Most of the people who you see wearing weight belts in a gym should and could train without them. There are disadvantages and advantages of training with a weight belt. But probably the biggest disadvantage is that it can cause you to rely completely on your belt.
The result is that you could actually end up missing out on getting the gains that will increase your core strength. It does not mean to say that a weight belt is useless and it certainly is something that should be used when doing all compound exercises like deadlift or squats.
The point is that when doing some isolated exercise like tricep pushdowns one will tend to use a weight belt which will certainly take away from the overall potential gains that you can get. Most people who train with weights are doing it to increase their muscle.
This means that one would more than lightly consider the increase of the thickness of your lower back muscles to be an advantage. To be able to show a set of hard six-packs is every man’s dream and can sometimes be the reason for one to start weight training in the first place.
Well if your objective is to get a thick six-pack that can easily be seen then it is highly recommended that you only use your weight belt when doing serious compound exercises. It goes without saying that if you have a lower back problem that you contact a doctor first.
A physical therapist or a doctor will be able to tell you if wearing a weight belt when you train is going to help with your lower back problem. If you do not have any lower back issues it is certainly recommended that you do most of your workouts without using a weight belt.
It is a not good idea to use a weight belt when you are doing light or medium intensity workouts. What this means is the sets and reps that you are working with should dictate whether you wear a weight belt or not. For example when you are training to the point of failure and beyond then you need a weight belt to avoid injury as you can read from Gainer – an online weightlifting guide.
For example when you start your workout and are doing sets and reps that will eventually result in you doing one to three reps you should start off without a weight belt. As you get closer to the point of failure like doing three reps then you need all the help you can get.
As mentioned above use a weight belt only for major compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, military presses, etc. where you are standing and are handling a lot of weight. Never use a belt for isolation exercises like curls, press-downs, crunches, etc. This will not help you get strong.
