In the past, I have used a tapered style belt. Many of my friends use and Inzer 10mm lever action style.
I have lifted beltless for years but am looking at starting to integrate one into my training.
My primary concern is finding something that I can use in upcoming meets, and seeing the 2015 list from IPF i was hoping for some advice and dialogue here in the PL forums.
I hate to sounds like a bitch but the 10mm inzers just seem so friggin stiff! Is a tapered Inzer a complete waste of time?
When i used a belt i used the inzer lever belt for both OL and PL. if it is to stiff it really helps if you use someones old one that is already broken in. I was never a fan of the tapered belt. I never thought it did much and was just to small. on the other hand i know several OL’s that love the tapper and heat the more PLing belt. i’ve never seen any PL that knows what they’re doing wear a taper belt but i’m sure there are some out there.
For USAPL, the maximum belt width allowed is 10 cm. A tapered belt meeting that requirement would like you’re wearing a casual/dress belt from the front side. Not sure how much that would help. The bodybuilding ones with the wide back are not allowed. I don’t know what the requirements are for other federations but you should check the ones that you may possibly compete in.
Anyways, tapered is illegal. Must be uniform thickness. Go for a proper 4 inch belt like the inzer. Be sure and get something with a logo - IPF making some rules on branding on belts and singlets. If you want, get the 10mm but again, even 13mm is fine. They frankly feel almost identical to wear.
[quote]arramzy wrote:
Huh? IPF has 13mm as the max…
Anyways, tapered is illegal. Must be uniform thickness. Go for a proper 4 inch belt like the inzer. Be sure and get something with a logo - IPF making some rules on branding on belts and singlets. If you want, get the 10mm but again, even 13mm is fine. They frankly feel almost identical to wear.[/quote]
13mm is thickness, not width. The 4" belt you refer to is a 4" wide belt, which is the 10cm one he was talking about.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
In IPF, max belt width is 10 cm. Max thickness is 13 mm. And tapered belts are not illegal. I wear one,[/quote]
Oh I see what you’re talking about. I searched for a Tapered Inzer Belt and saw that it tapers from 4" to about 3". I imagined it tapered even more than that but 3" seems sturdy enough. I could see this being useful for people who want a narrower belt for the deadlift since a wider belt could effect their setup. It would still provide enough support for the squat as well.
What are the pro’s of using a tapered belt? Is it just a comfort thing? I don’t think I’ve ever seen tapered recommended over standard belts in terms of performance (I’m referring strictly to PL here).
flipcollar: If you have a VERY short torse, a tapered belt will “generally” not dig into the bottom of the ribcage and the top of the superior illiac crest.
thats would be the extent of it, really.
[quote]killerDIRK wrote:
flipcollar: If you have a VERY short torse, a tapered belt will “generally” not dig into the bottom of the ribcage and the top of the superior illiac crest.
thats would be the extent of it, really.[/quote]
Yep. Few people actually wear them in competition. Mostly small females like me.