A belt made a huge difference in my squats, confused as to why

[Sam Morgan]

I'm 6'3" 255 and still working my way up the linear progression. Currently I'm at 225 squat (highest ever), 295 dead (was at 315 before), 190 bench, 130 press. I've done the progression twice before and my deadlift in the past has been a full 100 pounds ahead of my squat. I'm 6'3" but my wingspan is 6'9" (swam in college) so I guess I'm kinda built for deadlifts.

Anyway, with squats every time I got around the 175 to 185 range progress was brutal. 5 pound jumps were possible, but every rep was a horrible grinder and crazy slow. A 200 pound squat felt harder than a 300 pound deadlift.

Since putting a belt on on this my 3rd linear progression I've gone from difficult 5 pound jumps to easy 10 pound jumps from 185 to 225 and still climbing.

My actual QUESTION is why would a belt make such a huge difference to my squats but not my deadlift (those are still going up at the same rate as before and they don't feel any easier with a belt). I do squat ass-to-grass (about 3 inches below parallel) not really on purpose but just because my hamstrings are pretty flexible and I feel NO stretch reflex at all around parallel. My sticking point in the squat is about 2-3 inches above parallel so stopping at parallel is basically stopping at my sticking point. I've had almost no issues though with squats - no knee pain and no low back pain.

It's easy to say "well your valsva sucked", but I feel like I have a pretty good grip on it considering I was deadlifting 300+ with no issues.

Does wearing a belt help prevent the pelvis from rotating at the bottom of the squat? I never felt like my pelvis rotated much, but who knows.

Anybody else experienced anything similar?

Sorry, no video at this time. I lift solo and and I just haven't taken a video of myself lifting.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

Hamstrings and The Squat | Mark Rippetoe

The Belt and the Deadlift | Mark Rippetoe

Can You Squat Too Deep? | Mark Rippetoe

et al

[Sam Morgan]

I do appreciate your reply and I wanted to wait a while to test some things out before I replied. It's funny because I've been following SS content for a long time now, and I have at some point in the past read all of those articles, but it's funny what slips past you when it's not immediately relevant to you.

Weights are still going up and I've had time to practice squatting not so deep. It wasn't as hard as I thought to break that habit - I didn't use a box or anything, I just would go as deep as I could (which is around parallel or 1 inch below) without feeling my pelvis tuck under. From this position driving up wasn't too hard, and the previous sticking point I had pretty much vanished.

I think the belt helped my squat so much because as you said it helps everything "bind up" at the bottom to give you something to rebound off of. Previously I think I was just rebounding off of the tension in my knees or my thighs hitting my upper calves (or something, I'm not really sure). Since the squat allows you to take the bar out of the rack without your back 100% tight I guess I was doing so (even though I felt like I wasn't). The weight doesn't feel as heavy coming out of the rack when belted vs not, so clearly it's helping me keep my trunk more solid even when vertical.

Moreover, the reason the belt did NOT help my deadlift that much is because with the deadlift my back already has to be tight before the bar will break off the floor, so I don't think the belt really allowed me to tighten my back more than it already was. This may change over time, who knows. Obviously the belt helps the deadlift because if it didn't people wouldn't use them.

Yesterday I squatted 255 and it looks like the easier gains from 185 to 255 (from using a belt and fixing form) are about dried up. I've felt my legs a lot more squatting whereas previously I always felt it in my lumbar.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe