When should you wear a belt?

[Goosey]

The spine has got to stay relatively stable under load, is the belt going to assist?
Probably not.
Every time your discs places uneven pressure on the IVD's there is going to be some form of rupturing.
It isn't just one incident but a number of them over a protracted time.

 

[Brick]

I'm calling bullshit on the whole "overuse of a belt makes your core weak" argument
No matter which way I look at it, it's not making sense.

Seems simple to me if you can lift more with the belt, the belt must be doing some of the work.

Why pick up 5kg with the belt when you could get it by strengthening your own diaphram, I'll yell ya why cause people are fucking lazy and they want that 5kg real bad.

 

[Bench Polkov]

I'm calling bullshit on the whole "overuse of a belt makes your core weak" argument
No matter which way I look at it, it's not making sense.

You've got it backwards, overuse of the belt at early stages of training and light weights doesn't allow you to develop a strong core.

 

[Big Mick]

Don't own a belt and have never used one, so I think I probably don't need one

 

[McKwl]

Would it make much difference if the guy in question (like me, say) started very recently, in his mid-30s, after being (almost) totally sedentary for most of his life, and had a skinny-as-hell build and base to work from?

I've had no "core" or back problems that I'm aware of, so far, but this is all new to me - most of what I "know", I've read online! Yeah, I know, scary.

So, you guys (for example) are collectively my PT... kind of.

 

[Bazza20]

You've got it backwards, overuse of the belt at early stages of training and light weights doesn't allow you to develop a strong core.

I like training without it. Then when building to a max start using it and get a nice carryover.

Use it all the time and you don't get that. Your body seems to rely on it and you miss out on some of the core strengthening.

 

[Big Mick]

Would it make much difference if the guy in question (like me, say) started very recently, in his mid-30s, after being (almost) totally sedentary for most of his life, and had a skinny-as-hell build and base to work from?

I've had no "core" or back problems that I'm aware of, so far, but this is all new to me - most of what I "know", I've read online! Yeah, I know, scary.

So, you guys (for example) are collectively my PT... kind of.

Lot of good info on this forum, you could do a lot worse.

Personally I would not worry about a belt mate, concentrate on good form, adding weighty slowly (there is no rush), and building up a strong foundation (core strength). And you will be fine, you are NOT a power lifter training for competition, so who cares, just train, enjoy and most of all enjoy the results

 

[0ni]

Seems simple to me if you can lift more with the belt, the belt must be doing some of the work.

Why pick up 5kg with the belt when you could get it by strengthening your own diaphram, I'll yell ya why cause people are fucking lazy and they want that 5kg real bad.

You've got it backwards, overuse of the belt at early stages of training and light weights doesn't allow you to develop a strong core.

More so than any amount of ab work can counteract?
You should be doing heavy abdominal work anyway

 

[kaz]

I lift more with the belt, but with benching, it is more of a hindrance.
The belt makes me think of the core more when squatting and deadlifting. If I don't use the belt on the heavy deadlifts I get a Mega sore fatigued back!

 

[Jungnaut]

using a belt in early stages if training is like putting on pads on the bar for squats. Its more of a handicap than an effective aid.

 

[Riddles]

So are there any particular cues in your training progression that hint you might benefit from wearing a belt? e.g. a weakness at a certain position in the lift. This would be other than reaching an arbitrary number on your lifts that is (not that a number can be a bad guide).

 

[kaz]

For me: I knew to wear a belt when I kept tipping forward on heavy squats. Deads was because of muscle fatigue in the lower back.

 

[Bench Polkov]

More so than any amount of ab work can counteract?
You should be doing heavy abdominal work anyway

Heavy ab work creates strong abs, not a strong core. You need to develop the core strength by handling heavy weight unassisted as well.

You should understand this 0ni. To get stronger you make the work harder. Once you are strong then you bring in the belt and lift more weight.

 

[Goosey]

As with shoes the lifting belt enables you to lift an extra 10 or so kg's it doesn't make you stronger.

 

[0ni]

Heavy ab work creates strong abs, not a strong core. You need to develop the core strength by handling heavy weight unassisted as well.

You should understand this 0ni. To get stronger you make the work harder. Once you are strong then you bring in the belt and lift more weight.

Correct me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that planks worked the entire midsection. Especially if you add weight and do them in the RKC form.

To get stronger you need to make the work harder.... I agree with this but I think you have to distinguish between a few methods of making work harder. Front squats and box pulls make squats and deadlifts "harder", so they are good as assistance for the squat and the deadlift. Wearing a belt does not put you at any sort of leverage advantage. I looked for ages to try and find some sort of conclusive information on this and I found that the evidence was here, there and everywhere. Some showing increase in emg activity, others not. I couldn't find anything that used at least a heavy squat or deadlift so the best I could find was isometrics and sustained endurance work. I finally came across the following quote:

"Teaching your clients' proper form and prescribing the appropriate exercises and loads appears to be the best primary intervention to reduce the risk of injury during exercise. However, a lumbar belt may provide a beneficial effect when performing maximal lifts, such as in power lifting. Finally, it is important for the trainer to realize that there is a complex interaction of the muscles, such as the abdominals (especially the obliques and transverse abdominals) and other sensory influences (such as proprioception and kinesthetic awareness) when doing lifting tasks that should always be considered when designing safe and effective exercise programs."

Now going back to my first point, which probably people missed as it wasn't completely outrageous (and my further points often link back to these which is probably why people miss them) is that I thought the best should come into play when the lifter starts to grind out lifts. This is going to be about a 9RPE right? The novice has no reason to travel up to this sort of RPE and for most novices under good training the first time they do this will be testing out their openers before a meet, or maybe not for an incredibly long time if they do not wish to compete (struggling to think of a real reason to demonstrate their strength). So this will most likely be when they start to wear the belt. Prior to this, there is no need as you do not need extra abdominal pressure to complete an 8RPE set. You just don't need it (remember we are talking about a novice here - Ricky Goodyear doing doubles with 300kg as an 8RPE is very different to Joe Bloggs doing 5x5x100kg)

So as I see it, looking at the evidence of how a belt works, the worst that can happen is that the belt offers lateral support. It doesn't really stop you from rounding your back, or twisting your spine but it does offer side to side support. I think that heavy midsection work should be a big part of every successful training regime, especially exercises that work the obliques such as planks, ab wheel rollouts, high rep pull-ups, farmers walks and so on. Most strong people will already do these and beginners should probably do these anyway simply because getting good at a shitload of exercises will make you better in the long run and the present is as good a time to start as any.

That only leaves one other aspect - Psychological. As I said I like to keep it so squatting naked feels normal and that I feel secure with the belt on. I do not like this the other way around where I feel normal with a belt and insecure naked. I don't want this to turn into two trains of thoughts jack each other off discussing who is right and wrong so I'll probably leave this at that.

Whether you wear a belt or not is entirely, 100%, personal choice and choosing to wear one or not has pretty much 0 impact on your training unless you plan on competing, in which you want to get every kg possible. Unless of course you're a sly fucker and get enjoyment from winning best lifter with no supportive gear and embarrassing other lifters for even showing up!

 

[Bench Polkov]

Tldr;

Actually did but too lazy to respond in full as this is getting far beyond the original point. OP shouldn't need a belt yet.

 

[0ni]

mebbe pm me at some point
because if I am missing something, it's important to me
it was just tldr because I had to explain exactly how I came to said conclusions

 

[kaz]

Engaging core during a heavy lift vs planks/sit ups etc.
Engaging the core without a belt targets the entire middle with far more weight than plank work etc. The core gets stronger with the rest of the body through strength training.
I'm not going to squat heavy for reps then do sit ups at the end of the work out.

 

[0ni]

Engaging the core without a belt targets the entire middle with far more weight than plank work etc

Do you have any sort of citation for this?
Belted squats work the midsection better than weighted planks? Come on now lets not say silly things


T NATION | Issue 627
Mean/Peak

RKC Plank:
Lower Rectus Abdominis: 88.0/115.0
Internal Oblique: 76.2/99.5
External Oblique: 71.0/104.0
Lumbar Erector: 2.9/5.4

275 lb Parallel Squat:
25.0/103.0
8.2/16.0
8.4/17.2
75.5/109.0

405 lb Deadlift:
31.0/97.3
13.1/32.3
12.4/28.6
52.5/73.9

Ab Wheel from Knees:
103.0/145.0
112.0/184.0
63.4/97.2
4.9/10.6

As you can see, the plank and ab wheel from knees destroy squat and deadlifts in EMG activity. Even curls worked the obliques better. TL;DR = do squats to get good at squats and do ab work to get good at ab work. You'd never hear "benching makes my triceps strong enough so I don't need to do extra tricep work" so why would you apply the same logic to any other exercise? A few sets of weighted planks or ab wheel takes less than 5 minutes to do and is easily weighted

 

[Bazza20]

I'm not saying that squats and deads are all the Ab work you need. If you want to lift heavy of course extra Ab work will be beneficial.

Personal experience is just that heavy squats and deads without a belt work the abs in a different way than doing planks or Ab wheel.

In saying that using a belt also works the abs different. If I haven't used a belt for a while my abs usually cramp because I can contract them so hard but using a belt all the time seems to lose some of that effect.

Use both ways in training and get the benefits of both. I read something from Andy Bolton saying he is doing more beltless training these days.