For your first year or more: no belt, no specialist shoes — just something flat and stable on your feet, which might be shoes you already own. The one genuine equipment mistake beginners make is lifting in cushioned running shoes, whose squishy heels wobble exactly when a squat wants a stable base.
Belts and lifting shoes are real tools with real jobs; the jobs just arrive later than the marketing does. Here is the honest schedule.
Feet first: what flat and stable means
Squats, hinges and carries want the floor's honesty: a thin, firm, flat sole — court shoes, minimalist trainers, skate-style flats, or barefoot-adjacent options where a gym permits. Running shoes are built to compress and rebound, which is superb for running and quietly destabilizing under load; if your ankles wobble at the bottom of a squat, check the shoes before blaming the ankles. Treadmill intervals, of course, want the running shoes back — which is why the practical answer in a mixed session is simply: stable shoes that can survive a treadmill block, per the what-to-wear answer.
The belt, demystified and scheduled
A belt does not protect a weak trunk — it amplifies a trained one, giving your brace something to press against at genuinely heavy loads. Which defines its schedule: first learn to brace beltless, then earn loads where a squat or deadlift approaches the seriously heavy range for you, then let a coach introduce the belt for the heaviest sets only. Strapped on from day one, it becomes a crutch that hides the bracing skill it should be amplifying — the reason coaches here keep it out of beginners' hands without ceremony.
Lifting shoes, straps, sleeves: the rest of the drawer
Heeled lifting shoes solve a specific problem — limited ankle mobility in deep squats — that plates under the heels solve for free while you decide if you care; they earn purchase only when squatting becomes a serious personal priority. Straps have a legitimate late-arriving job when grip limits heavy pulls, though training the grip is the better first response. Knee sleeves are warmth and preference, not protection. The pattern across the whole drawer: gear amplifies training; it never substitutes for it, and every piece arrives later than the store suggests.
Common questions
What should I wear to my first session here?
Whatever moves freely, plus stable runners — the full list is short and covered in the first-class answer. Nobody is grading equipment.
At what weight does a belt make sense?
Coaches judge it by your lifts relative to you, not a universal number — typically when your heaviest sets are genuinely heavy and your beltless brace is already solid. It is a conversation, not a purchase decision.
Are gloves worth it?
Preference, with a small cost: they thicken the bar and slightly weaken grip mechanics. Calluses managed with a file do the same job for free — but hands are personal; nobody here will argue.
