Lifting belts and straps: when to use them

When to wear a belt

• Heavy squats and deadlifts: sets at roughly 80% of your one rep max and above, or sets of 5 or fewer that feel genuinely heavy.
• Heavy overhead pressing: some lifters like one for standing presses, though it is less common.
• Heavy front squats or lunges: occasionally, if you find it helps.

Skip it on warm-ups, light and moderate sets, accessories and conditioning. Using a belt for everything means you never practise bracing without one, and your trunk muscles miss out on some of the training effect.

Beginners do not need a belt for their first months of training. Learn to brace properly without one first. Our guide to breathing and bracing walks through the technique step by step.

How to wear it

1. Position the belt around your midsection, between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips. Most people wear it just above the hip bones.
2. Tighten it so you can just slide a flat hand between the belt and your stomach.
3. Take a big breath into your belly and sides and push out into the belt all the way round.
4. Hold that pressure through the rep, then breathe again at the top.

Too tight and you cannot breathe into it; too loose and there is nothing to push against. For deadlifts, many people wear it slightly looser or a little higher than for squats, so it does not dig in at the bottom of the pull.

Choosing a belt

Look for a belt that is the same width all the way round, commonly around 10 cm, made of stiff leather or a similarly firm material. Tapered belts that are wide at the back and thin at the front are less useful, because the front is where you push out.

Prong and lever buckles both work well. Lever belts are quick to fasten but need a screwdriver to adjust the size; prong belts are easier to adjust if your weight or clothing changes. Velcro belts are fine for lighter work, circuits and Olympic lifting, but tend to give way under very heavy loads.

You do not need an expensive belt, but avoid thin, padded ones that fold easily. Try a few on if you can; borrowing a shared gym belt for a few sessions is a good way to find out what you like before buying.

Straps: when grip is the limit

Lifting straps loop around your wrist and the bar, taking some of the load off your grip. They are useful when your grip gives out before the muscles you are trying to train, for example on heavy rows, high rep Romanian deadlifts, shrugs and some heavy pulldowns. For rowing technique itself, see the barbell row guide.

They are less useful if grip strength matters for your goal. A HYROX athlete who uses straps for every pull will find the farmers carry and sled pull much harder on race day, and powerlifters cannot use straps in competition. Our guide to grip strength covers that side.

• Lasso straps: the most common and versatile, and easy to release if you need to drop the bar.
• Figure-eight straps: very secure and used for very heavy pulls, but harder to bail out of.
• Hooks: quick to use and popular for machine work, but less secure on heavy barbell lifts.

Practise putting straps on quickly and the same way each time, so the bar sits in the same place in your hands on every set.

Wrist wraps and knee sleeves

Wrist wraps support the wrist on heavy pressing, helping keep it stacked over the forearm. They can help people whose wrists bend back on heavy bench or overhead presses, though fixing where the bar sits in your hand should come first.

Knee sleeves are neoprene sleeves that keep the knee warm and give a little compression. Many lifters find them comfortable on squat days. They are not a treatment for knee pain; if your knees hurt when you squat, get it looked at. Lycan Strength has on-site physiotherapy, with 20% off treatment for members.

The simple rule

Learn to lift well without equipment first. Add a belt when your squat and deadlift are heavy enough to benefit, use straps for back and hamstring work where grip is the limit, and keep plenty of unassisted work in your week.

A good test: if your belt and straps disappeared tomorrow, could you still train productively at slightly lighter weights? If the answer is yes, you are using them well.

Equipment should help you do more of the right training, not hide weaknesses you would be better off fixing. For deadlift-specific advice, including grip options like the hook grip and mixed grip, see how to increase your deadlift.