Which Gym Belt? Yes another one of these.

[RandomIndividual]

Hello,

I will give you some background to know where I am coming from and where I am trying to go.

So just shy of 2 years ago I started strongman training at the age of 40. Prior to this I have not been an active individual, thus my strength for a grown adult was pretty poor. I was struggling with an 8" log at 29kg for a 1 rep max overhead. My squat was around 35-40kg. I was roughly pulling about 35kg Farmer carries (per hand) and deadlift was around 60-70kg.

Anyway today (1 year 10 months later) I am now deadlifting 140kg for a set of 3, I am carrying a 200kg yoke for 1 set of 10 meters, a 175kg yoke for 20 meters for 2-3 sets, Im squatting 90kg on a safety bar for 6 reps, Im log pressing 60kg on a 10" for 3 sets of 1 and my farmers are around 95-100kg per hand. Finally I can get a 70kg sandbag from ground to shoulder for 3 sets of 2 and carrying a 100kg sandbag for 10-20 meters for 2-3 sets.

All of this I have done with never wearing a gym belt.

Now comes the yoke... My gym coach says "go put a belt on" because I had 175kg on it. I said "what for? I don't wear a belt at work... I want to get as strong as I can without one, like real life and natural" to which he responded "yeah but you are not at work, go get a belt"

When I thought about that... he seemed to have a point... at work you are never going to be lifting more than 30-40kg (like a construction site, house, building etc), in fact legally if the weight is over 25kg 2 people are required to lift it because if you get injured on a 30kg something, the insurance won't cover it. While here at the gym I am pushing in excess of 150kg which is WAY more than you ever will need to lift at work.

So needless to say I started wearing a belt. What I have noticed is my QL (Quadratus Lumborum) muscles are nowhere near as tired/sore the next day after training as they are without a belt. So all I can see is maybe the belt is providing some sort of safety net and stability. I understand using a belt wrong wont prevent injury, I learned to brace etc properly without a belt, the belt I am finding is 'aiding' in my lifting and used correctly seems to be providing some sort of safety net otherwise why am I less sore deep down inside my body than when I never used a belt?

So to me it seems like it makes sense to be using a belt for my 3 rep max deadlifts, max Yoke carries and Farmers carries.

So that brings me to the now...

Question 1: DO I really need a belt for deadlifting, squatting, farmers, yokes, log and axel overhead or is this 'less soreness' in my head? Like I said, Im nearly 42 now... last thing I need is a back injury or some other form of collapse... my goal is to train and prevent injury not just go all out and break something and then suffer the rest of my life (that I don't need).

Question 2: What sort of belt would be best used for Strongman type stuff? - I find sandbag to shoulder, sandbag carry, Keg carry and atlas stone lifts that I don't use any belt (gets in the way)... but for squats, deads, farmers, yokes, logs and axel bar overhead press... ?

When I ask what sort of belt, I mean, Nylon belt, leather belt etc. Price is all irrelevant, im talking what does the job for the type of training I am doing best?

Now having asked that... I have been trying to use a 4" belt for deadlift (im 173-175cm tall, not sure) and find that a 4" lever belt thats 13mm thick... I just cant get it in the right place. I mean its impossible. If I stick it higher than my belly button... I cant even bend over to grab the bar... if I slide it down lower, I can grab the bar but then when I go to straighten my back out for that initial press the belt restricts me and I can't press as it all digs in so hard you have to let go. So I started trying a 4" 10mm belt (that was very very worn out) and that seemed to help a bit IF i let it a little looser then I could bend and grab and press, though even that was done with discomfort but bearable enough to be able to push through that initial lift.

For squatting I found 4" belt pretty ok (little digging, nothing too major), for yoke and farmers walks, the " is completely fine as you are walking straight without really bending. Log overhead, the clean I found hard with the 4" again but once in the rack position leaning back, it was fine for the press.

I am trying to just buy one belt for the meantime and not sure whats going to be the best over-all for most things I am doing... 4" and just deal with the discomfort for deadlift... or get something narrower (but will that be sufficient for yokes, farmers, etc)?

Question 3: I have seen companies like Pioneer that create an adjustable lever belt which I think is brilliant... I been using a prong style and when I am gassed from my workout I can't get the damn thing off me and its already hard to breath normal with it on me... so personally I think a lever belt would be best suited for quick clip on and off and with the adjustability of the lever... it seems like a no brainer (best of both worlds?).

But anyway, if the consensus is to get a leather belt not a nylon belt.. and a 10mm (assuming), I have 3 versions of how I can get that made.

Option 1: 7mm single sole leather piece with 1.5mm of Suede both on inside and outside of belt (total 10mm).

Option 2: 2 pieces of leather glued and stitched together around 4-4.5mm each and 1 piece of Suede on the inside only.

Option 3: 2 pieces of 5mm leather glued and stitched together, no suede.

Some people say that the suede is there to provide grip so the leather doesn't slide around while other reading suggested that suede will absorb all the sweat and get hard/brittle over time and am better off with just leather for that reason, also something about finished leather on outside and non finished on inside (like hairy leather or something) on the inside so that you still get some grip without it being suede. If you make it finished leather on inside nice and shiny then they say it will slide around, so rather than using Suede on inside to stop the slip just use a non finished leather piece (well not sure how that is all technically called but something along those lines).

So what of that would be the best way to go?

Anything else I will think of later.

Thanks for the help in advance and appreciated if you made it to the end of the post.

[Mark Rippetoe]

So many things wrong here. Let's start with this, and see if you've got a better perspective: The Two-Factor Model of Sports Performance | Mark Rippetoe

[Jason Donaldson]

So many things wrong here. Let's start with this, and see if you've got a better perspective: The Two-Factor Model of Sports Performance | Mark Rippetoe

Random One: Please make sure to let us know once you've read what Rip told you to read, so we can go from there.

You're legally forbidden from picking up something that weighs 56 lb at work by yourself? How sad. Are you allowed to play with your kids by yourself when they get that big? Does this law apply to medical and law enforcement personnel, too, when rescuing or arresting grown people? Just curious...

[neilc1]

Random One: Please make sure to let us know once you've read what Rip told you to read, so we can go from there.

You're legally forbidden from picking up something that weighs 56 lb at work by yourself? How sad. Are you allowed to play with your kids by yourself when they get that big? Does this law apply to medical and law enforcement personnel, too, when rescuing or arresting grown people? Just curious...

Legally ?
or Insurancely ?
that jerk in NYC still shouldn't have done that.

[RandomIndividual]

Ok I read the article posted... I am unsure what any of that had to do with what I was trying to work out?

Need to practice movement and build strength through squats, deads etc which I been doing for the last near 2 years... uhm?

Regarding the law... ask the governments occupational health and safety. Obviously we lift more than that, but "if" something happened at work and you got injured they will ask what did you lift to avoid paying you. I never heard of anyone get injured like that so i dont worry about that nor understand political nonsense.

Usually bricks or boxes of tiles are 25-30kg at the most. Nobody tries carrying 2-4 of them at once so its never a real life issue to over-do it at work.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You have confused training with practice. Strongman shit requires practice, but the strength to do it requires training, with the barbell program.

[RandomIndividual]

Correct Mark,
I still struggle with the Log and its placement as its always too far forward and so fighting to counter balance it. However if it wasn't for all the squatsand deadlifts I been doing there is no way I would be lifting those sandbags. From lap to extension its all leg/squat strength. Atlas stone extension requires a lot of back strength once you manage to stand up with it. Getting the technique does require practice as its all awkward and your right without the strength part theres really no way to lift those things to begin with especially when the lightest one in this gym was 80kg. I had to work 1 year towards it before even being able to get it off the ground. Having said that there is definitely strength being built off carrying such heavy and awkward loads as that because it hits all the small muscles you didnt know you had which wouldnt really get hit with straight bars.

So i see stones n sandbags as something you practice and train on as its also building strength at the same time. Cant really separate the 2 as its happening simultaneously.

[Mark Rippetoe]

But you've been fucking around for 14 months and you're only squatting 200 pounds. You are not training, you are wasting time, which at 42 you cannot afford to do.

[Jason Donaldson]

Having said that there is definitely strength being built off carrying such heavy and awkward loads as that because it hits all the small muscles you didnt know you had which wouldnt really get hit with straight bars.

But you absolutely DO build those small muscles with straight bars. You may feel them when you use them in ways outside the weight room that are novel stimulus, but that doesn't mean they were dormant and atrophied beforehand - just that you've used them in a particular way to which you're not acclimated.

So i see stones n sandbags as something you practice and train on as its also building strength at the same time. Cant really separate the 2 as its happening simultaneously.

You're confusing the novice effect for strength training. As has been pointed out, for a novice, riding a bike will make his lifts go up, at first, for a very little while. Consider the current you, with a 200 lb squat, and then imagine the potential you, with a 405 squat. That potential you has bigger, stronger muscles all around, and would most certainly move more weight in the strongman events. Strength is a general adaptation.

Note that 405-squatting-you could also be here a lot faster than you think - it shouldn't take another two years, and you would be having steady improvements with the implements as you go. If you think those are fun now, wait until your strength takes off by actually training it.

[RandomIndividual]

I am training 3 days per week only and have more than double my squat... I think thats pretty fair progress, so how is that wasting time?

My programs have majority of the time had squat and other implements.

Day 1 would be squats and carries with accessory work like curls, Side raises etc.

Day 2 would be deadlifts, latpulldowns, bentover rows (or rows, or any other version of it for adaption), (all posterior chain)

Day 3 would be Log press, barbell overhead, tricep work etc for the upper body part with the breaks in between.

This way all the muscles are being utilized in a way that works (cant do squats every day) while giving others a chance to recover. Maybe If I spent 4-5 days a week things could have progressed even more but for 3 days a week... you gotta plan it the best way you can?

So yeah I was doing squats once per week more or less as I was doing deadlifts once per week and upper body (like log and overhead) once per week and ive more than doubled what I started with and some stuff even close to tripled in 'under 2 years' (like the carries). If thats still a waste of time and I could be deadlifting 400+ and squatting 300+ in 2 years training those muscles once per week... id love to know the magic formula to that (that doesn't include steroids).