Lifting Belts - Are They Necessary?

In most gyms today it is quite common to see weight trainers of all skill levels sporting lifting belts. Some will even go so far as to wear them for the duration of their entire workout, including upper body exercises that have no apparent need at all for such apparatus. This product, although having been around for a very long time and offering some (minimal benefit), should be left in the gym bag for the most part in all workouts.

Lifting belts are designed to compress the abs and lower back in order to provide additional support and stability for movements primarily involving bending or straightening of the lower back. Squats and deadlifts are the two exercises in which a belt is most commonly used since they both require tremendous core strength to support the enormous amount of weight lifted. The problem is that when a piece of equipment is used to play the role of a muscle group during a lift that muscle group is not forced to work as hard. The result - underdevelopment of important muscles. Everybody is born with a natural lifting belt far better (and cheaper) than a commercial one - their abs and lower back. The power movements that cause many lifters to get the urge to use a belt have a purpose to develop both a strong core capable of supporting a lot of weight. To use such equipment is truly cheating one out of the full benefits of even performing the exercises.

Although lifting belts do impair essential muscle growth they do have one good practical use. A single rep maximum lift in either the squat or deadlift would surely benefit from wearing a belt. This is an exception because single reps are typically used in either competition preparation or strength measurement rather than muscle building. But other than that it's best to let the core muscles play their own role. An added benefit of this is a much more intense ab workout than any number of crunches or leg raises - and everyone strives for a washboard stomach.

Boulder Shoulders

Building a pair of cannon ball shoulders is actually considerably easier than many other muscle groups. While shoulder width is largely determined by both genetics and upper back development, the actual shoulder muscles can be easily build to look like bronze pumpkins through intelligent (rather than intense) training. It is also important to train traps since they add a whole new dimension to the shoulders as well as prevent "pencil neck" syndrome. A solid shoulder/trap routine should be quick but effective.

Although seated or standing presses (either barbell or dumbbell) are the primary mass builder, shoulder are trained best when warmed up with isolation movements beforehand. Therefore the first two exercises are dumbbell lateral and front raises (bent-over lateral raises can also be included if they are not performed in an upper back workout). Performing raises first will train each individual head of the shoulder (minus the rear head if trained with back) as well as warm up the rotator cuff for heavy presses to follow. After the shoulders are warmed up the next exercise is some variation of free weight vertical press to build overall size and strength. Finally the traps must be tended to - either shrugs or upright rows will accomplish this task.

Suggested Shoulder/Trap Workout:

• Lateral Raises 2 x 10-15
• Front Raises 2 x 10-15
• Bent-over Lateral Raises 2 x 10-15 (if not performed with upper back)
• Shoulder Presses (Barbell or Dumbbell) 2-3 x 6-10
• Shrugs or Upright Rows 2-3 x 8-12

A Brutal Back

Many participants of the weight lifting game strive to develop an intimidating upper body - after all, this is what people notice most. A thick chest, fat python arms and shoulders that barely fit through a door commands respect (and even a bit a fear). However, many go about this the wrong way by putting the most emphasis on chest, biceps and shoulders without realizing that the back and triceps contribute most to overall torso and arm size. The upper back is the largest muscle group of the upper body and combined with the lower back and hamstrings, makes up almost half of the entire body. But just because it's not the first area noticed it is often ignored - big mistake. The upper back is the major contributor to shoulder width and frames in the chest to give it a further enlarged appearance. The lower back is a very powerful muscle group that plays a large part of good posture as well as assisting the legs in intense movements like squats. Since the hamstrings are also involved in many of the same compound lifts that train the lower back, the two can be easily trained together. So doesn't it make sense to hit this huge area with a solid workout?

A great first movement is the traditional pull-up and cable pull-downs are no substitute - almost anyone can do at least a single pull-up and many gyms have assistance machines. This is the single best exercise for back width and the wider the grip the better. Next comes the power movement of the entire workout - the deadlift. As with squats, maximal effort sets should be preceded with at least one warm-up set (pyramiding these sets in 90 pound increments works well). Deadlifts work the entire back and hamstrings as well as contributing to overall body strength. A good third exercise is either the bent-over barbell row or one-arm dumbbell row to build upper back thickness (these can be alternated between workouts). By this time, both the upper back should be feeling fairly worked. If not, any rowing or pull-down machine (cable or plate loaded) will accomplish this task. As a finisher to the upper back, bent-over lateral raises done on a cable crossover rack work nicely but dumbbells are just as effective. Although this is thought of as a shoulder exercise (and it is for the most part) it works the upper back muscles through a large range of motion. Next, the hamstrings need to be hit quick and hard - any leg curl machine (seated or lying) is the exercise of choice for a good pump and burn. Finally, a couple sets of hyperextensions will finish off the lower back and hamstrings.

Suggested Back/Hamstring Workout:

• Pull-ups 2-3 x 8-12 (use additional weight if necessary)
• Deadlifts 2-3 x 6-10
• Bent-over Rows or One-arm Rows 2 x 8-12
• Any Upper Back Machine 2 x 10-15 (optional)
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (Cable or '>Dumbbell) 2 x 10-15
• Leg Curls (Seated or Lying) 2 x 10-15
• Hyperextensions 2 x 10-15

As an added note, this workout can be broken into two separate workouts - upper back and lower back/hamstrings. For upper back: pull-ups, bent-over or one-arm rows, machine rows (optional) and reverse crossovers. For lower back/hamstrings: deadlifts, leg curls and hyperextensions.