneer brand belt.

Whatever brand you get, you need a 4 inch leather belt. Don’t get the tapered belts, those are for Oly lifting. Double buckles are a PITA, get a single buckle. Velcro, cotton, Cordura etc are all worthless.

 

[LostArra]

I use a pioneer brand belt.

Whatever brand you get, you need a 4 inch leather belt. Don’t get the tapered belts, those are for Oly lifting. Double buckles are a PITA, get a single buckle. Velcro, cotton, Cordura etc are all worthless.

+1 on the Pioneer Belt but I much prefer a 3" for deadlift but all body types are different.

 

[Poser]

+1 on the Pioneer Belt but I much prefer a 3" for deadlift but all body types are different.

I bought a 3 inch deadlift belt, but never found it necessary. I ha e a pretty long torso so a 4 inch doesn’t get in the way.

 

[LaHunter]

Another vote for Inzer belts. Top quality power lifting / deadlift belt.

 

[CoffeeGoat]

I'll be the contrarian for the day - why do you think you need a belt? Belts are more for performance than safety, sure you'll be able to lift more, but do you wear one in the field? If your're prepping for competition or just want to claim a really big number by all means get a belt, but if you're training for the hunt I'd question why. What a belt tells me is your legs are getting stronger than your core's ability to stabilize the weight, which puts you at risk for injury. I'd spend more time building your core strength under big weights and off nominal conditions it'll make the dead lift safer, easier, and likely make you better in the field.

 

[Poser]

I'll be the contrarian for the day - why do you think you need a belt? Belts are more for performance than safety, sure you'll be able to lift more, but do you wear one in the field? If your're prepping for competition or just want to claim a really big number by all means get a belt, but if you're training for the hunt I'd question why. What a belt tells me is your legs are getting stronger than your core's ability to stabilize the weight, which puts you at risk for injury. I'd spend more time building your core strength under big weights and off nominal conditions it'll make the dead lift safer, easier, and likely make you better in the field.

Since strength is a general adaptation, you need not worry about whether or not you wear one in the field. Used properly (and most people don’t use them properly), a belt allows you to move more weight safely. Moving more weight creates more stress. More stress potentially makes you stronger (assuming period recovery). Therefore, you’ll end up stronger using a belt. If the goal is to have a stronger body, using a belt makes sense for the barbell lifts.

 

[NEhunter]

Since strength is a general adaptation, you need not worry about whether or not you wear one in the field. Used properly (and most people don’t use them properly), a belt allows you to move more weight safely. Moving more weight creates more stress. More stress potentially makes you stronger (assuming period recovery). Therefore, you’ll end up stronger using a belt. If the goal is to have a stronger body, using a belt makes sense for the barbell lifts.

Well said.

 

[LongWayAround]

The belt gives your core something to push against, making the contraction stronger, thus making you stronger. It's certainly not going to make you weaker or put you at some sort of disadvantage in the field since we're typically not deadlifting much on the mountain anyway...

 

[Poser]

The belt gives your core something to push against, making the contraction stronger, thus making you stronger. It's certainly not going to make you weaker or put you at some sort of disadvantage in the field since we're typically not deadlifting much on the mountain anyway...

Also, since your abdominal muscles are pushing against a resistant surface in an isometric manner, a belt actually works these muscles more intensely than without. The more weight you can lift with the proper use of a belt, the more weight you can lift without a belt. There does seem to a common misconception that belts are some kind of crutch to compensate for a weak “core”, but with some logical application, this position quickly becomes untenable. The most efficient way to properly deadlift 300 lbs without a belt is to be able deadlift 350 lbs with a belt. The stronger your are, the lighter such sub optimal efforts are and with far less inherent risk. For example, it’s very unlikely that a guy with a 350# deadlift is going to injure his back picking up a 40# object, no matter how awkward or irregular shaped it may be.

 

[TheGDog]

Getting heavy on the deadlifts and think it's time to start using a belt again. I've only ever used the ones at the gym and never owned one. What's everyone using?

Get a Valeo. 6". NOT LEATHER (Leather pinches ya at high weight when ya have to cinch down hard.) I'd recommend NOT doing your DeadLifts from a stand which allows for the user to pick up the bar from even lower height than it would be if you had the 45's on it and it was just sitting on the ground. Don't do it. Just don't do it.

And for the love of all things Holy... when you're doing your DeadLifts... concentrate on NOT allowing yourself to round out your back. like AT ALL, or you WILL have bad consequences eventually! (A Disc will get pinched, etc)

And for goodness sakes, don't be that idiot that drops the bar onto the ground afterward. If you can't put it down proper, you got no business trying to lift it up.

FWIW, maybe last ten years of working out, I changed things up to where I'd do 30min of elliptical on the PRECOR... and really push it with the resistance. Like have incline at 9 or 10, and have resistance set at like... 11 to start with. Try your damndest to go as long as you can at 11. (With an Interval program) Then when need to, drop it down 1 click. Try to go as long as you can at that... then if need be drop it down 1 click more to get you to the end.

2 goals. 1) Not to have to drop it down anymore. 2) To then get yourself able to do it for 60min!

THEN... go do your Deadlifts or Squats. (On days when you know you're gonna do those, best to only do 30min)


RE: Squats - two key things I want you to remember for safety. Before you begin, with your eyes, pick a point high up on the wall in front of you, above your head. Such as at the top of the mirror plating. Keep looking at that point during the whole lift. This prevents you for screwing up and leaning forward to try to compensate. The other thing I want you to remember is "f**k the wall!" meaning as soon as you can, during the push back up, you want to get your pelvis back up and underneath you ASAP!

So those two things... "Look up High!" and "F**k The Wall!" always remember those two when you're doing your squats.

 

[bat-cave]

2Pood is my personal favorite.

 

[CoffeeGoat]

Since strength is a general adaptation, you need not worry about whether or not you wear one in the field. Used properly (and most people don’t use them properly), a belt allows you to move more weight safely. Moving more weight creates more stress. More stress potentially makes you stronger (assuming period recovery). Therefore, you’ll end up stronger using a belt. If the goal is to have a stronger body, using a belt makes sense for the barbell lifts.

So why not go to the extreme - lifting straps, squat suit, head band, knee braces - go all in, if more stress is better, then go big! Of course not, we're talking building strength, not going for a world record.

Also, since your abdominal muscles are pushing against a resistant surface in an isometric manner, a belt actually works these muscles more intensely than without. The more weight you can lift with the proper use of a belt, the more weight you can lift without a belt. There does seem to a common misconception that belts are some kind of crutch to compensate for a weak “core”, but with some logical application, this position quickly becomes untenable. The most efficient way to properly deadlift 300 lbs without a belt is to be able deadlift 350 lbs with a belt. The stronger your are, the lighter such sub optimal efforts are and with far less inherent risk. For example, it’s very unlikely that a guy with a 350# deadlift is going to injure his back picking up a 40# object, no matter how awkward or irregular shaped it may be.

Think about this for a minute - muscles pull, they don't push against anything. What you're pulling against is the air in your lungs, you're using the valsalva maneuver to stabilize your spine by creating a pressurized air bag in front to stabilize the weight. So in the case of a weight belt you're augmenting those muscles, just like knee braces compensate for stabilizing the knee. As I stated, you'll absolutely lift "more weight" but what is the point.

We wouldn't recommend folks use a leg press machine over a dead lift even though "they could lift more weight" because we want them to get strong, not to hit a magical number. That's why I mentioned working on increasing core strength - you'll get the biggest gains if you work on the weakest part of the system.

I'm not suggesting a bunch of crunches - they're not going to give you a strong core, try a few of these:
* Front Squats
* Overhead squats (if you've got the shoulder mobility)
* Yoke Carry
* Farmers Carry
* Atlas stones
* Heavy rucks where you intentionally put all the weight on your shoulders

 

[TheGDog]

I second the Farmers Carry done as a succession of split-squat/lunge-steps.
Front Squats too.

RE: Overhead Squats? Just.... No. This is about as smart as trying to do squats on an upside down Bosu ball. Just bleeping dumb as hell to even try it.

Also be sure to throw in some cable work where you're rotating your trunk pulling the cable across out in front of you with your arms forming a triangle to your body sorta swinging it like a bat-swing, or swing of an axe. Those will work you sumpin' fierce.

Also do some X-ups. Planks done sideways where you intentionally extend upward from your supporting foot and elbow and form a nice big X with your body. And hold it there, extended, a nice long 10-count. That'll work ya good.

Atlas stones are brutal.

 

[Poser]

So why not go to the extreme - lifting straps, squat suit, head band, knee braces - go all in, if more stress is better, then go big! Of course not, we're talking building strength, not going for a world record.



Think about this for a minute - muscles pull, they don't push against anything. What you're pulling against is the air in your lungs, you're using the valsalva maneuver to stabilize your spine by creating a pressurized air bag in front to stabilize the weight. So in the case of a weight belt you're augmenting those muscles, just like knee braces compensate for stabilizing the knee. As I stated, you'll absolutely lift "more weight" but what is the point.

We wouldn't recommend folks use a leg press machine over a dead lift even though "they could lift more weight" because we want them to get strong, not to hit a magical number. That's why I mentioned working on increasing core strength - you'll get the biggest gains if you work on the weakest part of the system.

I'm not suggesting a bunch of crunches - they're not going to give you a strong core, try a few of these:
* Front Squats
* Overhead squats (if you've got the shoulder mobility)
* Yoke Carry
* Farmers Carry
* Atlas stones
* Heavy rucks where you intentionally put all the weight on your shoulders

There might be a time and place for lifting straps for some people. I personally don’t use them and unlikely that I ever will as hook grip seems entirely sufficient for weight that exceeds grip strength limitations.

Squat suits etc offer an actual mechanical advantage to the movement itself whereas a belt allows you to augment the Valsalva maneuver by offering external resistance: you can apply more force pushing against a brick wall than you can to pushing against a cloth curtain, for example. However you want to think about the valsalva, you are using air to apply force on the abdominal walls. Pushing/ pulling doesn’t matter, it’s the same technique: the goal is to use the abdominal muscles to protect the spine.

 

[LostArra]

RE: Squats - two key things I want you to remember for safety. Before you begin, with your eyes, pick a point high up on the wall in front of you, above your head. Such as at the top of the mirror plating. Keep looking at that point during the whole lift. This prevents you for screwing up and leaning forward to try to compensate. The other thing I want you to remember is "f**k the wall!" meaning as soon as you can, during the push back up, you want to get your pelvis back up and underneath you ASAP!

So those two things... "Look up High!" and "F**k The Wall!" always remember those two when you're doing your squats.

Extending the cervical spine to "look up" during the squat should not be considered a universal truth but I guess there is more than one way to squat a barbell.

So why not go to the extreme - lifting straps,

I used straps on occasion until I learned to properly grip the bar and use chalk. Keep the bar away from your palm and the grip gets stronger without straps.

The Correct Place for the Bar in Your Hands in the Deadlift | Mark Rippetoe

“JUST PICK IT UP OFF THE FUCKIN' FLOOR!!! GRIP IT AND RIP IT!!!! ARRRGH!!!!!” is the extent to which the deadlift is coached in some high school weight rooms, gyms, and garages around the world. I'm sorry, but this level of simplicity is insufficient, and yelling does not compensate for a lack...

startingstrength.com

 

[CoffeeGoat]

RE: Overhead Squats? Just.... No. This is about as smart as trying to do squats on an upside down Bosu ball. Just bleeping dumb as hell to even try it.

Overheads are certainly the most technical lift, and I wouldn't attempt it without good coaching, but they'll certainly seek and destroy weaknesses. I put them in the same category as turkish get ups, not tremendously functional in movement, but the results they get are pretty impressive.

This is basically my point - we want to get strong and fit for the woods, but a bigger number on the deadlift isn't the point, being stronger is the point. We do the standard lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench, press, etc) because they're convenient, easy to scale up or down, and they flat out work. But in the end, a bigger number on any of these lifts isn't the point - the point is to get strong. A barbell is convenient, swap it out for an axle bar and your normal numbers are going to be a far bigger challenge. Switching to a sumo style deadlift will likely make your normal numbers more challenging. You need to evaluate the purpose of a belt; if the purpose is you want to hit a bigger number on the deadlift - it will certainly help, if you want to get stronger, it may not be necessary and it might be detrimental.

I used straps on occasion until I learned to properly grip the bar and use chalk. Keep the bar away from your palm and the grip gets stronger without straps.

The Correct Place for the Bar in Your Hands in the Deadlift | Mark Rippetoe

“JUST PICK IT UP OFF THE FUCKIN' FLOOR!!! GRIP IT AND RIP IT!!!! ARRRGH!!!!!” is the extent to which the deadlift is coached in some high school weight rooms, gyms, and garages around the world. I'm sorry, but this level of simplicity is insufficient, and yelling does not compensate for a lack...

startingstrength.com

This is exactly the issue, learn to solve the real problem and you won't need as many tools.