Wear Weightlifting Belt for Support

I’ve seen many weightlifting beginners who, when doing squats or deadlifts, load the bar with heavy weights without wearing any weightlifting belt for support. That could smell disaster because you might injure your spine. And that’s not good. So the question is should you wear one? Answer is yes especially if you’re doing some heavy squats, deadlifts and back exercises.

Weightlifting belt acts as support to prevent injury while you are lifting heavier weight. However, an assumption that it acts as support to help you lift heavier weights than natural strength alone is just a myth and it will not allow you to lift more weights.

But before we head on about belts, let’s take emphasis on breathing first because it’s an integral part of training. We need to understand body mechanics like when you’re doing exercises like squats and deadlifts and presses on heavy weights.

Your torso or core is soft and flexible that allows you to bend on each sides or forwards and backwards and twist with ease. When you have loads of heavy weights on your shoulders for a squat, you would want your core to be hard so you will need to brace it. By bracing yourself, you take a big breath, hold it while simultaneously flexing your core muscles, push or pull and exhaling after finishing the movement. This is our instinctive response whenever we move something heavy like a couch, a fridge, a huge cabinet or a car.

This technique is known as Valsalva Maneuver, the hold breath and torso tightening dynamic, when we’re doing certain exercises for near-maximum effort. When we hold our breath and tighten those core muscles, we get rigid torso and this allows you to lift more weight. The maneuver helps create abdominal pressure and supports the spine.

Weightlifting belt itself doesn’t provide support directly to your back as if it’s like an exoskeleton that makes your back stronger instantly when you wear it. What the belt provides is it acts like a second set of abdominals to prepare your body to lift heavier things for that pushback. Instead of directly supporting the core, the belt indirectly supports by supplying feedback to your core to tighten and make it rigid. The belt then helps increase your lifting efficiency and get more stability.

What belt should you use?

A proper weightlifting belt has the same width all around the waist. Most common are 4” wide, but this size has a drawback to people with average and shorter torso length because it gets uncomfortable when doing deadlifts as it is liable to dig the ribs and hips. Finding a 3” belt is recommended if that’s the case as it provides comfortability and gives sufficient core feedback. The material should be firm and thick to give your core more to push against, probably leather or suede or something that will not stretch because it is more durable and stronger which can last to a lifetime. 

The nylon-made belts are not as durable as the leather. Go with a prong buckle or lever closure device. Single prongs are easier to wear though compared to double-prong belts. Lever closures meanwhile will take you into halt when putting it on and taking it off because you have to unscrew the lever, adjust then screw again. The Velcro-type belts don’t last long and sometimes it won’t stay together which could give you mediocre lift if you’re tensing your core.

Belts with big padded back strap in the back small-in-front design is not recommended because it doesn’t give uniform feedback to your core and could get in the way of lumbar extension which make it hard for your lower back set in correct position that can result to lesser lift efficiency and might injure lower back.

When do you need to wear a belt?

Wear weightlifting belt only when needed. It’s not a fashion statement wherein you can wear it all the time in the gym or whenever you’ll workout. You will only use it if you’re lifting heavy weights on your spine. These exercises include squats, deadlifts, strict presses and various Olympic lifts.

You don’t need to wear one when you’re doing sit-ups or abdominal exercises because it’s contrary to the belt’s function. You certainly don’t need to belt up during leg extensions, bicep curls, or bench pressing because there’s no load on the spine.

Don’t wear a belt if you can’t lift heavy weight with good form. Train first your strength and as you progress, like if you can already squat your bodyweight in good form, that’s the time to wear one. Also if you can’t stabilize your body without a belt, don’t wear it. When you’re not bracing your core, chances are you’re not stabilizing your body for heavier weights and you may end up using it as a crutch if you put it on which has a big chance of getting injured if you try to lift same weight without it. If you have health issues like high blood pressure, you should not wear a belt and don’t do the Valsava maneuver. Doing so will further raise your blood pressure.

Wear it properly

Wear the belt directly over your navel so you will get comfortable during lifts. Also properly tighten it, don’t make it loose or too light. When putting it on, inhale normally then pull the belt as tight as possible without interfering your breathing. A belt too tight will work against your favor so wear it just tight enough.