Belts - A Comprehensive Guide

[caravanbrah]

Bought a 10mm pioneer cut at Pioneers Christmas sale. Arrived yesterday, so it took about 3 weeks to make and then ship to New Zealand from Texas. This thing looks seriously well made, alot more rigid than my old harbinger ever was. The single prong is really easy to get into either row of holes. It even smells awesome. All black everything.

[Farley1324]

I do get all the way down. In that case - definitely use a belt?

You’re right I was actually surprised today watching these two guys do squats go like 1/4th the way down. Was wondering what they were doing because before that they were curling what I bench

My point about what they do, squats specifically since you were talking about them, is that it doesn't matter what other people do + in most gyms you don't want to do what other people do because they are almost all wrong especially when it comes to squats and deads

[RunningTall]

Still haven't made up my mind on a belt. Really liking the look of that Rogue Pioneer Cut collab. Anyone know if Rogue does Black Friday deals?

[RunningTall]

Looks like elitefts has a 13mm Pioneer Cut as well...

[cmarti063]

Looks like elitefts has a 13mm Pioneer Cut as well...

And A7 and Iron Tanks and several others, too.

[smokinHawk]

Looks like elitefts has a 13mm Pioneer Cut as well...

I just bought one. I'll probably sell it though as I just like a lever belt better.

[RunningTall]

I just bought one. I'll probably sell it though as I just like a lever belt better.

Fuuuuuu they're sold out of mediums. What size did you get?

[BBB8910]

In fact I like Morgan more than the Titan because Morgan is softer and more comfortable, though, to be honest, I bought my Titan 2 years ago and it has served quite well for all that time )

[KoolDJVader]

LOL....for whatever reason my tablet isn't letting me copy the text even though I can highlight it but looks like Inzer updated their description of its belt

http://www.inzernet.com/detail_belt....RBELT_BUCKLE13

They say that it has an "exclusive Reinforced Leather component" that will "enhance the breaking in process"

I guess Pioneer's video forced them to admit they add something in addition to the sole leather.

Truth be told, the robus leather didn't bug me but it was a 10mm belt

[cmarti063]

LOL....for whatever reason my tablet isn't letting me copy the text even though I can highlight it but looks like Inzer updated their description of its belt

http://www.inzernet.com/detail_belt....RBELT_BUCKLE13

They say that it has an "exclusive Reinforced Leather component" that will "enhance the breaking in process"

I guess Pioneer's video forced them to admit they add something in addition to the sole leather.

Truth be told, the robus leather didn't bug me but it was a 10mm belt

Some people like the stiffness, some don't. I know Matt didn't like that they were flat out lying.

They still claim "one solid thickness" of the leather without "layers glued together cheaply to make thickness". Which is still not really true (13mm is multiple layers of leather...).

Also, on spread. That's a solid update, and a good chuckle for the morning. (They trademarked "reinforced leather")

[ElrondHubbard]

Just took delivery of a Rogue Echo belt. I wasn't prepared for how massive and thick it is. I'm going to have to take 10 pounds off my squat! (JK)

Looking forward to using it tonight.

[RunningTall]

Ordered this bad boy around Black Friday for Christmas. Have been using it for about 3 weeks and man it's legit. I was a little worried about the thickness since I don't have any experience with the 13" but I swear it's breaking in super fast, since Day 1 I could feel it! It's a tank, I feel so secure and powerful in it. And the smell... that real leather smell hnnngghhh! Thanks to all you guys for your help and advice picking out a belt. I already shattered a 40 lb squat PR in it!

[BenMcLeodNZ]

This is a comparison of Inzer and Metal, sometimes called GoMetal, belts.
I won't add any prong vs lever considerations.

I couldn't find anything when buying my metal belt so thought I'd add it here.

First, they are made in Finland, and arrived to my place in NZ in 6 days from ordering which is pretty incredible. So they blow Inzers speed and customer service away. This is the "stiff" version.

The Metal is thicker (rated 11-12mm) and stiffer, but when worn I don't notice the extra thickness as support. In the last pic you will see the belt becomes thinner about 80% of the way though it, as if it's made from different pieces of leather of different thickness (in the photo it looks massively exaggerated, it's about 2mm different). I don't mind, but I imagine a lot of people would. The Inzer is very uniform.

The Metal belt has an extra row of stitching. The Metal belt has a slight taper on the edges which I like, I don't mind sacrificing like 1% of the surface area to stop it digging into my hips/ribs so much!

The Metal belt has less glue, and the outer suede isn't as sealed as Inzer, this is cosmetic.

To me, the Metal belt feels sturdier and I think it will last longer, but the Inzer is better made.

To get to NZ, the Metal belt cost $160NZD, and the Inzer around $280NZD (mainly shipping costs), the belts themselves are a similar price, but that's a big price difference.

If you have to deal with expensive shipping, I recommend Metal, but if you are in USA etc, it's probably worth the extra $10-20 or so and going for Inzer.

Happy with both, probably gonna sell the Inzer though for my personal prong preference. Compared to cheaper belts such as Shieck's, they are both a world apart.

[Melendez1223]

Great thread ! But, overseas the choices aren't as great. Here's a review for all of our U.K. and European brethren, on a belt over there.

[KoolDJVader]

Because of tax returns and wanting to give lever belts another chance, I recently made another purchase from Pioneer....this time a 13mm untreated lever belt. Why untreated? Because through trial and error I found that I prefer a very thick and stiff belt.

Ive had an Inzer 10mm lever belt many years ago and while I liked the support and the ease of putting the belt on and taking it off, the overlap part never felt right and just wore prong belts exclusively since around 2014.

Anyway Ive had the new lever belt for a while but since I was only squatting ultra light today, decide it was a good day to test it out.

Its weird, Im a manlet but a belt this thick and stiff does not bother me at all. What was bothering me was how to position the belt. I put it on right away today, even with 135. It was a bit tighter than I would like but loosening it up one hole was a bit too loose. Finally I think I found the correct way....I try to get the overlap area, where it becomes double thick, right in the center of my abs. I feel this distributes the support best....one side of the my body doesn't have more of the double thick area than the other. Oddly enough on prong belts due to the buckle, this area of the body usually isn't covered by the belt.

Most lever belt users probably already knew this but I use to just center the lever and lock it in which usually put a little more of the overlap area to side. So it was EUREKA moment for me.

Anyway, you need pics for this forum so here it is. Nothing extra other than asked for double stitching. And no matter what Matt says about the turnaround time (he usually says 4-6 weeks for non embroidered if I recall correctly), I've never waited more than 2 weeks to get my belt from them

https://imgur.com/a/5xwZJqM

[Nightfly]

I am 46, have lifted for years with no belt. My back hurts more times than not. Actually it prevents me from lifting. I should. Just stop being cheap and buy one

[EricWillson]

thanks for this detailed guide on using a belt in the gym.
a few days back I got a severe backache, so I was looking at how, when, and on which exercises I should use the belt specifically.

[radrd]

thanks for this detailed guide on using a belt in the gym.
a few days back I got a severe backache, so I was looking at how, when, and on which exercises I should use the belt specifically.

If you have back pain then you need to get checked out by a doctor. A belt isn't going to solve it. Even once your back is fixed, a belt won't prevent injury. Correct form will do that.

[EricWillson]

If you have back pain then you need to get checked out by a doctor. A belt isn't going to solve it. Even once your back is fixed, a belt won't prevent injury. Correct form will do that.

I know it's the posture that matters the most when working out. And as I was in severe back pain I was thinking might a belt will support my back, so that I do not miss my exercise...
And thanks for your advice.

[DavidDavid101]

I know it's the posture that matters the most when working out. And as I was in severe back pain I was thinking might a belt will support my back, so that I do not miss my exercise...
And thanks for your advice.

\

That's a bad idea ... Firstly, a belt can make you feel no pain while you are working out for a while, but it only seems like that, it can hide pain but not cure. Secondly, if you fix your back with a belt it can shift a load on other parts instead of strengthening your back.

[fitmon1]

So I have been reading a lot of posts on this but reading everything would be insane and I came to the conclusion that there are a few good belts I can pick from,
from the OP I read that I need a 4” high, 10mm thick, unpadded single prong leather belt. I still don't know which belt I want to buy, I do not intend to look at the price or buy a cheap one I just want to start with the best belt I can get, I will be happy with the purchase, has the best reviews and is most used on this forum with other lifters ( so just a good belt ). I will be using it for bodybuilding and starting to use it on one of the workout programs from this forum ( Fierce 5 ) as I progress my lifts.

These are the belts im trying to choose one from after reading posts on this forum it seemed like the best there is, but I'm not sure which one I should buy:

SBD Belt: ( Most expensive and it's a lever belt but I can buy it if its a good one, I already got the knee sleeve and elbow sleeves and they are good )

Pioneer:
https://generalleathercraft.com/prod...lt-by-pioneer/
https://www.elitefts.com/elitefts-13...ower-belt.html ( 13mm )
https://generalleathercraft.com/prod...-lifting-belt/

Titan:
https://titansupport.com/product/toro-prong-belt/

Best belt:
http://www.bestbelts.net/Powerliftin...s/Athlete.aspx


Please let me know what you think and what you would choose in my position, I live in Europe so some of the belts will have some costs with shipping while the SBD belt has no shipping costs.

[Leprechuan71]

So I have been reading a lot of posts on this but reading everything would be insane and I came to the conclusion that there are a few good belts I can pick from,
from the OP I read that I need a 4” high, 10mm thick, unpadded single prong leather belt. I still don't know which belt I want to buy, I do not intend to look at the price or buy a cheap one I just want to start with the best belt I can get, I will be happy with the purchase, has the best reviews and is most used on this forum with other lifters ( so just a good belt ). I will be using it for bodybuilding and starting to use it on one of the workout programs from this forum ( Fierce 5 ) as I progress my lifts.

These are the belts im trying to choose one from after reading posts on this forum it seemed like the best there is, but I'm not sure which one I should buy:

SBD Belt: ( Most expensive and it's a lever belt but I can buy it if its a good one, I already got the knee sleeve and elbow sleeves and they are good )

Pioneer:
https://generalleathercraft.com/prod...lt-by-pioneer/
https://www.elitefts.com/elitefts-13...ower-belt.html ( 13mm )
https://generalleathercraft.com/prod...-lifting-belt/

Titan:
https://titansupport.com/product/toro-prong-belt/

Best belt:
http://www.bestbelts.net/Powerliftin...s/Athlete.aspx


Please let me know what you think and what you would choose in my position, I live in Europe so some of the belts will have some costs with shipping while the SBD belt has no shipping costs.

I really like the Pioneer cut belt you linked. That's going to be the belt I gift myself for Christmas and making my 4 plate goal on squats (405X5).

[cmarti063]

So I have been reading a lot of posts on this but reading everything would be insane and I came to the conclusion that there are a few good belts I can pick from

I replied to your other thread, but I'll answer here too in case someone else jumps to the end of this thread with a similar question.

The Pioneer Cut might as well make standard hole spacing obsolete. I'm a huge fan of lever belts, but your first (or only if you don't plan on getting more than one) good belt really should be a 4" single prong 10mm, preferably a pioneer cut.

I've owned more belts than I can remember, sold everything besides my Pioneers, of which I currently have 13.

https://instagram.com/pioneer_fit

[sera310]

I have an Inzer Forever belt that's a few years old, and it's been fine--but you won't complain that it gets soft as it ages (I guess that's why they call it a "Forever" belt).

Or at least it seemed fine, until I bought my kid a Pioneer-cut belt for Xmas. I haven't let him use it yet, making him wait, so I haven't posted a review of it, but I will say that it's beautiful, the embroidery turned out great. I snuck in a try-on, and now my Inzer belt always seems to be half a size off....

[sera310]

I replied to your other thread, but I'll answer here too in case someone else jumps to the end of this thread with a similar question.

The Pioneer Cut might as well make standard hole spacing obsolete. I'm a huge fan of lever belts, but your first (or only if you don't plan on getting more than one) good belt really should be a 4" single prong 10mm, preferably a pioneer cut.

I've owned more belts than I can remember, sold everything besides my Pioneers, of which I currently have 13.

https://instagram.com/pioneer_fit

13! That's impressive, even for the Equipment forum.

[KoolDJVader]

Because of tax returns and wanting to give lever belts another chance, I recently made another purchase from Pioneer....this time a 13mm untreated lever belt. Why untreated? Because through trial and error I found that I prefer a very thick and stiff belt.

Ive had an Inzer 10mm lever belt many years ago and while I liked the support and the ease of putting the belt on and taking it off, the overlap part never felt right and just wore prong belts exclusively since around 2014.

Anyway Ive had the new lever belt for a while but since I was only squatting ultra light today, decide it was a good day to test it out.

Its weird, Im a manlet but a belt this thick and stiff does not bother me at all. What was bothering me was how to position the belt. I put it on right away today, even with 135. It was a bit tighter than I would like but loosening it up one hole was a bit too loose. Finally I think I found the correct way....I try to get the overlap area, where it becomes double thick, right in the center of my abs. I feel this distributes the support best....one side of the my body doesn't have more of the double thick area than the other. Oddly enough on prong belts due to the buckle, this area of the body usually isn't covered by the belt.

Most lever belt users probably already knew this but I use to just center the lever and lock it in which usually put a little more of the overlap area to side. So it was EUREKA moment for me.

Anyway, you need pics for this forum so here it is. Nothing extra other than asked for double stitching. And no matter what Matt says about the turnaround time (he usually says 4-6 weeks for non embroidered if I recall correctly), I've never waited more than 2 weeks to get my belt from them

https://imgur.com/a/5xwZJqM

Wow, I posted this back in April.....

Just to update, I have grown to love this belt. It is now nicely broken in and I have the belt position dialed in perfectly (Ive lost over 10 lbs since this so wearing it one notch looser). Since its untreated it probably (hopefully) wont get much softer as Ive gotten to love my belts thick and stiff (that's what she said). One thing that surprised me that I didn't notice right away....Pioneer punches 10 holes in their prong belts but 9 holes in their lever belts. Since a lever takes up 2 holes, that's only 8 adjustments you can make. Wonder why they do this....I've had Inzer prongs and lever as well and they do the opposite, put more holes in their lever belt. Not a huge deal since I was right at the middle so not in danger of the belt becoming too small or too large (I want to drop a little more weight but should be okay) but just a curiousity.

[lopcherng]

Did the Inzer Forever always have the board in the middle? I recently bought an Inzer lever belt size medium and it seems too small for me- only the last 2 holes fit. I think I need a larger size. Will probably let it go and I did more research and came across this thread.

SBD belt large is not in stock and it's also hella pricey. So I'm thinking about upping size on the Inzer to a large or getting a pioneer belt. I only fit the last 2 holes of inzer medium so I think a large would be perfect... however I'm unsure of what size I would get with the pioneer lever. Medium and Large seems pretty close. My waist measures 37" loosely at the belly button. I wear size 34 pants. When I'm bulking my pants can go up to 36", I'm not sure how big my waist gets but probably bigger. I'm probably at around 20% body fat or a little less.

Also any differences between pioneer 10mm lever belt regular and pioneer STOCK 13mm lever belt? The pioneer stock black looks sick, but I'm worried 13mm may be too stiff? I honestly have no idea since I don't know the difference or have worn belts before.

[KoolDJVader]

Did the Inzer Forever always have the board in the middle? I recently bought an Inzer lever belt size medium and it seems too small for me- only the last 2 holes fit. I think I need a larger size. Will probably let it go and I did more research and came across this thread.

SBD belt large is not in stock and it's also hella pricey. So I'm thinking about upping size on the Inzer to a large or getting a pioneer belt. I only fit the last 2 holes of inzer medium so I think a large would be perfect... however I'm unsure of what size I would get with the pioneer lever. Medium and Large seems pretty close. My waist measures 37" loosely at the belly button. I wear size 34 pants. When I'm bulking my pants can go up to 36", I'm not sure how big my waist gets but probably bigger. I'm probably at around 20% body fat or a little less.

Also any differences between pioneer 10mm lever belt regular and pioneer STOCK 13mm lever belt? The pioneer stock black looks sick, but I'm worried 13mm may be too stiff? I honestly have no idea since I don't know the difference or have worn belts before.

I would get a custom Pioneer belt and ask the holes be tailor made for you. Just ask for 37" to be the middle holes. I've ordered from them many times and as long as there is no embroidery, gotten the belt in 2 weeks.

The stock 13mm lever is 2 layers of 6.5mm sole bend leather with no suede and is untreated. From what Matt posted on IG, this leather is more pliable than the ones he used to make the now discontinued stock 10mm belts (made with 2 layers of 5mm sole bend leather...no suede as well) so it feels about the same. As I posted above, I have their 13mm untreated non stock lever belt and it is stiff as hell but I love it.

The 10mm regular lever belt is one piece of 6.5mm leather in between 2 pieces of suede. Although you can request them to make it 10mm with no suede (I ordered a 10mm single prong all leather untreated belt 2 years ago and it may be the best all around belt Ive gotten since its less obtrusive than a 13mm belt but more supportive than a double suede 10mm belt)

[NavyRoll]

I ordered a 10mm single prong all leather untreated belt 2 years ago and it may be the best all around belt Ive gotten since its less obtrusive than a 13mm belt but more supportive than a double suede 10mm belt

I know you've owned many belts in the past and went back and forth with your preferences in the process of finding "that perfect belt". It's interesting that 10mm untreated single prong still remains as your favorite from the day you got it.

My 13mm treated lever has been the only belt that I've owned and used for a little more than two years now. Nowdays, I kind of want to try out a 10mm treated lever belt and I definitely I don't need it since I absolutely love my 13mm. It's more about wanting to find out how it'd feel like once I cinch it around the waist.

[KoolDJVader]

I know you've owned many belts in the past and went back and forth with your preferences in the process of finding "that perfect belt". It's interesting that 10mm untreated single prong still remains as your favorite from the day you got it.

My 13mm treated lever has been the only belt that I've owned and used for a little more than two years now. Nowdays, I kind of want to try out a 10mm treated lever belt and I definitely I don't need it since I absolutely love my 13mm. It's more about wanting to find out how it'd feel like once I cinch it around the waist.

LOL, yep probably owned too many belts.

Have you experienced any movement between the layers of your treated belt? After a while, my belt felt like the layers were separating. I got it double stitched so it probably wasnt going to fall apart but but bits of the adhesive was coming off through the holes. I wondered if the oil treatment compromises the glue a bit. I think maybe because I clamp the belt on a power rack to help get it on and off stresses the belt and pulls the adhesive off from the leather. I never asked Matt to look at it because I stopped using it and too lazy to put it in a box and send it back but may one day. (My untreated 10mm which I use the same method hasnt had this issue)