I feel like my bench is way too low to justify using a belt.
Today I did 260lbsx3, and it was a pretty rough strain/grind. (PR btw)
I racked it and sat up and WHAM! lower back felt all sorts of funky. I did RDLs and ab wheel rollouts yesterday, so the abs/erectors were already sore so I’m pretty sure that’s why. I’ve never had this problem before. The kid who was spotting me mentioned that if my lower back hurts I should probably use a belt. Note the word kid. He was just spitting ideas out, and I thanked him. I’ve seen belts used by top benchers in competition, but I don’t really know anything about this.
I just did some stretching, mobility, and foam rolling and it felt fine 5 minutes later. Feels fine now, just sore like it was before bench.
most guys wear a belt to keep their bench shirt in place, though some wear them raw. and screw you man, my best bench so far is 105kg/231lb, though my bench is coming up and should hit 242 shortly.
I had a back issue that would flare up on bench. Turned out I had tight hip flexors. Might not be your issue but stretching the hip flexors is a good habit.
Wearing the belt may give you something to push your abs against to help you stay tight, but it’s not necessarily going to “protect” your back. How low was the pain? It’s pretty common to get your lats in spasm after a tough bench. If the pain was truly lumbar, I would likely attribute it to the erectors in spasm.
If you arch really hard, it’s possible that you irritated a facet a little bit and caused the spasm as a protective mechanism. Most likely though, it just spasmed because of the strain from grinding out a tough set. Most likely not a huge issue.
[quote]TisDrew wrote:
I feel like my bench is way too low to justify using a belt.[/quote]
Strength is relative man. Screw it, if the belt helps you bench more weight then that “justifies” using it. I’d rather be the guy who benches with a belt than the guy who USED to bench because he screwed himself up. Never use it as a crutch but it is a tool for use.