Today I did the usual squats. Inbetween my sets there was a crack inside of me and my left ribcage started to hurt. It’s on the height of my elbow.
Anyway, I continued my workout (bench, dips, rows) no problem at all. Just when I did get into position. Afterwards I went to the doc and the diagnosis was rib torsion (don’t know the exact description om english)
I have a brand new inzer 10mm lever belt. Is it due to the new belt, that I received this injury? Will that change as soon as it’s broken in?
Hey man, do you mean a “verdrehte Rippe” (i.e., twisted rib)? It sounds as though the belt could be held partially responsible for this, but it’s impossible to know based on the information we’ve got. What kind of squat training were you doing (i.e., sets/reps)? When you say “in between” your sets, do you mean while you were totally relaxed and not under the bar? Do you brace your torso hard against the belt while squatting?
I myself don’t employ a belt and have heard from several places that it’s best to only use the belt for sets at 85%+ of your 1RM, just in case.
I did 3x5 low bar Squats, bit more then shoulder width apart at about 80-85% of my 1RM I’d say. It was really in between my sets, right after I loosened my belt. Crack occured 3-5 seconds after loosening the belt.
Yeah, pressed my belly against it. I wear the belt so that my navel is covered ca. 2 cm with the top of the belt. I’m 178cm tall and still pretty skinny.
Hope it’s enough information
I don’t have the feeling that the belt may be too tight, but perhaps I can be wrong about that.
Could it be a cause of wrong breathing? Maybe the belt is still to hard and presses my ribcage up?
It could be any of those reasons, but based on your description I’d say that the belt was indeed responsible.
You’ve got to watch out that the belt isn’t too tight. If you think about what happens when you squat, your entire ribcage expands when you breathe in and hold that breath throughout the rep. Combined with the movement that occurs during the rep, this puts your lower ribs at risk if you’ve locked them in their relaxed position with a belt.
Here’s a decent video on the topic. As I said, I’m no belt expert since I myself have so little experience wearing them, but I’d leave them for your higher-intensity sets, and don’t start to rely on the belt for support.
What I mean by too tight, by the way, is relative to when you have your diaphragm full of air at the bottom of the squat, not when you put your belt on in a relaxed position. It should tend to feel loose when you’re not squatting.
After my Physio sessions I’ll give it a shot wearing it a bit looser.
Thx kgildner, can always count on your postings
Haven’t you received my pn due to the last thread we spoke?
