Muffin Top - How To Fix This Common Concealed Carry Problem
- Oct 29th 2024
- By
Let’s talk muffin top. It’s when the pressure from your gun belt or Enigma belt creates a line through your squishy soft tissue. Muffin top is basically a physics problem - in order to get good concealment, a holster must have belt pressure across the face. But the only way to get pressure across the face of the holster is to tighten the belt, which has an equal and opposite reaction on the rest of the body. The tighter your belt needs to be for good concealment, the more muffin top you will get.
There are a couple of ways to manage this. One is to tweak your gun position and holster concealment features so you need minimal belt tightness for good concealment. The other relates to clothing and visual camouflage techniques, which we’ll get into at the end. I think a good goal is to try to get the best possible concealment with the least necessary amount of belt tightness. This will help reduce muffin top. Although it may not completely cure the problem, you'll have much better control over your concealment, and going through the process will give you confidence that you're getting the best possible results.
First, Make Sure the Gun is In Your Concealment Sweet Spot
To adjust your concealment, the first step is to reevaluate your carry position and gun placement to make sure you're using the ideal spot for your body shape. We call this your concealment Sweet Spot, and we have several deep dive videos on how to find your own concealment Sweet Spot, including tips for men, women, and bigger body types.
Finding the best place to carry the gun on your body sets you up for success in the next steps. This video will get you started, but you can learn so much more in the Sweet Spot link above.
Holster Mods to Fix Muffin Top
Next, holster mods. Once you find your optimum concealment spot, you can further refine your concealment by changing how the holster itself interacts with your body. Putting a holster wedge at the muzzle end of your holster can help tip the grip in towards the body, so you're not relying solely on belt tension to control the grip printing. It's not a miracle cure, but it definitely helps.
To test this theory, you can use any material you have lying around at home for a temporary concealment fix. Try using a folded sock under the muzzle of the gun to simulate a wedge, and take note of the effects on your concealment. Does the wedge give you more grip tuck? Many people find that a wedge allows them to get acceptable grip tuck without having to use so much belt tightness. Every action has a reaction, and using a wedge will give you a little bit of extra bulk below the belt line -- but you might find that a preferable tradeoff to having a tighter belt. It's totally up to you, and there is no wrong answer.
Once you've tried with your sock or napkin, and you have an idea of whether a wedge will help you, and how tall it needs to be, you can either make a more durable wedge, or buy one online.
Clothing Tweaks to Hide a Muffin Top (and a Gun!)
The last solution to the muffin top problem relates to clothing. It turns out all the best tips for hiding muffin top ALSO work great for concealing a gun. Small adjustments to your clothing style can be helpful in concealing both muffin top and your gun. Wearing structured fabrics, clothing cuts that fit your body shape, and styles that draw the eye away from your waist can really help. If you’re wearing something more form-fitting on top, you can also try wearing shapewear or a compression undershirt under your gun belt or Enigma.
The Stitch Fix blog has some great advice for hiding muffin top with style adjustments.
And here’s a helpful discussion about muffin top from the PHLster Concealment Workshop facebook group, with a variety of tips from men and women of all body types.
We also highly recommend Tessah Booth's YouTube channel (formerly called Armed and Styled) for style and concealment tips.