These Are the 10 Best Things in My Gym Bag

These Are the 10 Best Things in My Gym Bag
Photo: Beth Skwarecki

I have two types of belts, and I love them both.

The black one is a 2pood velcro/fabric belt, four inches wide, and approved for use at weightlifting meets (that’s Olympic style weightlifting, where the competitive lifts are the snatch and clean and jerk). I use it for squats and for my heaviest clean and jerks.

The maroon one is leather, 10mm thick, and three inches wide. (It’s from Pioneer and has holes spaced every half-inch, instead of every inch.) I bought it back when I did more powerlifting than Olympic lifting. Even though I use the black belt for squats now, I still love this slightly thinner belt for deadlifts. The advice I got when I was first belt shopping is that everybody likes a 4" belt for squats, but not everybody likes them for deadlifts. If you’re a smaller person or have a shorter torso, a 3" belt might be perfect for you.

That said, not everyone needs a belt, so if you lift casually and don’t compete you can probably do without one.

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