To Belt or Not to Belt?

Part of assimilating into the "lifting culture" means geeking out over new purchases like shoes, wrist wraps, straps, and belts. It's easy to fill up your shopping cart pretty quickly on Amazon.com or other similar websites. The question is, how much of these items are necessary, and what is extraneous and perhaps counter-productive?

I've been hesitant to write this post, because I know many people hold very strong opinions on this issue. There are plenty of people at an elite level who are using lifting belts to deadlift 800+ pounds, so it's natural to want to copy what those guys are doing and hope that all of this gear will lead to similar gains for you. If only that were the case...

Personally, I am not an advocate of belts (and most other "accessories" for that matter, but I'll save that for another post) in many circumstances.

First of all, it's important to understand why you're using a belt in the first place, because I believe a lot people have a great misunderstanding of the purpose of a belt. Some people are under the illusion that the belt will magically prevent back injuries. At the moment, there isn't a lot of evidence to support that belts reduce injury rates or lower back pain in any way. According to the CDC, "although back belts are being bought and sold under the premise that they reduce the risk of back injury, there is insufficient scientific evidence that they actually deliver what is promised."

Stuart McGill also notes that "[individuals] who have never had a previous back injury appear to have no additional protective benefit from wearing a belt," and "those who are injured while wearing a belt seem to risk a more severe injury."

A belt is meant to provide additional support and stability for the muscles of the trunk. Basically, the tension of the belt increases intra-abdominal pressure, activation of the spinal erectors and rectus abdominis. All of these things are clearly important in lifting heavy weight. So why do I have such a conceptual problem with using a belt?

A lifter needs to learn to create intra-abdominal pressure sans belt. When one becomes too reliant on a belt to stabilize his core, the risk of injury without one may increase. Essentially, a belt becomes a crutch for poor bodily awareness and motor learning. If you constantly step under a loaded barbell with your belt on, it's going to be much more difficult to move without it!

A belt will create a false sense of security in a lifter, and thus potentially stunt the growth of postural muscles like the erector spinae, multifidi, external obliques and rectus abdominis, as their roles become more limited with equipment.

In my opinion, a belt is most useful upwards of about 85% of your 1 rep maximum on a squat or a deadlift. That's it. Heavy weights require a greater degree of tension in the body, and that's where the belt will come in handy. You should not be warming up with your belt, and you should not wear it all of the time. When you are working up to a heavy single, or doing a ton of high volume work at high intensity, the use of a belt may be warranted and helpful. If you are not, however, training for a sport that requires you to be stronger than your competitors (such as Strongman, CrossFit, powerlifting or weightlifting), then I don't think using a belt is necessary at all. Instead, you could stand to benefit from a ton of practice in maintaining intra-abdominal pressure without the aid of equipment. Both your intrinsic and external muscles will get stronger in the process.

Again, this is my personal philosophy. Obviously for sports like powerlifting, a belt is going to be necessary after a certain point, but make sure you're strong without it as well. I rarely use belts unless I'm approaching 100% on my lifts. I prefer to train organically, when I can. I feel more accomplished knowing I was able to move a certain amount of weight without the aid of a belt around my waist. Some people like the security of having a belt, but I think it's always better to teach your body how to create that strength on its own.


Works Cited:

2. McGill, S., Norman, R.W., and Sharratt, M.T. (1990) The effect of an abdominal belt on trunk muscle activity and intraabdominal pressure during squat lifts. Ergonomics, 33 (2): 147-160. 
3. Reddell, Cheryl R., Jerome J. Congleton, R. Dale Huchingson, and John F. Montgomery. "An Evaluation of a Weightlifting Belt and Back Injury Prevention Training Class for Airline Baggage Handlers." Applied Ergonomics 23.5 (1992): 319-29. Web.
5. Reyna, J.R., Leggett, S.H., Kenney, K., Holmes, B., and Mooney, V. (1995) The effect of lumbar belts on isolated lumbar muscle. Spine, 20 (1): 68-73.