Belt Tightness

Training Powerlifting
1

Hi all
I have a meet in 8 days (Welsh Powerlifting Association) and am wondering about belt tightness (for squats). I know that some people recommend keeping a bit of room to “inflate” and push out into the belt, but many seem to just pull it as tight as possible and lift better like that.

I have been training with my belt prongs on the 6th hole on heavy days, and beltless or with a loose belt on lighter days, but am finding that it requires quite a bit of effort now to get it that tight; as the competition approaches, I’m reluctant to change to the looser belt hole incase it throws me off… Any thoughts? Is it better to have the belt looser and just try to “expand” into it more, or pull it to the tightest setting (which by the way has been working in training, it’s just hard to get on/off)?

Thanks

2

EliteFTS just recently had this up:

articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/powerlifting-articles/how-to-wear-a-powerlifting-belt/

You can get his take there.

I personally seem to prefer my belt pretty damned tight. I think this is one of those personal preference things and what works the best for you.

Also they make belt tighteners for those that do not have a lever belt.

3

Don’t do something on competition day that you didn’t do while training. The meet is not the time to experiment, that is what training is for.

4

totally agree about not changing anything right now

but in general i would say using the belt one hole looser than you might expect is a really good training tool to get you to push your belly out into the belt and really “get your air”, but if im trying for a max i just crank everything tight and fill my guts with air, and end up with way more tension, more burst blood vessels too, but hey thats all in a days work

5

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Don’t do something on competition day that you didn’t do while training. The meet is not the time to experiment, that is what training is for.[/quote]

This seems like very good advice.

6

Yeah I was thinking that might be the response, I’ll just go for it and pull it tight for my attempts. As long as I don’t bloat myself up too much after the weigh in, that is… Lol.
Thanks for the responses, I’m going for a 500kg+ total this time - 190kg/120kg/190kg or similar - it’s not great due to my relatively weak deadlift, but getting there!

7

[quote]halcj wrote:
Thanks for the responses, I’m going for a 500kg+ total this time - 190kg/120kg/190kg or similar - it’s not great due to my relatively weak deadlift, but getting there![/quote]
Perhaps it’s not a weak DL but a strong squat. It’s all about perspective:)

Good luck.

8

[quote]kpsnap wrote:

[quote]halcj wrote:
Thanks for the responses, I’m going for a 500kg+ total this time - 190kg/120kg/190kg or similar - it’s not great due to my relatively weak deadlift, but getting there![/quote]
Perhaps it’s not a weak DL but a strong squat. It’s all about perspective:)

Good luck.

[/quote]

Thanks.