Starting wearing a belt...

[Mr.City]

I will usually put it on for my heaviest warm up set to get used to the movement with the belt.

[Flying Fox]

umm.. without yelling and screaming and going all high and mighty..
discuss how the belt is any different to using wrist straps.
both are used as an aid to lift heavier weight right?
but if the rest of your body parts (core in regards to belt and grip in regards to straps) are left behind, why would you want to lift more and get stronger in some things (squats and deadlifts) and have weak points like core and grip?

I read Gary's gear article and completely disagree with all his reasoning except maybe the fact about keeping joints warm.

I like to lift raw (no not naked).
if getting higher squat numbers means wearing something to do it at the same time leaving an area weak, I'd rather take longer to get there.

most people (I say most because there are a number of people here who compete) here are trying to get stronger.
they are doing a squat as an "exercise" to get stronger all over.
they are not doing the squat as an "event" to win a comp.
So no belt or gear should be used..

my opinion only.

Your argument starts from the assumption that wearing a belt will leave the "core" weak. This is not necessarily true. Wearing a belt, snug and too tight, can help you build the right pressure in the abdomen, thus still training the core.

edit: didn't read the rest of the topic, everything has already been said

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

JCavin, while wearing the belt during both warmups and worksets may help you get used to the belt quicker, I'm not sure that is what you want to do. Rip said he wears his the whole time to keep his back warm.

Most of these guys are just using the belt for the worksets, and maybe including the last few heavy warmups.

Full disclosure: I'm not using a belt yet. I'm waiting for mine to arrive from Elite FTS hopefully sometime next week. However, when I do start using it I will only be wearing it for my worksets, and maybe the heavy warmup set prior to the workset.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I believe in the book, Rip says you should wear the belt for the last warmup to adjust to using the belt.

Not only does the belt give your abs something to push against, it increases the pressure on the internal side of the spine.