Do Waist Trainers Work? Before and After EXPLAINED

Thanks to celebs like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, small waists and curvy hips became a huge trend post-2010. This wasn’t a new phenomenon by any means – even old-school Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren were famed for their waist-to-hip ratio.

Recently, more and more companies have tapped into this trend by introducing products that help women achieve this hourglass figure. Here, we will explore how these products, specifically waist trainers, work.

What Is Waist Training?

Waist training is the process of shaping your waist (or waistline) to become flatter and smaller by use of a restrictive garment or device. Forms of waist training have been around for hundreds of years, even dating back to the Victorian era, in order to achieve an hourglass figure.

Throughout human evolution, it has been believed that women with a comparatively smaller waist and wider hips were more fertile and would give birth to healthier offspring. While this is not necessarily true, this belief put hourglass figures on a pedestal for female attractiveness.

Waist training is also not restricted to women – it can even be used to sculpt men’s bodies! For men, it can shrink the waist to reduce the appearance of a beer belly and make their shoulders look comparatively larger. In addition to flattening the abs, waist training can help achieve a healthy posture by supporting the spine.Waist trainers are pretty simple to put on. Simply place them around your abdomen, right under the bust and just above the hips. They can then be slowly tightened to a comfortable level using velcro or laces. This video explains how to correctly put on different types of waist trainers.

How Do Waist Trainers And Corsets Differ?

Kim Kardashian’s foray into the shapewear world had a bumpy start when she was accused of appropriation of Japanese culture. She also got a bit of backlash from body positivists for tapping into women’s insecurities by releasing waist trainers. But how exactly are waist trainers any different from corsets or cinching, which have been part of the fashion world for hundreds of years?

It’s pretty easy to confuse corsets and waist trainers, as both try to achieve the same goal of giving the wearer an hourglass figure. The main differences between the two primarily come down to their materials and construction.

Corsets

Firstly, corsets are made from natural materials like cotton and leather, as well as other materials such as satin. Corsets are the most long-lasting of all waist training garments, as they have a very rigid ‘skeleton’ made from steel rods that provide no flexibility whatsoever. They also have laces, similar to shoelaces, at the back to tighten the waist as much as possible.

Corsets can therefore go to extreme lengths to restrict waist measurements. You may have seen women with almost cartoonishly small waists on Instagram, many of whom wear corsets to achieve this look. Due to their rigidness, corsets pose more health risks than waist trainers. They are also harder to conceal under clothing because of their rigid materials.

Waist Cinchers

There are also waist cinchers, which are the most temporary form of waist training. These are meant for a temporary slimming effect, similar to yoga pants for your legs.

Waist cinchers are only designed to be worn for a few hours, and use less robust materials than waist trainers, often made from materials like latex and neoprene with little support.

Waist Trainers

Waist trainers are like the perfect middle-man between the former two products. They provide the comfort and flexibility that corsets don’t, but are stronger than waist cinchers, so you will see better results. They do this by incorporating flexible steel rods that conform to your body shape, while also having a compressive effect.

Unlike corsets, waist trainers squish your organs into a tiny space, and therefore pose fewer health problems in the long-term. They use things like velcro or hook and eye attachments to tighten at the waist. Some waist trainers are also easy to conceal under clothing, which can double as shapewear.

Some waist trainers are even designed for different body types and proportions. The Luxx Curves waist trainers, for example, cater to those with either longer or shorter torsos.

Who Uses Waist Trainers?

Waist trainers have a multitude of aesthetic, fitness, and health benefits, and hence suit many different people from all walks of life. For example, they can help your posture by helping to keep your back straight, so you’re in an office working for hours, they can mitigate some back pain and posture issues.

The Instant Hourglass Gal

These are women who simply want to fit into their favorite dress and keep their silhouette nice and smooth. They are not necessarily looking to get a permanent hourglass figure, but rather just want to look their best on a girls’ night out.

The Result Go-Getter Girl

The Result Go-Getter Girl is someone who wants a more defined waist, but doesn’t have her diet and exercise quite in order just yet, so will wear waist trainers for most of the day to see some great results. For those with some belly fat around their abs, waist trainers can mold that fat into a smoother hourglass shape.

The Long-Term Goal-Setting Queen

These are women who are committed to getting that perfect hourglass shape and shrinking their waist size by all means. They will use the waist trainer in conjunction with a fat-torching diet and exercise routine to get that dream bikini bod, and are interested in maintaining a long-term figure instead of achieving instant yet short-lived results.

The Potential Dangers Of Waist Training

As with any exercise equipment, there are ways to misuse waist trainers and introduce unnecessary health issues. Waist trainers have their fair share of potential health risks. Here are some mistakes a lot of people make and the kinds of risks associated with them:

Using stiff bone corsets instead of our flexible steel

This is the number one mistake people make – buying rigid bone corsets that squish your internal organs. Luxx waist trainers are made from flexible steel bones. This means they are rigid enough to give you results, but not so rigid as to cause injury and pain to your organs. Rigid corset bones can also restrict blood flow around the body.

Using the waist trainer for longer than eight hours per day

Overkill can come into play with any exercise equipment. Barbells are great for building muscle, but if you try to lift them for too long, you can end up with torn ligaments. The same type of risk applies to waist trainers. It’s very important that you follow the manufacturer’s guidelines when it comes to the duration of wearing waist trainers.

Damage to internal organs if using (or overusing) dangerous waist trainers

Overly restricting your midsection can cause serious damage to your organs over long periods of time – it can cut off blood flow to parts of the body, for example, while restricting the lungs can cause breathing problems and potential infections, and restricting the bowels can cause digestive issues.

Over-tightening your waist trainer

Luxx waist trainers are designed for a multitude of different body types and shapes, which is why you have all those tightening options. Just because you can go tighter doesn’t always mean you should. Listen to your body, and don’t go tighter if you cannot breathe properly or feel any sharp internal pain.

How Can You Safely Use Waist Trainers?

Time is key with waist trainers. Our body hates any dramatic change that happens overnight. The idea of waist trainers is to train the waist slowly over time, not squish it overnight!

So, start small and only wear it for like an hour. Gradually increase this time as your body grows more comfortable, and never exceed eight hours per day. We do not recommend wearing a waist trainer while you sleep.

Should I Still Diet And Exercise?

Yes! Luxx waist trainers deliver optimum results when combined with a healthy diet and exercise regimen. As they say, you can’t outrun a bad diet! Here are some things to pay attention to:

Eat healthily

Eat foods that will help torch that belly fat. This means cutting out junk food, sugar, and other processed foods. Here are a few other healthy diet tips:

- Cut out fatty junk food, processed food, and sugar

- Reduce salt to reduce bloating

- Replace unhealthy snacks with high-fiber, high-protein snacks to keep you full for longer

Make sure you’re in a caloric deficit

A healthy diet is still not enough to burn fat! For this, you need to be in a caloric deficit, which means burning more calories during the day than you consume. To do this, you can use apps to track the calories in your food, exercise more, and be careful with ‘healthy’ high-calorie foods like nuts and seeds.

Consider weight training!

Weight training (or strength training) is a form of exercise that’s meant to build muscle as well as burn fat. This is better than doing only cardio, which doesn’t build much muscle. As muscles burn more calories than other tissues, you will automatically increase your calorie burning even while resting. Work on those core muscles, baby!

Popular exercises that focus on your waist (and help weight loss)

While you can’t spot-reduce fat at the waist, you do have control over the shape and size of the muscles in that area through targeted exercises. Here are some exercises that specifically target your waist:

Oblique Crunches

Oblique crunches target the oblique muscles, which are the ab muscles at both sides of your waist. The crunches will shape and tone the obliques to give a slimmer appearance.

Planking

Planks are amazing exercises for the waist. They flatten out the abs and use more muscles than other traditional ab exercises. They also target stubborn lower belly fat. To top it off, they help with stability and balance.

Standing Cross Crunches

Standing cross crunches are a bit like bicycle crunches, but done while standing rather than lying down. They work the obliques along with other core ab muscles that have to work harder to keep you balanced while standing.

Windshield Wipers

Windshield wipers are great for stubborn lower belly fat, as well as for shaping the sides of your waist. You’re essentially supporting the weight of your legs using your core. While slightly more challenging and requiring a high level of control and endurance, the pain certainly pays off.

Russian Twists

Like planks, Russian twists also target more than your ab muscles, which is what makes them great for your abs. They target muscles in your shoulders, back, and side ab muscles like the obliques, which will help give you a smoother and smaller silhouette around the waist.

Take A Look At Your Wardrobe

There’s no point in waist training if you don’t wear clothes that accentuate it! Even perfect hourglass celebs like Halle Berry have clothes that don’t flatter them! So, look into clothes that look good for your particular body shape.

For example, if you’re a pear like Ashley Graham, wear belts and bodycon dresses to accentuate your small waist. Wear anything that defines the waist. As you have smaller shoulders, pick outfits that add more volume to this area.

If you’re an inverted triangle, do the opposite. Avoid outfits with shoulder pads or fluffy elements at the top. Instead, draw attention to your lower half by adding more volume there.

How Long Until You See Results?

Of course, waist training doesn’t work overnight and is not intended to. Ab workouts can help reduce the size of your belly, but not necessarily the shape of your waist. This is where waist trainers can help.

Drastic results can require months of waist training. However, many of our Luxx customers have seen significant changes within just 30 days. Along with good workouts, you can lose as much as 2-3 inches within a month.

Waist Training Before and After: Real Results From Women Just Like You

Hundreds of real women with 9 to 5 jobs achieve their dream body shape using Luxx Curves. The best way to show these results is through their own testimonials. From women who have struggled with losing baby weight to those who have simply gotten off track with their workouts, Luxx waist trainers are meant for all women.

Summary: Looking for the Best Waist Trainer?

The bottom line is that if you do waist training, researching the construction and material of waist trainers is essential. Our waist trainers are safer than traditional corsets because they conform rather than force your body into a particular shape. Of course, the best results will only be seen if you complement waist training with a healthy workout and diet to burn belly fat.