As hard as you party, I KNOW you’ve had some fat bitches up in your business. And like it!
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haha, I love the “one size fits most”
The back reads “CAUTION: If weener kleener ever becomes stuck, soak area with cold water”
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right guys, serious training talk now:
So I used a belt for the first time ever, and it was all a bit… hmmm…
I only managed 5 reps of a weight I could ordinarily hit for 12. Now, I think a bit of the loss of strength is to do with the fact it’s been like 4 weeks since I had a proper leg training session, but I should still have been good for 8 at least.
My core was just too fatigued. I think this means one of two things:
- I was using the belt wrong.
- My core just really fucking sucks.
I’m leaning towards option 2, as I really don’t think I was using the belt wrong. I mean I guess maybe I could have been, but I had it around my midsection tight enough that I could slip a hand down the side if needed but could still brace my abs like fuck against it.
Bit of a wake-up call regarding my core, methinks.
@Markko @T3hPwnisher @Chris_Colucci I would appreciate your input on this. I’ll probably also ask Thibs
Honestly, a big part of it is just that the belt isn’t broken in yet. It doesn’t quite fit your body, and you’ll struggle to hit a lot of easier movements. You might actually have it too loose. I know common wisdom says to leave it a notch loose and expand into it, but I think that meant a notch looser than as tight as you can possibly manage. When I have my belt set, there is no way I can get a hand in between myself and it, but I still brace hard under it.
Try using it for some higher rep work for a bit to see what you can manage.
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a vote in favour of option 1! Interesting…
I was trying to use it for high rep work, haha. Stupid core gave out. I’ll abandon the hand down the belt thing and try it a little tighter. Not sure I’ll be able to take the fucking thing off if I tighten it any further but I guess I’ll cross that bridge as and when.
Once you break it in it will get easier, and, you can use a rack support to help get it off.
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Firstly, this. For squats my belt is as tight as I can make it. Less so for DL and bench.
Secondly, I think maybe the belt messed with your breathing. This is OK, it just takes getting used to. Having something pushing into your upper gut/diaphragm will make you feel like you can’t breathe in, which will make you panic even if you’re not aware of it, and that will make you gas out. At best, it’ll just limit how much air you take in until you learn how to. Possibly putting the belt on and practicing taking your air and bracing could help.
Stick with it, try different levels of tightness and you’ll figure out which works for you. Remember, it’s a new tool, making the lift feel different. There’s a learning curve.
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ok, so I’ll try it tighter next time and see how that feels
Sorry for my non-requested input/questions, but I consider myself an effective"bracer" and belt user because I am quite thin (especially through the lower legs) yet still have a moderate squat, and I only saw squat progress when I worked on breathing.
Where are you wearing the belt?
In that case, I’d lean towards a combo of your options 1 and 2. Maybe not so much using it “wrong” as much as just being new to the belt and bracing in general. So it’s almost like the squats or whatever you were doing was a brand new exercise. Squats, hard-braced belted squats, continuous tension/non-lockout squats, pause-in-the-hole squats… all examples of similar-but-different methods. As such, it’s not uncommon to be “weaker” the first time you do a new method.
Like the guys said, stick with it, break the belt in as you go, and it should mostly sort itself out. Also, don’t go 4 weeks without training legs, ya nutter.
I thought I remembered you usually hitting a bunch of core work, on account of the back issues. No?
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non-requested, but still very welcome!
bottom sits about an inch below the navel, top is about an inch below the ribs
yeah I guess I knew that, it was just a shock at how different it was. Could be that although I thought I’d been bracing my core enough in the past, I just wasn’t.[quote=“Chris_Colucci, post:312, topic:221798”]
Also, don’t go 4 weeks without training legs, ya nutter.
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wasn’t my fault! First week was a deload week, second week I got sick, 3rd week I injured myself and 4th week was off due to injury. I’m just an innocent victim of circumstance.[quote=“Chris_Colucci, post:312, topic:221798”]
I thought I remembered you usually hitting a bunch of core work, on account of the back issues
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well kinda, but I’ve once again fallen victim to the Yogi-idiot-injury (YII) cycle, where I do a bunch of core work, my back feels great, I stop doing the core work because I’m lazy and my back feels great, and I injure myself…
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For squats I have it sit quite low, and slightly lower at the front compared to the back.
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Right. You to a tee. Wide shoulders and everything.
Been there, too often probably. “I’m doing a thing. I feel good and see results, so I can stop doing the thing because it worked. Hey, I don’t feel good anymore, what went wrong?” Makes me feel so… human.
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haha, I’ve had worse comparisons. That Cherry Bomb track The Runaways did was pretty awesome…[quote=“Chris_Colucci, post:316, topic:221798”]
Been there, too often probably. “I’m doing a thing. I feel good and see results, so I can stop doing the thing because it worked. Hey, I don’t feel good anymore, what went wrong?” Makes me feel so… human.
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yeah you’d think with the amount of times it’s happened to me I might’ve learned something, but apparently not.
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I’m learning this now. My hips been tight and prone to cramping for like a year but it doesn’t effect me really in the gym so I ignore it. Now I’ve started kickboxing and need to move my leg higher than 90 degrees and I’m having loads of problems, hammering mobility work for it and thinking why didn’t I do this before.
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So second workout with the belt and now I am completely convinced that my core is weak as a kitten.
Thinking about it, it would certainly explain a lot. Like, I suck at most core exercises, and even when I’m ripped I still stand with my back hyperextended, giving me a little pot belly.
Well NO MORE. No more, I say. 2017 will be the year of the core for me.
Seriously though I am absolutely ruined after a set of 5 with the belt. Doesn’t even matter what weight I use. By the time I finish a set of 5 with a weight I could ordinarily do 20 reps with I am sweating buckets and breathing out my ass.
It would explain why my front squat never seems to get any better. It gets to a certain weight, and then stays at that weight until I injure myself and have to build it back up again. That’s been the repeating cycle for years now, and it’s pretty much always the same weight I get to.
So I’m all about the core from now on.
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Hanging leg raises! My deads and squats feel all different after I got proficient in those.
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