Beltless squats

i regularly hit 295-305 squat at RPE 8 with my belt on. When I do beltless squats around 205 my low back fails me. I assume it’s a matter of bracing. Could it be I lm just so NOT used to squatting without a belt that I’m that far apart in weight. Thanks

Assuming you are doing The Bridge, the low back issues probably have something to do with the heavy deadlifts you did prior to your no-belt squats in addition to your lack of experience with the no-belt squats themselves.

Be sure you are not overshooting your RPEs on deadlifts and give yourself some time to adapt to the increased volume and the novel exercises. 100lbs is a large discrepancy, but don’t sweat it. If you are hitting your RPEs, you are doing the program. I predict the discrepancy will decrease noticeably in future weeks.

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Assuming no deadlifts before beltless squats, I’ll throw in that it could be a confidence/nocebo issue to some degree. Or just not bracing enough.

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I was roughly in the same boat for a while. 150kg x 2 @ 9.5, but belt-less, I wasn’t game to go much over 120. In my own case, I think I was representing the belt as more of an exoskeleton than an aid to bracing. I recommend a crash course in the Valsalva maneuver. Once you get your head around it, its one of those ‘ah,ha’ moments. So much more than just taking ‘big air’.

Plenty of good resources, here’s a couple I used. The getting punched in the stomach cue I found particular useful.

This hairy up and comer gives a good explanation…

And one with props.

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