I never wear a belt. At one point in college 10 yrs ago, I wore a belt for a lot of stuff. Then I learned both in school and reading elsewhere that it wasn’t great for the lower back. It also teaches your abs to be stupid.
You’ll definitely lift more weight with it. No doubt. But at what cost? Sure for singles, doubles and maybe triples, it’s probably not a bad idea if you want as much poundage as possible. But I’d rather work my “core” without it. This way whenever I use 100% exertion OUTSIDE the gym, my body won’t fall apart (b/c I won’t have a belt). That’s the most important thing to me.
To add to that…I squat in the mid 300’s and deadlift in the upper 300’s with no belt. 855 leg presses last Friday for 10 reps - thighs to the chest reps. No belt. That one hurt though! lol
I do use a belt, but only for high-intensity deadlifts. My beltless body maxed out last year, but my lower back was injured in my failure. Based on experience, I’d recommend a belt for injury prevention only, and only for your heaviest sets. You will do more for your core lifting without one, that’s for sure.
I can squat rock bottom and standard dead about the same for a single without a belt (405, 445). I actually think the belt is more helpfull for heavy sets of 3-5, but overall, I think using a belt has made my abs stronger, and it gives me feedback on goodmornings as to whether I am maintaining the correct body position.
Actually, the belt probably helps my max bench more than squat and dead because it helps me keep my abs tight despite not having heavy direct loading.
By the way, I have also tried simply wrapping and hooking a tight bungee cord around the waist recently, and I think it is an even better ab tool.
[quote]greatgro wrote:
I’d rather work my “core” without it. This way whenever I use 100% exertion OUTSIDE the gym, my body won’t fall apart [/quote]
I totally agree…this is also why I don’t use wraps, or lifting straps. When I first started squatting I always wore a belt, when I quit using it I had to re-work my way back up to the heavier weights, however I feel I am a lot stronger now that I don’t rely on a belt.