[quote]BlaKistKneeGrow wrote:
Won’t squating with a belt create weakness in that area that could lead to other potential injuries? It seems that you would eventually come to rely on the belt and be unable to perform the exercise without it - or go way lighter so as not to injure your lower back.
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Excellent point! I’m sure the guy in the above photo would have agreed with you wholeheartly. 
As long as you don’t neglect your back exercises, squatting with a belt won’t weaken your lower back.
I wasn’t trying to say that squatting is injury-proof. However, squatting is safer for your back than leg presses because you have to use more weight in leg presses and your back is in a disc-vulnerable position (in most machines). You can’t move or adjust your back using machines when you’re in the middle of a set.
Every time I go too high using leg presses I injure my back. In squats my legs fail before my back does.