Walk into any serious gym and you will see two camps. One lifter cinches a thick leather belt before every working set of squats. Another refuses to touch one, convinced it will leave the core weak and dependent. Both are confident, and the research suggests both are partly wrong. Lifting belts have been studied for more than three decades, using pressure catheters in the abdomen, surface EMG on the trunk and legs, force plates and bar-speed sensors. The picture that emerges