So I'm thinking a belt might be good for my heavy deadlifting sessions.

What decent belts do people recommend?

I've never worn one so have no idea, but assume that the York & Gold's Gym ones are not great. I always like to to get decent equipment, but equally don't need a top of the range one.

TIA

Ach the wee york ones out of Argos for a tenner do the job fine. Ive had mine for years....you can tell by smelling the pad on the back of it lol.

My training partner deadlifts 230+ and squats 200k with one of these wee things at 80kg. bw.does the job fine

for more expensive ones though strengthshopuk are very good on prices for all kinds of lifting equipment...

http://www.pullum-sports.co.uk/accessor ... od_20.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I bought that one couple of weeks ago, pretty decent no frills belt. £30 all in with delivery.

http://www.pullum-sports.co.uk/accessor ... od_23.html

I have this one, a bit pricey but its awesome!

Been reading about a bit.

So, there's generally two types and thus two sizes:
1. 2" wide Olympic lifting belt: seems to be preferred for deadlifting in.
2. 4" wide Powerlifting belt: seems to be preferred for squatting in.

It seems it's a very individual thing though. Given that I'm not the biggest fella lol would I be right in thinking that a 2" belt would likely be my best bet?

yes

the big belts or velcro ones pinch and dig in too much for deads and bent over stuff. ideal for squattign though

I know i talk sh!te a lot but a cheap old belt really does the job fine for all we are lifting

Rab wrote:yes

the big belts or velcro ones pinch and dig in too much for deads and bent over stuff. ideal for squattign though

I know i talk sh!te a lot but a cheap old belt really does the job fine for all we are lifting

Bizarrely you are not talking shite pal - mines a cheap York one and does the job well . No doubt totally useless for a PL but for sets and reps they are good!

Saying that,m I had a cheap York one from Argos and as said it done the job but then I lost it... I bought what appeared to be the same York belt from Argos and it felt flimsy as shit so I returned it. They must've changed their production somehow but this really offered very little support.

Same here

Not very cool to be buying your weight belts from Argos but feck knows how long ive had mine. The sniff test suggests around 20 years tbh

I recently got a belt from a swedish leatherworker called Wahlander. It set me back around 100£ but it's so fucking ace. Lifetime warranty as well.

2" or 4"? Any thoughts on choosing one? TIA

4 inch of course. Everybody I know uses a 4 inch except a 131cm benchpresser (but that's a BP belt). Shorter friends have reported a bit of problems doing conventional deads wearing a 4 inch belt.

The thing is a belt works best if it helps increase intra(inter?) abdominal pressure as it is that that helps stabilise the spine - the belt itself doesn't really do jack if you see what I mean.

So to get the benefit you need a wide belt - One that's skinny at the front doesn't help with the IAP so does nowt! well not anywhere near as much anyway.

In fact some oly lifter have belts that are thick at the front and thin at the back as that helps with the IAP but doesn't impinge on back mobility so sort of best of both worlds for them. Pler's have all round thick as mobility matters less I guess but I suppose also the slight bit of support at the back helps too bearing in mind as a Pler you're lifting up a lot more than an Oly lifter is.

I'm a shorty and I don't get any problems with Dling with a thick belt on - I seem to recall I did at first but I'm so used to it now I have no problems at all.

Also you can get 13mm thickness and 10mm thickness belts. I use a 13mm but if you're not going really heavy a 10mm will probably do the trick and will be more comnfortable than a 13mm one so it may be better to get a 4" all the way round 10mm belt rather than going for one that's only 2" thick at the front. Worth a thought anyway.

@Rilla: thanks mate.

@Ader: Great info fella. I shall certainly keep it in mind. When you say "if you're not going really heavy", do you mean relative or absolute weight lifted? My PR is 180kg and even though I expect it to increase in the next year, I'd be very happy to lift 200kg and no more.

health4ni wrote:@Rilla: thanks mate.

@Ader: Great info fella. I shall certainly keep it in mind. When you say "if you're not going really heavy", do you mean relative or absolute weight lifted? My PR is 180kg and even though I expect it to increase in the next year, I'd be very happy to lift 200kg and no more.

Blimey you do ask difficult questions - I'm not sure there's a right answer to that! But if you're going 200Kg (and I bet if you hit it you'll want to do more) then that's pretty heavy and good belt must be a sensible safety measure imo - whether you go 10mm or 12mm is personal preference.

And whilst I think absolutes are important, relative is too - Also, the less you're getting from the belt the more you use your core etc so there's a trade off. When I do my DL sessions I'll use the belt for the heavy singles/doubles/triples, but often go beltless when I drop down and do the speed work - And that can be anything from 160Kg to 200Kg nowadays (though I might get the belt on for the 200's actually) Not so long ago I wouldn't have dreamed of lifting those weights without a belt!

There you go - How's that for sitting on the fence

Splinters?

No, that's good mate. I've never ever used a belt, but as I said earlier on, I feel that for my heavy sets* (maybe even just my balls-to-the-walls set on the 5/3/1 prog and any 1RM I may do in the future) I should probably use a belt. I think I'm finally getting strong enough to warrant the use of such equipment.

* I'm only talking about squatting, deadlifting, military press and bench press. All other exercises for me right now don't warrant the use of a belt.