Weight Belts

I’ve been training for about 2 years and I’ve never had the need to use a weight belt. I got a couple of my friends into the gym with me the past couple of weeks, and so far, they’ve been progressing nicely. Recently, under the advice of one of the other guys at the gym, one of my friends bought a weight belt. I’m worried that since he doesn’t have much experience and he’s a pretty thin guy, he’ll become dependant, overload the bar, and really hurt himself. What do you guys think?

Belts, booo. Build your own. The only time I’d recommend one is for a competion. Namely, powerlifting.

Riddle me this: Why is it that people will use regular belts more often than they ever should, and dip-belts less frequently than they ought to? Ahh, well. I guess some people want to be stuck doing sets of 10 chins the rest of their lives…

I agree with Ike. Most people should work on strengthening their lower backs rather than relying on a lifting belts.

I agree w/ the above… That weight belts should be used only as a last resort… I believe that its more an nusense in the gym then anything…