 Next question is from Helen ack. What are the pros and cons of using a lifting belt? Oh good See usually the question is do I need one or why should I use one or not? But I like this pros and cons. I do think there are pros and cons to a lifting belt So the obvious one is well if you're gonna compete an event that allows you use a lifting belt You should train one because there's a skill and technique to it and you just want to get good at it But now let's talk about the pros and cons for the average lifter one of the cons of lift of using a lifting belt is that it it's a different form of core stability or To put it differently It's a different muscle recruitment pattern with core stability with the belt So when you wear a belt you've got this external force or external thing around your waist and the way that your core develops Or creates stability with a belt as it pushes out against the belt and then that creates more stability When you don't wear a belt, it's a little different So it's a lot of activation of the core in both of them because the argument used to be all you wear a belt You get less core activation. Not true. You get just as much core activation. It's different though I mean the argument you can make those sounds. It's a lot different Complete opposite one of them you're training to push the drawing in embracing the other ones Yeah, you're teaching to draw in which are different skills. It's different skills So that would be a con right like why would you want to get stronger in a way in the gym that you're not going to Be able to really apply as much in everyday life. So there's one con now I'll give you a pro the pro is it can allow you because it does provide some more core stability You probably generate on your own it does allow you to overload some really strong body parts like legs So like squats with the belt, you'll be able to add 10 15 20 some people can add 30 more pounds when they know how to use a belt really well Deadlifts you can use more weight so they can overload the back a little bit more Overhead press for some people it allows them to lift 10 15 more pounds with their shoulders So there's that argument there. So, you know, that would be I guess the two pros and cons I will say this. I almost never had an everyday client use a belt almost never But also full disclosure. I use a belt I use a belt when I squat and I deadlift and that's just because I trained that way since I was a kid Yeah, I'm too lazy to train out of it other than yeah competing I mean I have pretty much all cons but In terms of I was trying to think of that in terms of like breathing or like belly breathing If you didn't have a belt on where it's advantageous to focus on pushing out embracing in that fashion I don't know if that correlates which I don't think it does like I can't think of a real-life Application without the belt where you're trying to you know promote that type of a mechanism But yeah, like for the most part, I just I think it's good like Let's say in a situation where you're really Pressing yourself to kind of go beyond your your natural limits Yeah To acclimate to a belt and then start to build that type of strength and in support Because it does I mean here's the thing when you have really heavy weight You don't want to have to be conscious of too many things at the same time you want to kind of have that Aid and support when it's it's a competitive environment. So I definitely see some benefit to that Well another pro when you walk in wearing a belt you look serious. Yeah Especially your names on it. Yeah. Yes. Yes beast. I mean it's yeah Yeah, if you have a nickname or your last name on the back of your belt when you walk in Not many people think that it's your first time in the gym So there definitely is a little bit of street cred that comes with caring Yeah, yeah as far as a pro honestly, I'm kind of like Sal. I don't use as much as Sal does But I have trained myself to use it So I do like to pull it out every once in a while not very often though like I have to be Chasing a PR or like really going heavy for the day for me to pull it out and just kind of see where I'm at And the truth is what I know now If I were to if I was starting all over on my weightlifting journey Knowing that I have no desire to be a power lifter and get into that category at all I probably would never use one. I agree because same thing Yeah, I mean I just but I have used it enough times that I know how to use it And so it's an advantage, right? So like I I can deadlift and squat and overhead press more weight with the belt Then I can't without yeah, so it's purely an ego thing Sometimes I feel I get in there and pushing more weight than I normally would push And so I know I can strap the belt on and I know I can get an extra 3% to 5% out of my lift And so I do it But if I were to train a client or train myself from from the space up again I wouldn't use it because it doesn't have to your point Justin It doesn't have any real application in the real world and in fact If anything it could crutch you because you're used to pushing out on that And if you were in the real world bending over to pick the couch up or my son or do something And I were to try and brace that way. I could potentially hurt myself instead of bracing inward and supporting myself like you're supposed to Yeah, I gotta ask you If this is still a thing in the physique world in terms of wearing the belt as sort of a waist-shapening Trainers. Yep. Yes. It's part still happening. It's part of the justification For them to defend themselves when they get caught doing a tricep pushdown on the cable machine So if you get if you catch a men's physique bodybuilder guy Doing tricep pushdowns or cable curls and they have the belt on You're almost certain that they're doing it with the intent of they have it sucked in really tight like a waist trainer And they think they're shrinking their waist. So I've seen people wear weight belts on the seated machine exercises Yeah, well, it became a very Popular fashion statement in the last decade or so it really wasn't that I don't remember it being that popular when we were First like lifting, you know who popularized it for a second Charles glass He by the way one of the best bodybuilder trainers ever, right? And this is this I had to say that because there's a difference between a bodybuilder trainer and a if you trained everyday average person When you're training these highly developed extreme Extremely gifted genetic, you know anomalies who are on anabolic steroids on stuff Then sometimes this kind of stuff makes sense. It's an extreme sport. That's what he did He would put his athletes in a weight belt because remember the issue started happening in the 90s where bodybuilders get so big They'd get that distended belly and so he says that it helped I don't know if it did or not But that's kind of why it became popular why you would see them wearing a belt when they did seated You know bicep curls and stuff like the irony of that though is I would actually make the case that probably made it worse because it again Like you said in a train Do you train the court of push out versus draw in the vacuum maneuver and teaching bodybuilders to do the vacuum more? I think would have tremendous value because then you would be you naturally kind of hold your stomach and also You don't you don't activate the core less by working out in the belt. You activated the same amount It's just activated different totally different. Yeah, you know, here's the thing like for me I started using it as a kid because I got introduced to it by power lifters who taught me how to squat And they told me you got to wear a belt so I did and now years ago I used to use wrist wraps a lot when I would work out all it because bodybuilders did so I read the magazine So I did it took me a year Maybe a year and a half to get my grip to catch up to my back strength I had to go through this whole process Getting my hand stronger Getting rid of the belt now would take me another year or two to really get you know comfortable I just don't I'm lazy to do it This is why I still use it and I have a very interesting relationship with a weight belt It's become like my cape, you know like I pull it out It's the same one I've had forever in fact I gave the one I had when I was 16 a way to one of my clients because it was so tattered and beat up and Did you start coming out to like dramatic movie theme song music? No, no, I'm not like Lane No, but I had this belt forever and I gave it when I finally stopped training clients when we you know went full-time with mine pump I gave it to him as a gift and whatever and I still have another one that I got when I was 19 It's the one I stood the blue one. I still use so I got this interesting thing with weight belts But if I what you said is so true if I could go back in time I would have never used it because there's no need Yeah, you're not gonna be a part of either of my I had no intentions to do that And so then it really has no real reason why you would want to train with it Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here or you can find other clips over here and be sure to subscribe