T Nation

Bruises From Titan Toro Belt (Please Advise!)

Powerlifting
#1

Hey everyone, I just bought a toro lever belt from Titan, and after my first day squatting with it, I have some massive bruises/blood blisters all over my hips and upper thighs. Does anyone have any advice about this? Specifically:

Is this in any way normal, or should I be worried?
Am I wearing my belt wrong (if so, how should I wear it)?
Is there anything I can/should do to avoid this?

I felt some pinching while I was lifting, but it was nothing too bad, so it was pretty surprising/scary when I hit the locker room and like everything below my bellybutton was red and blue.

Any words of advice from the more experienced members would be greatly appreciated.

I’m going to the USAPL collegiate nationals in April, and it seems like doing this to myself every week until April has got to be a bad idea.

#2

[quote]maths wrote:
Hey everyone, I just bought a toro lever belt from Titan, and after my first day squatting with it, I have some massive bruises/blood blisters all over my hips and upper thighs. Does anyone have any advice about this? Specifically:

Is this in any way normal, or should I be worried?
Am I wearing my belt wrong (if so, how should I wear it)?
Is there anything I can/should do to avoid this?

I felt some pinching while I was lifting, but it was nothing too bad, so it was pretty surprising/scary when I hit the locker room and like everything below my bellybutton was red and blue.

Any words of advice from the more experienced members would be greatly appreciated.

I’m going to the USAPL collegiate nationals in April, and it seems like doing this to myself every week until April has got to be a bad idea.[/quote]

The degree of tightness that someone clamps their belt down to is just a matter of preference. I don’t wear my belt very tight, most people would say it is too loose for their liking. I sometimes get bruises and sometimse dont. I have gotten bruises with my inzer lever belt and single prong, it is usually a matter of my weight/tightness of the belt. Some days I feel like I have eaten and drank more and my lever belt being at the same setting as the last week may fit tighter. You may try going one hole larger and see how you feel in it as well as seeing how the bruising goes. I have never had any pain while lifting from my belt pinching but bruises are a usual outcome. As long as it doesn’t bother me during the lift I don’t really care.

#3

I have a double prong and I sometimes get bruises on my lower stomach and around the iliac crest from the belt when I hit depth. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As Jsmiley mentioned, I have also found just loosening it one notch helps, especially if your doing reps. I usually squat with a sweat shirt and I don’t get any then either, only with thin t-shirts.

#4

I wouldn’t worry much about this. The belt is probably still breaking in. I got bruises from mine for quite some time. You’ll probably stop getting them once you break it in.

#5

I got bruises like that from my belt when I first bought it: I was wearing the belt too low and it wasn’t broken it at all - the bruising went away when I started to wear it higher (middle of the belt over belly button) and as it got more broken in.