I bought a 10mm belt about a month ago. First time using one. It’s a single prong leather belt.
When I try to get as tight as I want to be so I can brace against it, its almost impossible to get off again! Trying to get prong on the buckle back out the hole again tires me out more than the actual lift, couple of times I nearly had a meltdown in the gym because I thought I wasn’t gonna get it off.
If I use the next hole up and have it a bit looser it’s not as bad, but it feels a lot harder to brace against, I think I want it tighter really.
It should definitely have broken in by now.
Am I missing something or just being a complete idiot? Thinking about just sacking it off and getting a lever belt instead.
You should be able to get in fingers or whole palm in between you and the belt.
By how tight you describe it, id say there is NOTHING going in between you and the belt.
You are probably using it wrong. You cant get it off because you cant breathe in enough for it to feel less tight and give up a bit, because you are tightening it way too hard that there is no way to go anymore.
Put on belt. Then test if you can squeeze in your palm, up to the knuckles inside from the top. If you cant, its too tight.
The thing with the belt is that its goal is not to hold your mid section together. The goal is for it to be there so when you breathe in and expand your core, you push it against the belt.
By what i am reading, i dont think you can even take a super deep breathe and actually expand anything inside it.
I’m using my gyms own 2-pronged belt that’s too small for me, I have to use the nearby smith machine bars to leverage it on me so I can get the prongs through (can still fit my palm down it once it’s on though). I don’t understand how you’d struggle. Can you not do some sort of stomach vaccum type movement to get it off with ease? Ultimately if you got it on easy enough, you should be able to get it off with a similar amount of effort.
Just in case this isn’t clear, I figured I’d add a visual (note: this is not a video, just an image).
I do this as well. I have a 13 mm belt, and it is pretty rigid. I think the difficult part is not so much getting it tight, but getting the thick leather bent back far enough to get the prong through, if that makes sense?
I can do it without using a rack, but I like to do it the easy way. I don’t wear mine very tight. I’ve played around with different tightness (my belt has 1/2" hole spacing) and I just can’t brace well enough if it is a little too tight. I am like Goldilocks, it has to be just right.
Yeah I probably could get it on without it but it’s a lot of effort fighting that rigidity when I can simply just use a little of my own body weight to maneuver it on, making it less of a chore. It hasn’t been a problem to get off despite this.
This video is to go along with the picture above. I had to purchase a new 10mm this year because of wieght loss and it took a lot longer than one month to wear it in.
I couldn’t get @mnben87 video to play, but the video @Bambiwithhorns posted I could.
Almost everyone I knew who put their belt on tight used this method to remove it. Some used that method to put it on tight while expending little effort. Let your body weight do the tightening and loosening.
I have never heard anyone say a belt was too tight unless you felt you could not breathe. I competed in powerlifting before the lever belt was available. Many of the lifters had another lifter or a friend get the belt on them as tight as possible. And help them remove it after the lift. On the funny side, many had the belt tightener slap them in the face before sending the lifter out to the platform. I enjoyed that entertainment.
Now, I will say that an extremely tight belt is only necessary for near maximum poundage. Warm up sets should be only moderate tightness or less.
