Anyone ever do squats (barbell, not smith) without a belt, but have your back so tensed up (to keep it steady and secure) that the lower back muscles tense up and form what feels like a belt tied around your spine very tight?
it happend to me once before, should have stretched more and wore a belt, but it goes away with time.
I remember it coming back 3 days after when i did deadlifts.
is it possible going heavy on squats (beltless) and not get that feeling?
i find a belt sometimes uncomfortable during lifts, hence i dont wear it...
discuss
On a serious note, samething happened to me real bad actually last week. I never use a belt for any of my workouts, haven't done it for my 3 1/2-4yrs of lifting. Now the problem is the compound movements or the heavy free weights that you incorporate in your workouts which is more than a couple of times a week. If you think about it the compound movements or the heavy free weights that you're doing it for chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs and one way or the other there's constant pressure on your lower back. Even though that's a muscle that we might not "think" doesn't get a lot of workout on when we're not doing legs or deads, it does get a lot of tension in that area for the control of the upper body. If you was to use the machines the strain of your lower back wouldn't be as much because it's a more of an isolated movement.
Now obviously for those that does use a belt really doesn't concern them. Because the belt takes away 40-50% strain from your lower back muscles (around the hip, little below the hip).
I'd say ease off with the heavy weights for 2 weeks, get a belt and go light weight for more controlled slow movements. Cause let me tell ya bro, i was doing 8 sets of squats the other day and i couldn't even leave the gym dude. Once i got in my car it was killing me, and it wasn't like a "sharp pain", more like a "burning tightness" around my lower back muscles. Dude it got so bad i had to pull over to the side of the highway and lay down on the ground, never had that happened before. But now i'm using a belt for 2 weeks or so, going moderate weights and only using the machines with 1-2 free weight exercies to let my lower back get a good rest. And then i'm back to free weights with a lot of compound movements without a belt, and if the tightness comes back again that's normal. I'll just use the belt for a few weeks if needed for more rest on my lower back. Let me tell ya an injury is definitely not worth any setback!
Hope this helps.
