What's up, Hermanites? I'm Scott Herman you already know that's my bro Dave
We just got done doing a really awesome back workout if you guys haven't seen yet be sure to check it out right here
[the] pump was pretty good, [but] Dave came to the gym today to film the back workout
And we started talking before we filmed about weight belt [Dave] has a weight belt
Dave really likes to use a belt you [guys] never really see me use one I do have one
it's my BSN weight belt has my last name in the back. It's pretty cool
It's a really expensive belt but for me personally. I don't like to rely on a belt
[I] want to use my internal belt which is taking a breath and then flexing your cores tight as possible
While using the breath that you take in to push against your abdominal wall and push against your entire core all the way around to
Make this a solid piece. That's why I don't normally use a belt um is there a time
When you should use a belt?
Well if you have a weak core you may want to use one but then if you use it all [the] time
You're going to get you can always have a weak core. You never not really doing anything to to make it stronger
If you're on a strict powerlifting program, where you're doing a lot of really heavy lifting
Yeah
it might be a better for you to use a belt at least two or three times a week because you're
Fatiguing your lower back a lot if you need to
Handle all that volume all that lifting [without] throwing your back out or if you just want to be able to continue to lift you
Might need some [support], but Dave so tell the community what was told to you about your belt? Well, I was in the gym
I was lifting. I was doing deadlifts. I was going for my [1] rep Max
It was 415 or whatever on deadlifts the guy came over to me
He was telling me that I should get a real power lifting belt it this wasn't cutting it
He told me to get the one that kind of locks in
Um but showed them your belt first of all this this is you know this isn't no accessory to the gym
This is a gym now this isn't no nike $30 belt that you get a champs
I mean, this is a legit belt that I got offline yeah
I mean a lot of money unless you're a belt goes on with velcro
I mean I would probably not want to use that it's not that really that safe
But as long as you've got some clips and you can lock in that's a really decent belt this belt is thick
So really if you don't think you have [to] get the belt that clamps in the main reason
I mean obviously those belts a little more expensive
They are a little bit nicer to use and as a [powerlifter] if you're just trying to get into your set
it's a lot easier to clamp it really tight because if you don't have the clamp you have to use a different or
Alternative method to get that belt [as] tight as possible
but one thing that I went over with Dave and
This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the gym when I see people lifted using a belt is it just use the belt
wrong
And you can actually do more damage
using a belt the wrong way
Then you could if you didn't have one at all and what I mean by that is if you're going for your one rep Max
And you're living a ton of weight and you put that belt on wrong
It's like you're not even wearing anything at all so mentally you might psych yourself up, okay
You know what my back's gonna be fine
I got my belt on and then when you do the set as
You bend over that belt sliding up and down like what is that doing? It's doing nothing
So absolutely nothing for you the reason you put a belt on is to keep all of this as tight as possible
and
when you use no belt
and you use your internal belt what I just talked about which is where you take breath in and
Then flex and push, you're pushing everything into itself within your abdominal wall, so now
If you're belt is on lose
This is why I don't have a shirt on I wanted to show you guys this say the belts on like this
And it's kind of loose
Okay
You're going to have to mentally
Push your stomach out like that to touch the belt to make the belt actually work, and so what you're doing is you're over-exaggerating
[the] internal belt to make the this belt work for you
The weight belt is supposed to be an added benefit to make [your] core stronger
It's not supposed to be what you're now relying on to do the lift
it's not supposed to be okay my belts on so I don't have to even think about what's going on inside of [me], so
Some tricks that you do to get the belt super tight, and this is how you're [supposed] to wear a belt anyways is
Get it on where it's supposed to be and now I actually had to make a few extra notches on my belt
And that's one of the things that we figured out with Dave is
He gets it on tight, but it needs to be a little tighter
You can get a drill and you can just drill extra holes you can't even tell that I drove these
So it's not going to ruin the belt
But what you want to do is
Get the belt nice and tight
If you use a pole or something sturdy or you can have one your friends help you is
You wrap [it] around like this, and now what you need to do is take in a breath
suck in your stomach and then
Get as tight as [you] can
You should feel
Like you're walking around like you're like 800 pounds like the hulk
You know you want to feel like this belt is keeping your waist nice and tight now
There is such a thing as putting the belt on too tight
Like there is such a thing as putting the belt on too loose
So if that belt is too tight
and you can't properly take in a breath and contract your abs and use your diaphragm and push all that [together] nice [and] tight and
Sit in to do whatever lift you're doing then the belts too tight, so you might have to experiment with that
Also [to] when you have your weight belt on if you can't breathe
It's good indication
And it might be a little too tight and if you start to lift
And you start to get a little lightheaded
it might be an indication that the belts a little too tight as well so loosen it up if you have to you but as
You guys can see with the belt on like this. There's a little bit of overhang from my stomach
It's pushing in on me
And now what I would do to set up for any lift whether I'm using a bench or a deadlift or squat is
in this moment taking a breath
and it's not going to be a full breath if you're taking too much air you'll probably pass out from all the pressure inside your
Body take in a breath and then use that breath to expand your diaphragm and then flex your abs and push everything
So just like this and now that belt is pushing in as my body's pushing out and that's what is making the core
Super solid and that's going to give you a strong lift
So if your belt on and you're going to go do a lift and as soon as you bend over we have the bar
That down slides up your back, and then as you lift it it slides back down you need to adjust your belt
So I hope this video was [helpful] for you [guys]
You know just looking out for you want to make sure you guys are lifting in the gym
You're maximizing your gains and Dave this belt is totally fine. Oh the one point
I wanted to make when you guys saw me
You know going like this to tighten the belt. That's all that power lifting belt
does is you're able [to] go as far as you [want] to and then that clamp it so
If this gets annoying and have a hard time tightening the belt that's what the clamps for it gets rid of having to do that
so
Dave thank you for coming by and telling me your belt story. Thank you that inspired this video
So if you guys liked this tip you want to see more be [sure] to like and comment below if you haven't
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What's your maximum output, bro?
More now that you have this belt.