How much more weight can you lift with a belt?

[Kerpal]

The reason I ask is that I've read posts on here of people being able to squat 25+ more lbs with the belt, but I don't feel like I can lift any more weight with it on. It doesn't seem to help me at all in the deadlift either, in fact sometimes it feels like it's not even touching my back when I squeeze my chest up at the bottom (and I wear it pretty tight).

I do feel like it helps me keep my lower back flatter at the bottom of the squat though.

[drewcarroll2]

I don't know about anybody else, but I don't feel like it does anything for me, but last time I used a belt I hadn't read starting strength either. I have never liked them. Someone being able to lift 25 more pounds might be all mental, imho.

[Miro]

If I understand Gary's explanation correctly, you don’t magically lift two or three dozen pounds more with a belt attached to your belly. You will, however, progress faster with a belt, provided it’s used correctly. As a result your weight without the same belt will also go upward, but will stay below what you could lift with the belt.

The reason for this is that the abdominals are able to push against the belt which creates a higher resistance during the lift. In other words, the abdominals are being strengthened more when wearing a belt in a squat than without a belt. And when the abdominals are being strengthened more through the use of the belt, your beltless squat will go up simply because your abs have become stronger during the process.

But it also seems to require some time to adapt between squatting with a belt and without a belt, so one shouldn’t expect to be able to lift suddenly more just like that. It’s a process over time as it’s with everything else.

As for how much more you could potentially squat with a belt, Gary said something like 20-30 pounds in general is entirely possible.

[cannibal.horse]

Judging by the alignment of Saturn to the Orion belt I'd say 5.0790kg to the squat, 4.0911kg to the deadlift and 1.22kg to the bench press, with a possibility of 0.5% variance between my statistical conclusions and your results.

[gzt]

I don't lift near max without a belt, at least while squatting. Of course, I also don't often lift near max (ie, 95+%). I typically belt up for any squat over 315. So, I really can't know how much the belt "adds".

[Dastardly]

For low bar back squats, it adds a minimum of 20% for me.

[squatyourface]

you'll get more out of a belt if you're doing Low bar BS rather than high bar.

[ILiftAlone]

My belt helped keep my progress going when I thought I might stall while doing linear progression. I was just using a cheap velcro belt from a sporting goods store, but it definately allowed me to use more weight than without.

For those who find that a belt doesn't help, have you experimented in the ways you wear it? It took me a few times to really find the sweet spot on my torso, and it's different for all the lifts.

[Gary Gibson]

Take a big breath. Push OUT with your abs. Your belt should be tight enough that you can exert force against it with your abs, but not so tight that it constricts the space so you can't build up pressure inside your thoracic cavity.

My best single immediately went from 315 to 345 the very first time I squatted in a belt. I've consistently been able to squat 15 kilos more with the belt on for comparable volume. After a year of using the belt on all my work sets, I got my squat to the low 400's: 418 was my best in a meet and a barely legal 430 was my best in the gym. I tested my unbelted strength around that time and got an easy-ish 365. This wasn't a max; I no longer like to test a true max without a belt, but I suspect my max was ~385 based on how the 365 felt. I'm trying to make it clear that my unbelted max increased 1 for 1 with my belted max even though I only did unbelted squats as warm ups.

The belt only allows me to deadlift about 5-10 kilos more than I could without it. A lot of what the belt does there is take the strain off my erectors because I can use my abs to build up stabilizing intra-abdominal pressure with the belt on. There are those who would say that removing stress from my erectors thus is a Bad Thing, but I can assure these people that it keeps my erectors from the bad kind of stress that tingles and hurts while still making them quite sore afterwards along with my abs which get to work harder and contribute more to the movement when the belt is on and properly utilized.

[tertius]

While I was squatting today it occurred to me that while we stabilize with a belt by pushing -out- against the belt, that without the belt, I feel like my abs are squeezing -in- against the belly full of air I'm holding.

This could be because I'm a novice, and thus a moron.
But I can't duplicate the feeling of smashing my abdominal wall against the belt when not wearing the belt (obviously), the stabilizing action feels much more static, if you follow me. Neutral, not drawn in, not extended as when pushing against the belt.

Is this max weight difference due to the difference in muscle engagement (in that the abdominal muscles are actually doing different things with and without the belt), and pushing against the belt produces a greater stabilizing force than a static contraction to stabilize the spine?

Or am I just dumb, and the muscle activation is actually the same, but with a physical barrier involved with the belt, and hence a higher work capacity?

Edited to add: I suspect this is not very clear. My apologies is it makes no sense.