What Makes a Great Weightlifting Belt?

 

 

This is THE number one question you should ask when choosing your weightlifting belt. At Element 26 I sat down with our team of competitive athletes to discuss the answer to that question when we developed the PERFECT weightlifting belt.

First we grabbed our whiteboard and wrote that a belt needs to accomplish 4 KEY factors: support... comfortability... safety… and efficiency.

If it doesn’t accomplish ALL 4 then it’s not something you want.

PLAIN and SIMPLE it would be a waste of time and money.

The first thing we did to design the belt was focus on the materials…

We thought: “what makes a belt comfortable and supportive?”

So we threw out some material ideas and our 3 best were leather, neoprene, and nylon.

Leather is good but not super comfortable, neoprene is also good but difficult to form to the body, but nylon on the other hand…

We had something there.

When analyzing nylon, we noticed it forms easily to the body, folds very well, and is incredibly durable/supportive.

NYLON WAS A WINNER.

The other materials were not even close.

Ok so we chose the material but now what about the shape and contour? What makes a belt perform well?

I’m about to bore you slightly so just bear with me.

Let’s remember that a weightlifting belt needs to provide SUPPORT. For you to generate force on your lifts while supporting your back, you need to feel stable first and the best way to do that is by increasing your abdominal pressure.

Therefore the belt needs to be the SAME shape all the way around to maximize the abdominal pressure while performing the lift… THE SAME SHAPE.

Let that sink in.

That right there eliminated all the belts that have the big contoured shape in the back that so many companies claim “helps back pain.” Truth be told, that does absolutely nothing besides provide the sensation of touch.

Next on our list for performance was efficiency. How do we design a belt that unlocks quickly but also remains supportive and stays locked in place??

Well to answer this question we developed the Self-Locking Buckle with the Quick Release Roller.

1. The buckle allows for a quick transition between exercises and sets (by 50% compared to leather belts)....

2. The buckle is so strong it won’t pop open in the bottom of your squat or olympic lifts like so many velcro belts will do which risks injury.

NOT ONLY DO YOU SAVE TIME WITH THE QUICK RELEASE BUT YOU PREVENT YOURSELF FROM SERIOUS INJURY.

If the belt pops open not only is this insanely dangerous as you lose tension...BUT it throws off your confidence when trying to hit a PR.

That’s HUGE.

So lastly, we thought, the belt has to look GREAT.

We didn’t want some fancy, obnoxious design that makes you a walking billboard too embarrassed to wear it...

Instead we chose a CLEAN, MINIMALIST design with vibrant color options so that you have a sense of refined confidence as you walk into the gym about to crush a PR.

That is exactly what went into our thought process when we designed the ELEMENT 26 SELF-LOCKING WEIGHT BELT. Function first, Design second. That’s the secret formula. Literally.

Now go crush some weights!

To purchase a Self-Locking Weightlifting Belt, either find it on our website under the Products tab or go directly to Amazon.

And because you read this far, you get a 15% discount code for your first SELF-LOCKING WEIGHTLIFTING BELT purchase.

15% Discount Code: ELEMNT26

Dr. Phil Gauthier

Element 26

Co-Founder