Weight lifting belt belt: Why use one?

Hello to all of you, 

After an article on the benefits of using a vest or belt, we're going to focus on a piece of equipment that's becoming increasingly common in gyms, and which could become a must-have for your next workout: the bodybuilding belt. 

If you don't know what the benefits of using one are or what exercises to use it for and how to optimize your performance, we'll answer all those questions in this article. 

Let's go 🔥

What is a bodybuilding belt? 

A Lifting belt is a piece of sports equipment that attaches around the waist and is used to support and maintain the lumbar and abdominal muscles during heavy weight training exercises or to reduce and prevent pain. 

The advantages of a weight lifting belt

Using a powerlifting belt is very useful if you want to gain strength and power and/or if you want to get a better posture on weight training exercises. It will allow you to feel better and to reach deeper into yourself to break your PR (Personal Record). 

The lifting belt is mainly used for exercises that require heavy pushing such as the squat, deadlift as well as the snatch and clean and jerk. These exercises require excellent posture, and when pushing or pulling heavy loads, the posture may not be optimal, which can create tension or pain.

For some sports enthusiasts, the lumbar support belt helps them focus on their movements rather than their pain or fatigue.

How and when to use a bodybuilding belt? 

The belt is generally used by the practitioners of bodybuilding, crossfit, weightlifting or powerlifting. When you are in a quest for performance, you must take care of your body and your health, that's why the belt will play a role of protection and will allow you to surpass yourself. 

To get the most out of it, you will have to exert intra-abdominal pressure during the movement, i.e. push the belly outwards. This intra-muscular pressure will allow to stabilize the body and it will simply increase the strength and the power during the effort. 

A little advice: remember to breathe in through your nose and try to expel as much air as possible from your stomach. Then, block the whole and realize your movement.

Do not be dependent on a belt
 

Excessive use of a weightlifting belt can lead to dependency and loss of strength in the abdominal and back muscles because they are no longer forced to work during training. Therefore, it is important to find a good balance between using with and without. It is necessary to naturally strengthen the abdominal and lower back muscles to avoid injury, so we recommend that you only use the belt when you feel the need to do so.

The placement of the belt 

The other very important point will be the placement of this belt because if it is badly installed, there will not be the expected benefits.

It should be placed at the level of the abdominal belt (you can take the navel as a reference or slightly above, this will depend on your preferences) and tightened to 85-90%. It should not be too compressed and you should be able to pass a few fingers without being able to pass your hand entirely.

Here's a video showing theadjustment of a power belt. 

Choosing a good weighted belt

We advise you to choose a solid, thick belt that can be easily adjusted according to your morphology to avoid losing time between each series. The main thing is to maintain your back and lumbar region. 

The weight lifting belt Eric Flag offers the best features: strong, easily adjustable, 4 different sizes to choose the most suitable for you, high quality nylon. 

You'll find it right here: power belt.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post 😃

Our lifting belt Is the perfect equipment to reach your goals and break your records 💪🔥

You can also find our equipment on our street workoutstore !

See you soon, 

Eric flag