Lifting Belts - Yay or Nay?

Lifting belts are a popular weight room gadget. Should you use them?

Lifting belts are a tool - just like any other - appropriate within some contexts and not for others.

Assuming that you are performing a motion that substantially loads the spine, hips, and knees simultaneously (like squats and deadlifts)…

• If your goals are primarily to train everything, including the spinal erectors, abs, and legs, you should likely limit the use of a lifting belt.

• If your goals are primarily to train hip and knee muscles, you should likely use a belt if your spine muscles are the limiting factor.

With that said…

Don’t constrain yourself to only using free-weight “compound” variations to train legs.

• Utilizing machines like leg extensions, leg curls, hack squats, pendulum squats, and leg presses has tremendous upsides when trying to limit spinal involvement and when trying to maximize involvement from the hip and knee muscles.

It is unnecessary to use a belt when your spine is not a limiting factor or when your goals are primarily to train spine muscles.

However, using belts has a significant benefit when your goals are to squat and deadlift the most amount of weight possible - as in powerlifting - or when your goals are to train the lower body instead of the spine with movements like squats and deadlifts.

Apply the tool when it makes sense for the context.