Are you wearing a 4-inch belt?
Hello, I am a novice and brand new to weight lifting. I'm loving the Starting Strength program.
In the first 6 weeks on the program before the injury I saw my squats go from 145 -> 275. . Deadlifts 145 -> 285. Bench 135 -> 205.
Overall through 9 weeks my press has gone from 95 -> 140, Bench 135 -> 205, Power Cleans 95-> 110 (It took me weeks to get the mobility to rack them)
I'm 6'0 and my weight has gone from 250 to 263. I started fat and weak. (Now I'm fat and a little stronger)
A few weeks ago I had a rough lower back tweak while squatting. I responded by getting a weight lifting belt and squat shoes and deloading 10%. Well my squat got right back on track and my form felt better than ever. The problem was my Deadlift was struggling to get back up where it was before the tweak. I felt like I had no power. My DUMB ROOKIE MISTAKE was blaming my belt for this. My reasoning is my deadlift felt great before wearing a belt but now it was uncomfortable and weak. Took the belt off and to nobody's surprise re-aggravated the tweak.
So it's been a week since I've squatted or deadlifted. Today I went through warm ups with squat and felt like I need to give it until my next workout. In the meantime I've set Pr's on Press, Bench, and Power Cleans and started working in some chin ups (can't do one but I'm doing eccentric work to build up to my first) so I'm at least making ground during this. I'm going to cut squats and DL's down significantly (50%) as I work them back in. Is this a good plan or is there a better way to go about this?
Are you wearing a 4-inch belt?
At the time I was wearing a tapered 6 inch belt because it’s all that Academy Sports had in my size. But now I have a 4 inch belt.
I just read your article about belts on the Deadlift. So my dumb rookie mistake wasn’t blaming the belt but picking deadlifts up again before getting the right kind of belt. I’m going to get a 3 inch belt soon. Should I be doing accessory work to keep muscle as my lower back heals or just stick to the lifts that don’t aggravate it? (Press, bench, power cleans)
Wearing the wrong belt is far worse than wearing no belt at all. Order the belt today and train without one until it gets here.
Mark, in the article you mentioned:
Could you please roughly tell, how tall one needs to be or is it like anyone is going to benefit from 3" belt? Is it possible to find any reference values or this is something too individual? I'm 6'2" for instance and I'm curious if I could benefit from a narrower belt. Best regards.Unless you’re tall or long-waisted, a 4-inch-wide standard power belt is too wide to permit a correct lumbar position at the start of a correct deadlift.
Most people benefit from a narrower belt, especially for pulls. Height is not the only consideration, since some tall people are short-waisted.