Belt size

[timelinex]

I am getting to a 250lb squat and it is starting to feel like a belt might be a good idea. I am planning on getting a general leathercraft belt. My only concern is the 4" size. I have flared ribs and my last connected rib sticks out and is lower than most peoples. Even though I am 6ft tall, I only have about 2 inches between the top of my hip bone (on my side) and my lower rib. I doubt the belt is supposed to go on the hip, so is it supposed to go over the rib? I attached a pic to show how much the rib protrudes. I definitely do not think it is a good idea to clamp down on that rib, as I have injured it in the past and it will probably bruise it.

Am I missing something? Advice?

Picture: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

EDIT: fixed picture link

[omaniphil]

Can't see the picture, but it doesn't matter. You'll be fine. Very few people have a gap of 4" between ribs and hips, and everybody else is able to get it to work.

[Cody]

If you'll put on some muscle mass, that won't be protruding anymore.

But yeah, what it covers won't matter too much. When I deadlift, I actually wear my belt so that the top is just below my sternum. The entire thing is wrapped around my ribcage for that. No big deal.

[timelinex]

Ok, thanks guys. This will be my first time using a belt so I did not know.

[Christopher Anderson]

You can always get Matt at General Leathercraft to trim the belt down to 3' instead of 4".

[timelinex]

You can always get Matt at General Leathercraft to trim the belt down to 3' instead of 4".

That's what I was kind of eluding to with my question, whether I should get a smaller width belt since they are available.

[Charlie Davies]

The circled rib that sticks out, sticks out like that on me too.

I'm 5'10" and my 4" belt works fine for squats and presses. It rides over the floating ribs and above the point of the hipbone.

I haven't figured out how to use a belt for deadlifting yet. I have access to a 3" belt but don't like it.

[MattBraunstein]

I have a similar issue. I started with a 3" belt. It just fits between my hips and ribs. It feels really good to me. I can get it fairly tight. When I've tried to overlap my ribs or hips, it just feels really uncomfortable, sometimes painful, to me. This could just be a lack of muscle mass, like Cody suggested.

[BenM]

I'm 5'11" and struggle with a 4" belt even for squats. If I wear it too high I have injured floating ribs a couple of times, too low and it digs into my hips at the bottom of the squat, sometimes excruciatingly so. Sure, more muscle might help but that takes time.

I've ordered a 3" belt to use for deadlifts, and may use it for squats too but I guess we'll see....,

[timelinex]

I bought a cheap 4" leather belt off amazon to use while I wait for the nice one to be made. So I guess I will hold off on the purchase of the new nice one until I use the cheap one a few times to see if 4" will be a problem or not.

I'm really trying to no act like a "special snowflake" and think the regular belt won't work for me.... But I also don't want bruised/broken ribs because I didn't account for my bodies 'flaws'. Rib injuries are the worst.