Waist training has been around for ages, probably as far back as the BC/AC years. But a couple of years ago, Nigerians in their usual fashion hopped on the trend with a vengeance. To be fair, the whole world hopped on it and celebrities like Kim Kardashian claimed their ridiculously tiny waist lines were as a result of waist training.
Waist training was the easy way out for people who wished to pull in their waistlines by a couple of inches. Goodbye long sweaty hours at the gym and hello miracle worker. The truth is that these waist trainers work; wear them regularly for long enough and you are bound to drop some inches off your waist.
But how healthy is this fitness method? A lot of doctors advise against it, but is it really a sham? Like how they are trying to convince us suya could give us cancer.
If you take a minute to think about, it does sound pretty reasonable that clinching your waist for hours on end is bound to cause some sort of problems. Though it’s unlikely that it’ll permanently rearrange some of your internal organs like some people claim, it might however cause your diaphragm to pop and could even snap a rib.
I think that the first warning bell with waist trainers is the fact that you honestly cannot expect to breathe properly. Naturally that’s a sign that something is off. Wearing your waist trainer to work out, is also not the best idea. Like I mentioned before, it restricts your breathing to some extent, so that you are unable to take deep long breaths, like a lot of exercise routines require.
We are not saying waist trainers should be completely condemned though. If worn right, waist trainers have been proven to improve your posture and actually assist in exercising the core muscles of your stomach. But the truth is many of us are not wearing it right. For a lot of people, it’s not tight enough till they are literally gasping for breath. Whether or not you’ve made up your mind to waist train or not, make sure you weigh its cons against its pros.
