This kid just jumped in yesterday and started doing dead lifts, that made me nervous for the simple fact that he does not have a clue at this point what he should or should not be doing, how much weight, number of reps and so on. The fact that he just jumped in there makes me think that from everything else I have read from him that he is a little to eager and is going to go out there and hurt himself before he has a true understanding of his own personal limitations and when he should and should not use a belt. If I am right he will be on his back real soon unless he slows down and learns a few things before he gets to crazy with this. I think for him unless he gets a training partner who knows what he is doing that can help him it would be very smart for him to use a belt on dead lifts and squats. When he gets comfortable with these new lifts he will naturally take the belt off on the lighter weights as everyone does. The thing is annoying as hell and is not needed by experienced lifters until they hit their really heavy sets. The back is not anything to play with and for him it will be a useful training tool at the beginning to help prevent a useless lifelong injury that he would always have to live with, I know I have a 5mm herniation in L5 from the Sergeants course in El Toro when it was still a Marine Corps base. It put me on my back for 2 weeks and 6 months of physical therapy. Jag you do what you want but I know I am right, get a training partner with experience or put on a belt. You can always take it off when you have good form and confidence that you are doing it right. You cannot re grow a vertebrae, disk or spinal cord.