Everything You Need to Know About Lifting Belts . . . QUICK!
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Today’s topic is a quick dive into lifting belts - specifically, the four Ws of belts: width, when, where, and what. We covered how to efficiently and quickly put on your belt in another article about a month back, so feel free to click here to read that article or watch the associated videos.
Width
If you can get your back set in rigid and flat extension on the deadlift using a 4” belt (i.e., the belt is 4” wide), then go ahead and get a 4” belt. If you can’t, then you probably need to go with a 3” belt. It’s possible that you need a 2.5” belt, but 3” and 4” are the most common widths.
When
When should you put your belt on? A good rule of thumb is to put your belt on for your last warm-up set and then wear it for all of your work sets as well. Time and experience will help you decide if you want to eventually take a different approach, but this is a good guide to start with. I recommend taking your belt off (or at least loosening it) between sets.
Where
Where should you place your belt? You can start by centering it on your belly button as a rough guideline, but the most important landmarks are your hips and your ribs. The belt should sit between your hips and your ribs, and it’s the space between these two regions that will largely determine your choice of a 3” or a 4” belt. It’s worth noting that you especially do not want your belt running into your ribs. It makes for a memorable - and uncomfortable - experience.
What
What do you do once your belt is on? Take a big breath, hold that breath with tightly contracted abs (i.e., Valsalva maneuver), and then perform the lift (watch the video on breathing and bracing). Release your breath only after the rep is completed - remember that if the bar is moving, you’re not breathing.
Don’t complicate the breathing, and don’t try to push your belly out against the belt. Simply take a breath, hold it, tighten your abs as if you’re about to take a punch or as if you’re constipated, and then continue holding that breath throughout the entire rep. You can do this with either a closed mouth or an open mouth - you shouldn’t be holding your breath against your lips with puffed out cheeks. Instead, you hold your breath against a closed glottis, which is located in your throat. Say the word “hick” out loud and hold the “ck” sound at the end - that’s how you do it.
Need to Buy a Belt? Watch This First.
If you’re getting ready to buy a lifting belt, I’d recommend watching the included video here to get a good sense of what to look for when purchasing one. You’ll also find some links below to a few belts we recommend to our members.
Belts
My belt is from Best Belts, and I’d love to recommend them to you, but as of July 2023, they're backlogged and aren't taking orders, so with that in mind, here are the belt options we typically recommend:
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)
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When to Use Lifting Straps (and when NOT to!)
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What are some viable uses for lifting straps, when should you use them, and when should you not use them? Let’s hit it.
(For instructions on how to easily make your own straps as well as how to use them, see a few of our videos in this article.)
Weightlifting (AKA Olympic lifting or Olympic weightlifting)
If you regularly practice the snatch and clean, you use the hook grip a lot, and as a result, your thumbs can accumulate quite some wear and tear over time. Keep using the hook grip on the snatch and clean - after all, this is part of practicing your sport. However, you might want to use straps on your deadlifts (and rows) to give your hands a break when possible.
Lighter Pulling Day
If you have a light or medium pulling day built into your week - something along the lines of a lighter deadlift day or a row - and if your hands are a bit beat up from your heavy deadlift day, then go ahead and use straps on the lighter pulling movements.
Injury or Other Impairment
Got a broken finger or a sprained thumb? Use straps. Perhaps you’re missing a finger or two or you have a neurological impairment that prevents one hand from squeezing as tightly as the other hand. Again, use straps. The other option is to not pull at all, and that’s a rather silly option.
Back-off Sets
On your heavy deadlift day, perhaps you have a top set followed by one or more back-off sets. For your top set, use the hook grip or a mixed grip as you usually would, and then for the back-off work, go ahead and use straps to give the skin on your hands a break.
Do NOT Use Straps: Cleans
Never use straps when performing cleans. Ever. You can find a few excellent examples on YouTube of people who disregarded this advice and proceeded to break their wrists. It’s worth repeating - do not use straps on cleans.
Do NOT Use Straps: Novice Linear Progression
When working through your novice linear progression, there’s no need to use straps. Simply hang on to your deadlifts using a hook grip or a mixed grip. It’s one set of five reps - that’s it. You can suffer through the hook grip for five measly reps, and if you can’t (or if your hands aren’t large enough), then simply use a mixed grip (AKA alternating grip or switch grip).
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)
If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.
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Types of Barbells: Weightlifting vs Powerlifting vs Hybrid
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Weightlifting bars, powerlifting bars, and dual purpose bars (i.e., hybrid bars) - what is the difference between these types of barbells, and specifically, what’s the deal with the rings (i.e., score marks or knurl marks) on each bar?
That Poor Soul
Some bars have one set of rings, and some bars have two sets of rings. Every time we go to (or host) a powerlifting meet, weightlifting meet, or strengthlifting meet, there is always some poor soul who shows up having trained on one type of bar - for example, a bar that has two sets of rings - and then he steps onto the competition platform and discovers he’s about to use a bar that only has one set of rings.
Now, he’s not sure which set of rings he was using in training, and as a result, he doesn’t know where to take his grip on the competition bar. This situation can also happen in training - either you’re forced to use a different bar than you usually do, or perhaps you’re traveling and are training at an unfamiliar gym.
Figure 1: dual rings (hybrid bar)
Let’s prevent this problem.
The Solution
The solution is straightforward - familiarize yourself with the two types of rings, and you’ll be good to go. We use a hybrid bar as you see in Figure 1 for this purpose.
figure 2: power rings (power bar)
The inner set of rings are 81 cm apart (approximately 32 in) and are commonly referred to as the “powerlifting rings” or simply the “power rings”. On a dedicated powerlifting barbell or “power bar,” this is the only set of rings you see (Figure 2), so if you go to a powerlifting meet, this is most likely what you’ll be using.
The outer set of rings are 91 cm apart (approximately 36 in) and are commonly referred to as the “weightlifting rings” or the “Olympic lifting rings.” If you go to a weightlifting meet, you’ll probably be lifting on a dedicated weightlifting bar (Figure 3), and that bar will only have the outer set of rings.
figure 3: Weightlifting rings (weightlifting bar)
But Why?
The rings are simply there as reference points for your grip so that your lifts can be more consistent and hopefully more successful as well. In the case of a power bar, the rings also serve as the markers for the maximum legal grip width for the bench press (i.e., in competition).
What To Do?
Know what bar you’re using. If you’re using a bar that has only one set of rings, get out a tape measure and measure the distance between the rings or - at the very least - measure it relative to some part of your body (arm length, etc.). This way, you know what bar you’re using, and if you have to use a different bar - whether training somewhere else or competing - your grip (and therefore your lifts) will still be consistent, which means you are more likely to hit your lifts successfully.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)
If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
EASY Fix for a Slanted Lifting Platform (Cheap & Fast!)
/Got a barbell that rolls due to your slanted lifting platform? A solution might be easier than you think.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.
DIY Lifting Platform - Easy and Fast!
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Let’s build a lifting platform . . . fast. We’ve got the steps below, and be sure to watch the included videos to see the process in action.
Why You Should Have a Lifting Platform
You want a lifting platform for several reasons - first, it protects your equipment. Specifically, it protects your plates and the floor from chipping, cracking, and/or breaking due to deadlifting, cleaning, snatching, rowing, etc. Second, it’s great for noise and vibration dampening, which is important when you’re lifting while your 2-year-old is sleeping, and it’s also important so that you don’t annoy your neighbors. Finally, a platform is useful for safety - it clearly delineates your lifting space. When you’re on the platform, it says, “Hey, this is someone’s lifting space - stay off the platform.”
How to Build It
“Build” is an aggressive term. Putting together a platform is pretty simple - so much so that “assemble” is probably more appropriate. Here we go:
Step 1: Base Layer
Take two ¾” x 4’ x 8’ sheets of OSB and set them down on the floor side-by-side. These sheets run lengthwise, i.e., “front-to-back” in terms of your platform’s orientation (Figure 1).
Note: These sheets are commonly referred to as ¾” thick, but the actual thickness is 23/32” and will be listed that way at the lumber store.
IMPORTANT: Most sheets have a slight bow or “crown” to them. When setting them down, be sure that the crown is up. In other words, you want the sheet to make a hill, not a valley. If you do this, the weight of the entire platform itself helps remove any bowing from the final product.
Step 2: Middle Layer
Take two more ¾” x 4’ x 8’ sheets of OSB and set them on top of the base layer so that they run perpendicular to the base layer’s sheets, i.e., “side-to-side” in terms of your platform’s orientation (Figure 2). Attach the middle layer to the base layer using 1 ¼” screws - we use 3 screws along the short edge of each sheet and 4 screws along the long edge of each sheet.
Step 3: Top Layer - MDF
Take a ¾” thick sheet of MDF and cut it so that it’s 96” x 42” (i.e., 8’ x 3.5’). MDF comes in 97” x 49” sheets, and you can either have your lumber supplier do it for you (Lowe’s typically does this for free), or you can do it yourself. We like MDF as it’s relatively heavy, sits nice and flat, and because of this, it helps remove any bowing from your platform. With that said, you can also use something nicer like oak for the top layer.
Using 1 ⅝” screws, attach the MDF to the middle layer so that it’s perpendicular to that layer (i.e., the MDF will run “front-to-back”) and centered. The MDF should sit so that it’s 27” in from either side of the platform. We use 3 screws down each long edge for a total of 6 screws. Be sure that the screws are slightly countersunk so that you don’t damage your plates if you accidentally set the bar down a bit off-center.
Step 4: Top Layer - Horse Stall Mats
Get three ¾” x 4’ x 6’ rubber horse stall mats. Ideally, you want mats without any type of pattern or texture on them, but if they are dimpled on the bottom, it’s not the end of the world. Using a jig saw (watch the video), cut two 72” x 27” pieces (i.e., 6’ x 2’3”) and two 24” x 27” pieces (i.e., 2’ x 2’3”). Thus, you now have two long pieces and two short pieces of horse stall mat.
Set one long piece and one short piece on the left side of the MDF and repeat the process on the right side of the MDF (Figure 3). Make sure the rubber mats fit tight and snug up against the MDF as well as each other, then attach the mats to the middle layer using 1 ⅝” screws (Figure 4), and again, be sure to countersink them slightly. We put screws around the outside, front, and back edges of the mats. However, don’t put screws on the edge near the MDF - this will help ensure that you don’t accidentally set your plates down on a screw that’s a bit proud.
There you have it - your very own lifting platform. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s incredibly durable.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)