The Motor Unit

The weightlifting belt is one of the most misunderstood and misused equipment in strength training. I see plenty of people who hit the gym hogging it and strapping it on for any and all exercises when it’s really not required.

The function of the weightlifting belt is to provide stabilization when performing exercises where the spine is heavily loaded like in heavy squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, and Olympic lifts. A neutral spine acts as a structural support column to keep your body upright as you lift the load and not buckle under such load. The belt in turn increases intra-abdominal pressure to further stabilize the spine so that it’s easier and safer to perform that heavy lift.

I want to emphasize the use of heavy load instances alone here because, with relatively light loads, it is better to perform these exercises without the weightlifting belt. The intra-abdominal pressure helps to stabilize and keep your spine in a neutral position as you lift relatively light to moderate loads without the belt can develop strong core muscles. In other words, the core muscles become rigid to brace your spine on account of the pressure and can get strong over time as a result of this.

You don’t need this belt when performing bench presses, pull-ups, bicep curls, triceps extensions, or any exercise where you’re lying or sitting on a bench or the floor because maintaining a neutral spine is not difficult in these cases or these exercises take the spine out of the equation when you’re using the bench or the floor.

So, that’s the long and short of the use case for weightlifting belts and I hope this has proven useful in both using the belt and developing strong core muscles.

Until I reach out to you next time!