Anyone wear a weight belt when squatting? This is the only exersise besides seated military (shoulder) press that i wear a belt for. Is this good or bad? should i drop the weight and not use a belt or am i fine?
Personally do not wear belt when squatting. Anyone I have spoken to has advised against it , for reasons discussed previously on the forum. How heavy you going though? With those big, big numbers on your back it gets far easier to argue for 'em…
i don’t recommend wearing a belt either. i think that if you are using a belt you are not really working your core stability since the intra-abdominal pressure is coming from pushing against the belt. i also don’t see a reason to do seated military, but what do i know?
In addition to the aforementioned reasons your training with a belt will lead you to have a bodybuilder stomach that protrudes outward. You also don’t use your back muscles hardly at all anymore with a belt and so this area gets weaker in terms of stability strength as well. This can cause you to start bending from the waist and doing more of a good morning instead of a squat when you decide not to wear a belt anymore and then try to squat again. Belts do have their usefulness in the weightroom and its rare! You should only wear a belt when doing a 1RM testing not only for safety but also because you will be able to lift more!
I agree for same reasons just mentioned to eliminate seated military presses as well; although, if your a beginner in a multi-lateral development stage then I can understand building a foundation first and then working your way up to the 10th floor. This should not occur after the multi-lateral devolpment stage though! 
ehhhhhhhhh!!!
hahahaa. good responses but its making me look like an idiot as this thread is from 4-6-2003!!!
Anyway. keep on if you must BUT please relaize i learned alot aince then and neverrrrrrrr use a belt unless i was maxing out.
didn’t even pay attention to when the thread was started, I usually don’t! I was just trying to help. 
P.S. There are very few Idiots on this Website if any at all! Just many uninformed or uneducated individuals and they may not have learned as much as you did if a thread like this ends so abruptly without wandering what the answer is its the justification.
The main point seems to be more emphasis on the thigh’s, especially in the development of Hypertrophy in the leg region, neglecting the lower back, abdominal and hip region. It could be beneficial for bodybuilders, because core stability isn’t a priority like that of an athete, i’m completely against it, you’re essentially leaving out all lower back and core development.
I wore it all of last year, but have stopped this year because of what I have read. I do, however, wear one when we max.
It’s not too bad for building structural strength, because hey bodybuilders are there for size only, but for functional strength its awful, it’s stabilizing the body for you, rather than working on the actual stabilizer muscles that could help you become a better athlete.
Never wear a belt and never max. What is the point for anyone except a powerlifter?
Coach’s make us in weight training…
There is nothing wrong with a 3 rep max to see your progress so you can adjust the weights accordingly.
You don’t need a 3 rep max to tell you that you can add more weight to your training sets.
Then how do you knwo how much weight to add as far as percent of your max?
If a 1RM is never taken, then there is no way to accurately assess maximum strength or, for those who perform percentage based training, corresponding submaximal training percentages.
Charts/calculators are not a valid means of predicting or approximating 1RM. Every athlete has a different strength curve, fibre type makeup, etc., therefore, it is irresponsible to utilize a standardized method for assessing max strength.
In regards to most power development and strength sports, ALL STRENGTH IS RELATIVE TO MAXIMUM STRENGTH. Thus, 1RM’s are a must.
A 1RM is a TEST of limit strength, whereas, repetitions performed with less than 1RM loads are BUILDERS of strength.
In addition to the aforementioned reasons your training with a belt will lead you to have a bodybuilder stomach that protrudes outward.
really?
and i thought she was just pregnant…
are you sure this is true, seriously?
I agree fully with JMAN316.
Narked no offense but 1RM is the only true measure of your best single rep lift, 3RM only approximate albeit very closely in some cases horribly in others. Case and example is my true 1RM measured on dips which is 130 but my 3RM wouldn’t indicate that.
When I was 17 in 1995 I used to do 1RM every time I lifted and I never repeat never got injured. Fast Forward 10 years later and still have never injured myself doing 1RM albeit only for testing/%loading purposes.
Only when you are working with someone who is a beginner or someone who has taken serious time off would your do something like 7 or 5RM.
In any other case the elite athlete’s body has adapted to the stress of a 1RM which is a perfect indicator of where your body limits are close to. Remember that the body has a defense mechanism that will never allow you to get to a point where you will get injured from doing a 1RM or to put it a different way the chances of injury are a hundreth of a percent.
In fact, the only thing you have worry about is TIME UNDER TENSION which is greater than 5 seconds or if your athlete is fighting to get it up and you help him a little but not enough and you do this couple of times throughout the lift would he seriously risk injury; however, if an athlete can’t lift the weight then he can’t lift it! Only elite athletes can fool around with a spotter helping them i.e. eccentric loading.
Never do a 1RM :rolleyes: LOL
You can add weight to your training weights based on feel. If you do 3 sets of 5 at 200 and they are easy you can go up to 210 for your training weight. Charlie talks about this in one of his books.
Never use a 1RM or never use a 3RM are dangerous rules here, guys. I for one have only really followed physics as the laws of movement that I do not break. Never say never because when someone like charlie explains to you “why” a 3RM is okay to use, you’ll have to fess up and say, okay I was wrong. Share your opinions but try to avoid the I am right and this is wrong mentality. Never is a dangerous road my friends. And of course a 1RM is the best measure of your single rep lift, in fact it’s the only way. But if you are talking about estimating 100% of an athlete’s max and you have assessed them thoroughly and done your own estimations considering fast and slow twitch fiber composition and work capacity, I believe a 3RM is valid for training purposes.
I beleive when Charlie is saying not to use 1RM, he’s talking about the elite level sprinters. Developing sprinters can’t drain their nervous system like an elite athlete. Also the 1RM max work is few and far between.