For the price, this is an absolutely excellent beginner belt. I'm not sure what product others were getting, because I just got mine a week ago from Amazon for $15, and this absolutely worked great this week.
Just some background, I used to be a powerlifter/bodybuilder years ago, but went soft and flabby after a back injury many years ago. I'm starting to get back in the game, and finally since I started hitting the 400lb squats I figured I should probably pay up for a belt. I've used several belts in the past, but have too much bulk in my stomach area to use any of the ones I still own. Since I'm planning on dropping weight fairly quickly (already dropped 4 inches in a 12 weeks), I didn't want to pony up for an expensive belt. After seeing the price on this one and knowing I didn't have anything anyways, I figured I had nothing to lose.
This belt works great. The leather is not as nice as more expensive belts, probably some sort of bonded product; it's more stiff than others (not in a good way), makes it dig into your intestines a little bit more than others, but still its really not that bad. However, its very strong, can handle quite a bit of intra-abdominal pressure pushed against it. Squatting with 400 left my back without any soreness in the least (again, I know how to lift so that's part of it). The 'padding' in the back isn't so much for comfort, as it is to help make contact/compression against your mid-section. This makse the belt excellent for building up intra-abdominal pressure, as the padding helps fill in all the crevices in your back area (particularly your spine).
Also, the sizing is not off. I'm sorry that others really can't think for a second and realize that a back belt isn't going to use your pant belt measurement. First, most people don't wear their pans at their actual waist, instead they wear them at their hips, which has a far different measurement on most people. Second, pants are often 'vanity' measured. I ordered the XL, but I wear a 40-42inch pant. However, I actually have measured my actual waist, right at the belly-button, and have a 48in waist. This belt is actually on the larger-side for me, I'm on the second to last (smallest) belt loop, so those saying it runs small obviously didn't actually measure their waist. This is not the fault of the product, but is instead user-error, and shouldn't be held against it in a review.
Like I said, there are better belts out there, but for someone who's looking for a budget option, this one should fit the bill perfectly.
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