Support belts and buckling for support belts

A weight lifting support belt comprising:

• an elongate belt having a live end region and a dead end region, a plurality of apertures provided in said dead end region, wherein said elongated belt defines an outwardly facing side and an inwardly facing side opposite the outwardly facing side, wherein the inwardly facing side faces the user when the weight lifting support belt is worn;
• and
• buckling to releasably connect said live and dead end regions in a relaxed tightness condition of the support belt and secure said live and dead end regions in a tightened closed condition,
• wherein said buckling comprises a first anchor portion secured to said live end region by rivets or screws, a second anchor portion configured to releasably engage said apertures provided in said dead end region and a locking mechanism pivotally connected to said first and second anchor portions,
• wherein said locking mechanism comprises a connecting arm and a lever arm pivotally connected to said connecting arm, said connecting arm and lever arm are each pivotally connected to said first and second anchor portions and said locking mechanism is operable to generate a pulling force to cause a reduction in a spacing between said first and second anchor portions to change the tightness condition of the support belt from said relaxed tightness condition to said tightened closed condition,
• wherein said live end region overlies a free end of said dead end region when said support belt is in said tightened closed condition,
• wherein said apertures provided in said dead end region are arranged to form at least one row of apertures disposed in spaced apart relation along said dead end region to define a plurality of progressively tighter second anchor portion engagement positions,
• wherein said second anchor portion comprises at least one pin set by which the second anchor portion releasably engages said apertures and a said pin set comprises a locating pin having a first diameter and a gripping pin that is spaced from said locating pin in a lengthways direction of said belt and has a body portion that has a width that is less than said first diameter and a head portion projecting from said body portion and configured to engage against an inwardly facing side of said dead end region when said body portion is received in a said aperture,
• wherein said first anchor portion is disposed against the outwardly facing side of said elongate belt and further comprising a fixing plate disposed opposite said first anchor portion against the inwardly facing side of said elongate belt, said fixing plate defining a recess and said second anchor portion comprising a tongue configured to slide into said recess during tightening of said buckling, and
• wherein a wearer can progressively tighten the belt without detaching the first anchor portion from the live end region of the belt by operating said locking mechanism to change the tightness condition of the support belt from said tightened closed condition to said relaxed tightness condition, disengaging said at least one pin set from said at least one row of apertures, re-engaging said at least one pin set with said at least one row of apertures in a tighter one of said progressively tighter second anchor portion engagement positions and operating said locking mechanism to change the tightness condition of the support belt from said relaxed tightness condition to said tightened closed condition.