My belt arrived today a ten 10mm lever belt IPF approved.
I noticed a couple things. It was hard/impossible to hit depth wearing it ( I am definitely wearing it right, not too low etc) and it made me lean forward more than usual.
Anyone experience similar problems?
Two ideas spring to mind.
1: If you just got the belt today, there is no way it is broken in yet. The belt is bending you, rather than the other way around.
2: That you believe a belt can be worn too low leads me to believe you may have the belt too high. I wore mine too high for years before I saw a guy at a meet where the belt under his gut versus around it. When I switched to that, the belt worked very well. Don’t have it set in your mind that after 1day you already know how to wear your belt. It’s an evolutionary approach.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Two ideas spring to mind.
1: If you just got the belt today, there is no way it is broken in yet. The belt is bending you, rather than the other way around.
2: That you believe a belt can be worn too low leads me to believe you may have the belt too high. I wore mine too high for years before I saw a guy at a meet where the belt under his gut versus around it. When I switched to that, the belt worked very well. Don’t have it set in your mind that after 1day you already know how to wear your belt. It’s an evolutionary approach.[/quote]
I have it over my belly button. Is that the right position? And yeah it is very stiff so I might have better luck after rolling it etc. Thanks.
I wear my belt so that the frontside is below belly button and backside is little higher. Underneath the gut like T3hPwnisher said.
Remember - use belt with only max weights. You’re still novice and overusing belt may cause problems with form latter.
I wear mine under the belly button. Gut hangs over…
I agree with the under the belly button thing. If worn properly, you won’t like the way you look from the side. At least I don’t.
[quote]OldOgre wrote:
I agree with the under the belly button thing. If worn properly, you won’t like the way you look from the side. At least I don’t. [/quote]
Haha ya I do the same thing with my belt, I always realize “oh so thats where the 275lbs of bodyweight is”
[quote]Rattus wrote:
I wear my belt so that the frontside is below belly button and backside is little higher. Underneath the gut like T3hPwnisher said.
Remember - use belt with only max weights. You’re still novice and overusing belt may cause problems with form latter. [/quote]
I agree with the belt placement but actually disagree with only using the belt for max weights. I start using it pretty early into my warm-ups so that, by the time I am working with my work sets, the placement is figured out and the form is sorted. I used to use the approach of only on max weights, and my max weights always felt terrible.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
[quote]Rattus wrote:
I wear my belt so that the frontside is below belly button and backside is little higher. Underneath the gut like T3hPwnisher said.
Remember - use belt with only max weights. You’re still novice and overusing belt may cause problems with form latter. [/quote]
I agree with the belt placement but actually disagree with only using the belt for max weights. I start using it pretty early into my warm-ups so that, by the time I am working with my work sets, the placement is figured out and the form is sorted. I used to use the approach of only on max weights, and my max weights always felt terrible.[/quote]
How does your belted/un-belted 1RM differentiate? Is the poundage you can move with a belt much higher?
I have never felt a need to test an unbelted 1rm. I would imagine I can move more weight with a belt than without it, as that is the reason I wear it. Sorry I don’t have that data point.
Everyone has their way.
I normally put belt on by feel, but it’s normally close 85% 1RM. I also use belt if I’m doing hard sets (high volume work, or max rep sets etc.).
I’m really tall, so the belt helps me a lot. I was doing 6x6 squats with about 80%ish couple weeks ago and could do first 3 sets without belt. The last one started to be little shaky, so I put belt on. Last 3 sets were easy after that.
Experiment with different heights. I’ve only recently found I do better with a higher belt for deadlifts than for squats. For squats I wear the belt low, tilting down slightly at the front. Belly button is covered, but closer to the top edge than the bottom. Belt touches my hip ridge, but for DL my ribcage.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Experiment with different heights. I’ve only recently found I do better with a higher belt for deadlifts than for squats. For squats I wear the belt low, tilting down slightly at the front. Belly button is covered, but closer to the top edge than the bottom. Belt touches my hip ridge, but for DL my ribcage. [/quote]
Thanks.
Do you squeeze your abs or squeeze and push out? I hear different views from different people. Mark rippetoe says push your abdominals out into the belt but on a lot of powerlifting sites people say squeeze and hold as that is a stronger contraction than pushing them out.
Why does everyone have such varying views. It is difficult as hell for a beginner like information overload on every small thing.
[quote]YamatoDamashii92 wrote:
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Experiment with different heights. I’ve only recently found I do better with a higher belt for deadlifts than for squats. For squats I wear the belt low, tilting down slightly at the front. Belly button is covered, but closer to the top edge than the bottom. Belt touches my hip ridge, but for DL my ribcage. [/quote]
Thanks.
Do you squeeze your abs or squeeze and push out? I hear different views from different people. Mark rippetoe says push your abdominals out into the belt but on a lot of powerlifting sites people say squeeze and hold as that is a stronger contraction than pushing them out.
Why does everyone have such varying views. It is difficult as hell for a beginner like information overload on every small thing.[/quote]
I push my abs out as I breathe in because I inhale by expanding my diaphragm. When I’ve got as big a bellyful of air as I can then I squeeze my midsection as hard as possible, but once I squeeze I don’t push against the belt, just squeeze down on the air. Lats get tight too, for deadlift. Then I start moving.
I know, there’s a heap of information out there and it can be confusing. You’ll eventually figure out the good from the bad. I think the varying views come from some some people basing their take on just their own experiences. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another.
[quote]YamatoDamashii92 wrote:
Why does everyone have such varying views. It is difficult as hell for a beginner like information overload on every small thing.[/quote]
The big thing to understand is that there is no “right and wrong” in training. So many beginners have it in their heads that there is some sort of one true path out there, and they just need to find it and they’ll be fine. In reality, when observing successful trainees, one of the few things that seems to be held in common is just hard work, consistency and intensity.
The small things are going to vary due to things like body construction, athletic background, history of injuries, cultural influences, etc etc. Experimenting is key.
I think experimenting with belt height to find what works for you is extremely important. As I’ve grown, I’ve definitely made adjustments. I don’t wear it on the same notch for deadlift as I do squat, nor is it at the same height. I try to find what exactly helps me move the most weight. You only learn this by practicing.