When to start using a weightlifting belt
When Should You Wear A Lifting Belt?
what's up everyone in this video I'm
going to talk about weightlifting bells
do they work should you wear one if so
when should you wear it almost everyone
I know who wears a bell
agrees that it helps them lift more
weight the only exception is beginners
who do not know how to properly breathe
embrace therefore they don't know how to
take advantage of the bell now there are
some people who believe that using a
belt is unnecessary and they say things
like if you can't lift the weight
without a belt you shouldn't be trying
it at all while I do agree that using
the belt helps me let more weight and/or
perform more reps with a given weight I
do not consider it cheating a belt does
not assist any of the joints involved in
the squad or the deadlift it doesn't
spring my knees open like a pair of knee
wraps it doesn't spring my hips open
like a squad suit would a belt simply
allows me to create more intra-abdominal
pressure before each rep I take a big
belly breath and brace down as if I was
going to be punched in the stomach
taking a big belly breath without a belt
causes my stomach to expand wearing a
belt prevents my stomach from expanding
this means there is the same amount of
pressure in a smaller container imagine
blowing a full breath of air into a
small balloon and a full breath of air
into a big balloon the smaller balloon
would be a stronger tighter balloon
basically wearing a belt allows me to
squeeze and brace harder than if I
wasn't wearing the belt mark Krupa toe
illustrates this point by saying you can
push harder against a loaded barbell
than you can against a broomstick
now all of this balloon container
broomstick talk is not rooted in
scientific studies it's just the way
that it makes sense in my head for
actual scientific studies on whether or
not a belt doesn't back to health check
out Gregg knuckles article that I will
link down in the description area
personally I believe that if a belt
helps you look more weight or if it
helps you perform more ups with a given
weight it's making you stronger and the
squat you are still supporting that
weight on your back you're still
standing up with the weight using your
legs it's not like the muscles or core
are completely shutting off in fact some
studies have shown that individuals who
wore
actually activated their core more than
individuals who didn't use a bell this
might be because the belt acts as a
proprioceptive cue reminding the lifter
to breathe and apply abdominal pressure
against the Bell now some people might
insist that just focusing on increasing
your bellies one rep max will
automatically increase your wondering
max with the Bell and I would agree now
with that said increasing your water max
with the Bell will still increase your
one rep max without a bell I have never
seen someone who squats
4:05 beltless and 4:35 with the belt
increase their belted one rep max squat
to 475 but still be stuck with a 405
fellas squat gaining strength with a
belt will help increase strength without
a belt as well I think of a lifting belt
as a tool that you can use to help
overload your body and push your limits
therefore making you stronger similar to
using straps for the deadlift or even
the alternate grip or the hook grip in
order to continue strengthening your
back even when your grip is starting to
fail however I do believe that the
majority of your training should be done
without a belt I frequently do 1 to 4
month training cycles where I don't use
a belt simply because it makes training
harder don't get too attached your
lifting belt I can't stand powerlifting
princesses who whine about forgetting
their belt or their knees sleeps there
are wrist straps there lifting shoes all
you really need is a barbell and some
iron suck it up buttercup also whenever
I train a beginner I never have them
wear a belt because they have so much
untapped potential I want to teach them
how to breathe how to brace how to grind
under a heavy barbell and then
eventually we can slap a belt on them
and have some fun
if you need to wear a belt every time
you lift because of past injuries like
hernias abdominal strain lower back
injuries go right ahead
better safe than sorry also I personally
know a few older gentleman 60 plus years
old who wear a belt every time they
train and I'm not going to question it
you're free to pull your old man card I
get asked a lot how much weight should I
be lifting before I use a belt and I
can't answer that question because
everyone has different starting points
I've seen beginners squat 300 pounds on
their first day I've worked with
beginners who started with the barbell
at 45 pounds give you general advice
like you should wait to use a belt in to
good squat two times your body weight
sounds nice but some people weigh 100
thousand don't be weigh 350 pounds it's
extremely difficult to tell someone when
to wear a belt when not based off of
strength standards what I'm going to do
instead is look at a few different types
of programs and I'm going to suggest
when to use your belt according to the
layout of the program let's take a look
at a linear progression program if
you're doing starting strength 3 by 5 or
strong lifts 5 by 5 I'm going to assume
that you are still a beginner avoid
using a belt as long as possible you are
still learning how to breathe brace and
grind under a heavy barbell like I said
earlier if you can't do this you are not
ready to use a belt I've noticed that
some beginners tend to relax their
midsection when they have the support or
the help of a belt this is wrong now try
to continue a linear progression as long
as you can without a belt once you stop
making progress try putting a belt on
and see if you can continue progress
once your progress is stopped with a
belt go ahead and start a new program so
the next type of programs I want to talk
about or what I would call default
progression programs so every month
you're Max's automatically increase a
good example of this is five-three-one
every month you increase you add 5
pounds you're up buddy lips and 10
pounds to your lower body lips so when
we look at a program like five three one
within each month there's a three-week
progression like heavier heaviest diello
next week same progression like heavier
heaviest so what I would suggest is on
the heaviest set of the month I would
suggest slapping a belt on so about 5.5
no about three three three no belt
on the last week five three one max the
heaviest set of the month I would
suggest putting a belt on another option
for those of you who are a little bit
more intermediate lifting a lot more
weight than the beginner you might
consider wearing a bill on your max rep
sense so on week one five five beltless
my max rep said I would wear a belt and
so on so I'll be wearing a belt on the
last set each week each day the Texas
method is another program that I would
consider to follow this default
progression you automatically have five
pounds to each training session each
week it's not quite linear progression
because the day's rotate between the
volume day a light day and a heavy day
in this case I would suggest wearing a
belt on your heavy day where you're
establishing a new five rep max so with
the Texas method you'd be wearing a belt
once a week the next type of program I
want to talk about would be considered a
conjugates style method maximum
repetition dynamic or heavy rep speed
work where you're rotating between that
every day every week now in this case I
would not want a bill on your speed days
because the percentages are so like 50
60 maybe 70 percent for very few number
of reps on your repetition day I would
also consider not wearing a belt because
I think there's value in doing higher
repetition for the squat and the
deadlift without a belt the only time I
would suggest using a belt for a matchup
dynamic type program would be under
maximum days because they're usually
handling 90% or above the next type of
programs that I want to talk about or
what I would consider user determine
programs so if you take a look at my
basic program that I offer on my website
at the start of each month the first
week of each month you test you're a
trip max or six rep max or four up max
and so on
one set will establish a new estimate of
one run max based on how much weight you
can lift for the given number of reps so
if you decide to wear a belt when you're
testing your repetition maxes and you
decide to non-water belt for the
following three weeks it might be much
heavier than anticipated because you
were doing beltless training based off
of a belted one right max so in short
wrapping up I would suggest not using
the belt unless you're handling 90% if
you're wondering max for above your old
it's your heavy day your test day where
you're testing your one run max or maybe
a repetition max or you're training for
a competition if you're a power lifter
you need to get familiar with using a
belt use the belt when you need it don't
when you don't so that's it guys thank
you very much for watching hope you
learned something
sorry this video was a little
wishy-washy I don't have a definitive
answer of when exactly you should use a
belt but they work and you can't use
them nothing wrong with it don't go
overboard don't be a power lifting
princess and always remember turn on
time
