Heavy Is a Feeling (Not a Number)

Something a little different this week, we solicited your questions on Insta, and they were great!

What's up with lifting belts and do I need one?

MW: I love this question, because the answer is technically: no. But also yes. But honestly… mostly no.

First things first: don’t wear a belt until you know how to brace properly. The belt is not there to stop your kidneys from collapsing in on themselves. It’s there to amplify intra-abdominal pressure. 

If you can’t brace on your own yet, the belt doesn’t help. In fact, it’ll probably make you lazy and worse off in the long run. (Meg Squats has a great explanation of bracing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpaR8XE0tQU)

One of my favourite pastimes is occasionally wandering into a big commercial gym purely to observe the gym bros in their natural habitat. The pageantry is incredible. I once watched a guy belt up for his warm-up squats with just the bar. If you need a belt for 20kg, we have larger issues at play, mate.

So if you’re progressing your lifts slowly, and your core feels stable and you’re not collapsing under load: you do not need a belt. And if you have a coach, they’ll tell you when your bracing is solid enough to try one.

BUT.

Most competitive and pro lifters do wear belts. I hate deadlifting in a belt. But for squats? I feel noticeably stronger with one. Once I figured out how to wear it (which took a minute), it added about 10% to my squat. 

Mostly, it gave me feedback. I’d been bracing correctly for ages, it turns out, but I couldn’t feel whether I was doing it right. With a belt, I could actually push into something. I understood what bracing should feel like. That was honestly worth it on its own.

Also, and this is the dumb, shallow answer, I feel like a badass when I wear it. The “walk away from the rack while flicking the lever” maneuver is a lot of fun. 

If you’re curious: Borrow one first. Or get a basic velcro or single-prong belt. Do not drop $600 on a custom lever belt only to discover you hate it and now own a piece of decorative leather. Honestly, they’re unwieldy and take up a lot of room in your gym bag. 

TL;DR:

• Build your bracing first.
• Don’t belt your warm-ups — the belt is not your emotional support animal.
• Use it only when you’re lifting heavy enough to need extra stability.
• Once your core is strong, a belt can help you express that strength better.

CH: It’s important to understand what a weight belt actually does. As Megan mentioned, a belt increases intra-abdominal pressure, essentially creating tension within your torso to help you brace and lift heavier loads.

From an anatomical and training perspective, I don’t think it’s the best place to start. Early on, it’s more valuable to teach your muscles to provide that stability naturally and build strength. Once you’ve developed a solid base of strength and consistent lifting volume, adding a belt can give you a small but meaningful performance boost.

I’d recommend spending at least a year building strength with good technique and progressive overload first. If you’re starting to hit the ceiling of your strength gains or plan to compete, then, as Megan suggested, consider introducing a belt. It can definitely help!

For context, at our last competition, I didn’t see a single powerlifter lifting without one… except me, so there’s probably a good reason for that! The only reason I didn't use mine was that it was super uncomfortable and I hadn't trained enough with it for it to feel familiar. 

Would love to hear you both talk about your approach to building up to lifting heavy! I’m six months into strength training -! I feel like Wonder Woman but progress is slow and as I’m focusing on form right now, this has meant dropping some weights. I’m full of admiration- tell us your secrets!!

MW: First of all: you 100% are Wonder Woman. I have seen those kettlebells. 

Two things spring to mind for me, as a lifter, and Carl will have a more coach-based answer. 

Firstly, ah yes! Beginner Gains. The wins come thick and fast, and then at some point, the easy gains run out and what’s left is the real training. And you know what? That bit is way more satisfying. Cos chucking up a 40kg deadlift is fun and all, but really grinding out a lift that is right at the edge of what you can do makes you feel much much stronger. That’s when you become a lifter. 

I have dear friends who have joined me in lifting, who are blasting through their first few months, all “I got a PB in my deadlift,” and it’s taking me a reasonable amount of forbearance (and a fair bit of lip tissue) to not mutter “call me when you’ve been plateaued in your bench press for 18 months.” 

Progressive overload is a wonderful thing. But social media conditions us to think that it means going up 5kg every week in every lift. What I have learned in 5 years is that progressive overload could mean one more rep. It could mean one more good rep. It could mean making it to the gym twice a week instead of once. It could mean better form, slightly less laboured breathing, a cuter selfie at the end of your set.

(Maybe not that last one.) 

And secondly, lifting heavy means lifting heavy for you. Heavy isn’t a number, it’s a feeling. 

Lifting heavy means challenging yourself and your muscles. If you’re getting to the end of a set of 10-12 reps and the last couple feel hard enough that you might fail, that’s heavy. 

If you mean build up to getting under a barbell: you’re already doing it. Learn, practice, nail the form - that will keep you safe when your weight starts to get up there. And work with a trainer if you can, who can guide you through it. Learning good form isn’t holding up the progress: it is the progress. 

And don’t worry about dropping the weights: that happens. I am currently lifting about 15–20% less than I was three months ago because life, stress, sleep, hormones, travel, broken foot,  vibes, etc. This is not a setback. This is training. Strength isn’t linear. It’s what happens on any given day.

CH: This is a really important question. When we are looking at getting stronger, we need to look at the progress over a long period of time. After the newbie gains, the real work begins. This doesn't mean it's horrible suffering moving forward, it just requires consistency, adaptation and a combination of celebrating the small wins, but keeping the eyes on the bigger prize. 

It’s also important to acknowledge that our focus may change, or we may (and often do) find new things to work on. It may be prioritising depth, form or iterations of certain exercises, which can feel like taking one step back to go two steps forward. That's ok, trust the process and trust your coach as they will shine light on that perspective and notice improvements that you want.

If you REALLY want to get stronger, smart programming and certain tools and techniques will fast-track that process as well as a strong emphasis on recovery - meaning sleep, nutrition and stress perception etc (all of those factors we mentioned last week). Also, I find it’s useful to find that balance between consistency in programming (doing the same things) and adding some variety. This can help for many reasons, including motivation to persist. 

When you have good lifting experience, I’d recommend testing the boundaries of what heavy actually is to you, as research suggests that most people underestimate their strength and what failure is (most of us have another couple of reps left in us). Again, a good coach can help with this.

Why are some exercises just ick, and not a good, fun, challenge? 

MW: I feel like Carl is gonna have a better answer than me here, but let’s just call out the elephant in the room: burpees. 

The other day, I was lying on the gym floor, panting, having just attempted a new, very hardcore exercise. Carl and I were chatting to someone and he asked if it was worse than Bulgarian split squats. And I, inexplicably, said, “I don’t understand the Bulgarian hate, I don’t mind them.”

I don’t know where that came from, because I moan about Bulgarians all the time. They suck. They suck because they require mobility and strength and balance. They are horrible. But they are horrible in a way I understand. When I do them, I can tell I am getting better at them. Even when they involve jumping and are therefore extra dumb and stupid, I understand why I’m doing them. They build power. They have purpose. 

Even though I am sure Carl could explain the purpose of burpees, I don’t want to hear it. I won’t dignify the conversation. Burpees make me feel clumsy and old and weak and unfit, and none of those are things I want to feel while I’m working out. Part of the joy of the gym (more on this next week!) is to walk out feeling capable.

Burpees are the opposite of that. Burpees are ritual humiliation disguised as conditioning. Burpees make me resent gravity and the floor. Burpees can get in the bin and the world would be better for it.

(Over to Carl to be a little more mature.)

CH: Haha! This is great and this is what makes humans fun and interesting! We are all different and like different things. When you are starting out or exploring your movement journey, I think it's important to diversify and find what you love, because that's most likely going to be the thing that will get you to the gym or at least keep you moving for life. In saying that, to progress, you have to get uncomfortable and chances are, you will have to do things you don't like. So the question then becomes, is it juice worth the squeeze?

It's also important to ask yourself why you don't like it, is it because it's hard, or that it exposes a weakness or lack of mobility? If you have a coach, they should have a good reason as to why this is good for you and should be able to connect that exercise to your goal. Hopefully, this provides reason enough to tolerate it and see the benefit. If not, then it's probably not the exercise for you and there may be a far more enjoyable and beneficial exercise out there waiting! 

Regarding burpees, in my opinion, they're not all they're cracked up to be. There are other ways of moving and getting your heart rate up. In saying that, it's always a good idea to practice getting up and down off the ground as this is linked to mortality. 

So, in summary. It's good to do hard things, but make sure there is a benefit, that it aligns with your goals, and you should definitely have some movement practice and play that you DO enjoy in there! 

Segway time…

Is physical play important and how do I integrate it?

CH: I really believe it is important for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing. We always think of movement as exercise done for health outcomes and many ‘functional’ zealots believe that it is based on ancestral survival skills. To hunt, gather, fight, protect, commute etc. However, many cultures have documented movement, done for the sake of enjoyment.

For example, surfing is one of the earliest human movement practices done purely for joy, expression, and connection, originating in ancient Polynesia, especially Hawai‘i, over a thousand years ago. Unlike activities tied to survival or transport, surfing (heʻe nalu) was a playful, communal, and often spiritual practice. It was seen as a way to dance with the ocean, enter a flow state, and celebrate skill and courage. Early observers described entire communities, children, adults, and even chiefs riding waves simply because it felt good. Boards were carved with ritual and respect, reinforcing that surfing was an art form, not a utility.

Obviously, you don't have to surf to play, but if you are a surfer or know a surfer, you know that once you have the 'bug', you generally don't ever stop. It's because it's fun and rewarding. With my own movement practice and with many of my clients, I use games or play as a warm-up, cool down, or I integrate it into our sessions. One of my clients was an ex-cricket athlete, so ball sports appeal to him. We have 30 minutes of ball games in our sessions and we currently have an 18-year competition going (I'm currently narrowly ahead by 4 games) with this kick game that we created and play! We actually recorded his calorie output and compared it to a hill walk/run of the same duration and the games came out on top!

Referring to the games above, you can see that physical play has an element of challenge, it's not easy, but it's fun and rewarding.

I believe that play is a core value of mine and I integrate it into my work, home life and everything I do, because life is serious enough! I believe you can integrate it into all areas of life (obviously, the context and timing are important considerations!).

MW: Casey, probably the biggest inspiration for this newsletter, has a post about this I think about a lot. And I also saw an amazing reminder of it this week, in the form of a tiktok  by extremely jacked lumberjack Thoren Bradley. 

Being “fit” isn’t about how much you can bench or how sculpted your quads are - it’s how well your body fits into your lifestyle. I work out because when I am 70, I want to be able to play on the ground with my nieces’ kids. I want to be able to still climb the Spanish Steps in Rome when I am 80 and pash my boyfriend while we look at the sunset. I want to be able to dance and jump and walk and fall and all the things that make life worth living. 

We aren’t meant to be mindless little capitalist worker bees, constantly chasing the next best thing. But that’s the world we live in - one where how you look is treated as proof of your value, and perfection is the currency: perfect tan, perfect hair, sculpted, lifted, injected.

This turned into a rant, but I am a child of the “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” 1990’s and it terrifies me that young women are back to that, but worse, in 2025. Talking to my bestie this week, I said “I literally can not imagine spending any time wishing I was smaller now,” and that is a massive breakthrough. I want that for more people. 

So yes, lifting 100 kilos is fun. But that’s not the point. The point is to build a body that lets you live your full, joyous messy, magical life. Anyone who tells you different is selling something - and it’s not health

Cool Shit we Saw This Week

• "From standing desks to weighted vests during Zoom calls: has our pursuit of wellness turned regular life into a never-ending workout?" (RNZ)
• “Body weight is the simplest apparatus you can use,” Stack said. “I would encourage anyone who’s not exercising to start exercising with just their body.” (Stuff)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRA8GqHDr9V/?igsh=MXQxNXQwdzRqd2oweQ==