What are lifting belts and lifting straps?

In one line

A lifting belt is a wide band worn around the belly and lower back that raises the pressure inside the belly, and a lifting strap is a band that links the wrist to the bar to help your grip.

What are lifting belts and lifting straps?
A band around the waist, a strap around the wrist
At the gym, during heavy squats or deadlifts, you see people wear a wide band around the waist or wrap a strap around the wrist and tie it to the bar. The first is a lifting belt, the second is a lifting strap. This post explains what the two tools are and what each one does.
In one line
The belt helps the trunk, the strap helps the hands
A lifting belt is a wide, stiff band worn around the belly and lower back when lifting heavy weights. A lifting strap is a band wrapped around the wrist, with the free end wrapped around the bar, to help the hand that holds the bar.
What a belt looks like
A wide band that barely stretches
A lifting belt is a wide band made of a material that barely stretches, like leather, with a buckle. The international rules of powerlifting, a sport where people compete in how much barbell weight they can lift, limit belt width to 10 cm or less and ban extra padding inside the band.
A word to know first: belly pressure
The pressure inside the belly space
The pressure in the space that holds the organs of the belly is called intra-abdominal pressure, or belly pressure. It rises when you take a big breath, hold it, and tighten your belly. This way of holding your breath and pushing is called the Valsalva maneuver.
What the belt does
Belly pressure was higher with a belt
When people did squats and deadlifts at 90% of the most they could lift once, belly pressure was higher with a belt than without. In the deadlift, belly pressure also started to rise sooner. The researchers concluded that the belt supports the trunk by raising belly pressure.
What a strap looks like
Wrap it around the wrist, then around the bar
A lifting strap is a band wrapped around the wrist. When you wrap the free end around the bar and grip the bar over it, your hand and the bar are linked. This way, part of the weight hangs on the wrist instead of the fingers.
Why people use straps
The hands holding the bar tire first
People who train often say that when they do several sets of pulling exercises like the deadlift, the hands holding the bar tire first. The strength you use to hold something in your hand is called grip strength. A strap is a tool used to keep grip strength from running out first.
With straps
Grip strength dropped less set after set
In studies where people did several sets of deadlifts, grip strength measured after each set dropped less when they used straps. People using straps also felt more confident that they would not lose hold of the bar.
Common myth
Does a belt prevent back injuries?
A belt is a tool that raises belly pressure; it has not been shown to prevent back injuries. In a large study, not of gym belts but of workers who carry goods and often wore back belts, back injuries and back pain did not go down. An analysis pooling trials that gave out back belts also found that back pain did not go down.
Summary
The belt helps belly pressure, the strap helps grip
A lifting belt is a wide band around the belly and lower back that raises belly pressure further during heavy lifts. A lifting strap links the wrist to the bar so grip strength does not run out first. A belt has not been shown to prevent back injuries. Related terms: Valsalva maneuver, deadlift, grip.