Beltless Sets: When and Why?

I got a question from a client yesterday about using a belt, and that prompted me to give an answer I wanted to share with you. A lot of people don’t use a belt at all, even consider it to be cheating. I deeply disagree with this view, both from personal experience not having used one for several years and then coming around and using one for the past 12-13 years since, as well as from an analysis of what belts do.

The linked article a good place to read about why belts help your abs and trunk get stronger. They do not do the work for you and cheat, as many mistakenly think. So read The Belt and the Deadlift if you’re under the mistaken assumption that belts are cheating, and are not already familiar with the benefits of using one. My reply to my client that I will share here assumes you already use a belt, but have some questions about when exactly in the workout to put it on.

Here’s a picture of the two lifting belts I use, from Dominion Strength: the 4 inch on the left for low bar squats and presses, the 3 inch on the right for high bar and safety bar squats, deadlifts, and bench press (for when I wear one for bench, usually only the very heaviest sets).

Both 10mm, the 4 inch belt on the left and the 3 inch wide on the right

My client asks: “One question for you - is there any benefit to doing warmup squats beltless? I always do 135 beltless and lately have been doing 225 beltless, then put the belt on for 275.”

Here’s my reply, edited slightly to expand a bit more in this format than a quick reply to a client:

There is definitely a benefit, mainly psychological. It's good to be confident and assured that you can do it without a belt, and the belt is just a tool you use to get stronger, rather than a crutch you rely on, without which you can't squat.

It sounds like a minor thing but this mindset shift really makes a big difference. Are you the badass, the boss in charge, wielding the tools of the weight room to get even better, even stronger? Or are you being inexorably smushed into the floor by the impossibly heavy weight of the barbell, only barely able to shakily stand back up with the aid of a belt? Are you the imposer dominating the weight with your will, or the imposed upon, subject to the dominance of gravity? The way you think about this and the mindset you have when training makes a huge difference in how you go about your business under the bar.

The idea isn't to eschew the belt when it really does help, as in heavy work sets, but to see it as a tool rather than a crutch, and to do some borderline level work sets without it.

If you have back pain or something like that, you can throw this out temporarily and just put it on as early as you want to. But for normal situations, it's good to do some sets without it.

As an example, on volume days when even the first work set isn't THAT heavy, do all the warmups without it and put it on just for the work sets. On intensity days when it's all heavy work, put it on for the last warmup. On lighter days such as paused squats, see if you can do the lighter of the work sets without the belt, put it on only for the heavier ones.

As an example, we’ll use a guy with a 405 1-rep max, a 350 5-rep max, who does most of his squat volume work between 285 and 330, most of his squat intensity work between 345 and 385, and his lighter day work between 255 and 285. He is a late intermediate lifter, and not setting any PRs in any of these workout, but doing normal building work that will lead to a PR in a few weeks’s time.

Volume Day: 3 sets of 5 at 305, 320, and 305 respectively. Warmup: 135x5, 205x4, 245x2, 275x1 - do all of these beltless, put on belt only for 305.

Intensity Day: 4 sets of 2 at 355, 370, 370, 355 respectively. Warmup: 135x5, 225x4, 275x2, 315x1, 335x1. Put on belt for 335.

Light Day: Paused Squats 4 sets of 3 at 255, 265, 275, 275 respectively. Do all sets beltless.

If you’ve been putting your belt on early, don't switch to this immediately. Take a few weeks to work up to doing increasingly heavier warmups without it, then see if you can apply what I wrote above. Begin to dominate the bar, rather than letting the bar dominate you.