When to Wear a Waist Trainer and When NOT to (EXPLAINED)

If you’re new to waist training and shapewear, you may be wondering when you should wear it. Do you wear it day or night, and how many hours provide the best results without negatively impacting your health?

You probably also want to know if you should wear your waist trainer to work and the gym or if it’s best suited to home use, as well as finding the best one for your body shape. The good news is that we’re about to answer all of these burning questions for you! Let’s jump right in.

What Kind of Waist Trainers Exist? Should You Wear Some Less Than Others?

While shopping around for the perfect sidekick, aka waist trainer (different from corset training!), to give you a cinch as well as slim, trim, and feeling your best, you’re bound to come across a variety of options. By this stage, you should know that there are workout waist trainers, everyday waist trainers, and steel bone waist trainers - and the choice is yours!

Of course, some waist trainers are better suited to specific situations, scenarios, and intended outcomes and how much you wear them will be dependent on several factors. To take the guesswork out of the entire process, we feature each kind of waist trainer below and tell you a little more about each too.

Workout Waist Trainers

Workout waist trainers have a different design to waist trainers worn to work, during the day, or to an event. Workout waist trainers are designed to enhance your workout efforts and ensure that you can carry out exercises without injury to yourself, or the fitness belt, for that matter. Let’s look at a few of the options available to you.

Waist Trimmer Fitness Belt

Suppose you’re looking specifically for a gym-friendly waist trainer. In that case, you will come across products like the Hourglass Angels Workout Waist Trimmers and, of course, the ever-popular Luxx Curves Waist Trimmer Fitness Belt.

Hourglass Angels recommend wearing their regular waist trainers for 8 to 12 hours per day. If you wear their Workout Waist Trimmer to the gym, they recommend counting that time towards your total number of wearable hours. That said, they do not recommend wearing their Workout Waist Trimmers all day, citing that it is not for everyday/all-day wear and will make you quite sweaty.

The Luxx Curves Waist Trimmer Fitness Belt is finely tuned for working out at the gym. The waist trimmer consists of stretchy fabrics (no lacing) and features a mesh backing to ensure that you still feel comfortable while working out while increasing your core temperature.

The great thing about the Luxx Curves Waist Trimmer Fitness Belt is that while it’s designed to skyrocket your gym workout results, it can also be worn all day if that’s what tickles your fancy. Of course, “all day” is relative because following the manufacturer guidelines is essential, and Luxx Curves stipulates that their waist trainers are safe to wear between 4 and 8 hours per day.

Luxx Curves also provides a quick reference list on when you should not wear a waist trainer (or at least stop wearing it for a bit). These include the following:

Don’t wear a waist trainer for 8 hours on day 1

It’s important to work your way up with your natural waist! Start wearing the waist trainer for 1 to 2 hours on day one, and then work your way up to 3 to 4 hours of day five and then 6 to 8 hours from day ten onwards.

Don’t wear a waist trainer if you are pregnant or might be pregnant

You should never restrict your abdomen if you are trying to fall pregnant or are pregnant. You can (and should) wear a waist trainer post-partum, though.

Stop wearing a waist trainer if you feel a sharp or persistent pain in your abdomen

Prolonged and sharp pains could be a sign of more serious problems at play. It is best to see your doctor for a diagnosis before you continue waist training.

Compression & Full Back Waist Trainers

Compression and full-back waist trainers provide an ultra-sleek silhouette and accentuate the bust with an underbust while providing added back support. Like all other Luxx Curves Waist Trainers, you should only wear the compression and full-back waist trainers in the range between 4 and 8 hours per day. The great thing about Luxx Curves compression and full-back waist trainers is that they pull the spine into correct alignment and thus promote healthy posture.  

If you spend 8 hours a day sitting at a desk, it’s best to wear your compression or full back waist trainer during work hours to protect your posture and safeguard you against aches and pains that come from slouching, leaning, and generally holding yourself incorrectly. Let your waist trainer work for you while you’re at work!

Everyday Waist Trainers

Everyday waist trainers are trainers that are designed for wearing up to 8 hours per day for sedentary activities, such as working, going shopping, gentle walking around, and even going to events.

Everyday waist trainers are not well-suited to working out as the fabric is not flexible enough. The enclosures are not designed for many stretching and bending movements, resulting in tearing the fabric. And, of course, if the waist trainer has steel bones, they will just end up hurting you during your workout. For the best results, wear an everyday waist trainer for no less than 3 to 4 hours at a time.

Steel Bones Waist Trainers

Steel boning waist trainers, which are available in medium and short torso varieties on the Luxx Curves range, are also designed for wearing a maximum of 8 hours per day.

Steel bone waist trainers (and plastic bone waist trainers) are more rigid than alternative waist trainers. They, therefore, make for the best trainers to wear when at work, doing general chores around the home, or heading out on a date or to a special event.

It would help if you never tried to sleep or work out in a steel bone waist trainer, as you could end up hurting yourself and the trainer.

So... how long do you need to wear a waist trainer?!

How long you need to wear a waist trainer varies from person to person. For instance, we recommend wearing a waist trainer for 4 to 8 hours per day, but how you split that up when you’re a pro trainer will vary greatly from when you first began.

In the beginning, we recommend first seasoning your waist trainer. You can do this steadily by wearing your trainer for 2 hours at a time in the first three days of waist training.

If you want to season your trainer so that you get the best results from it, try to limit your waist training to 2 hours per day for two weeks and then add an hour of wear on every third day. After two weeks of gradually wearing your trainer in, you should be up to 6 hours of wear per day and should also be able to wear it on a tighter setting. After that, you can increase the wear time to 8 hours per day and only.

If you’re working out...

If you’re exercising, you don’t want to overdo it by wearing a waist trainer. Keep in mind that some exercises are best suited to wearing a waist trainer, whereas others aren’t. If you’re doing a combination of exercises, wear your waist trainer when required, remove it for the exercises that aren’t best suited to waist training, and then put the waist trainer back on and continue.

For better posture or everyday use

Even if you don’t want to shed points and build up an hourglass shape like the Kardashians, waist training can be a practical and highly effective way of correcting posture and ensure that you look slim and trim daily whilst strengthening core muscles through cinching, even if you’re already a bit curvy. The waist trainer, which tucks your midsection in and pushes your back into the correct position, will help you to start strengthening your back and abdominal muscles while developing the correct sitting and standing postures. Strength training and cardio through regular exercise is also highly effective.

What about sleeping?

Sleeping in a waist trainer is to be avoided 100%. There’s never a scenario when wearing a waist trainer to bed is a good idea. While waist training is a safe and gentle way to sculpt the waistline you want, sleeping in one (when your breathing is at its deepest) can constrict the lungs and hinder sufficient oxygen from getting around the body.

Of course, pajamas are created soft and comfy for a reason. As humans, we thrive on comfortable, undisturbed sleep, and we can only enjoy that if we are entirely comfortable. Because of a waist trainer's design and intended purpose, they aren’t nearly as comfortable as pajamas!

In case of itch, here’s a solution

Many people want to know why wearing a waist trainer can result in itching and if they should continue wearing their waist trainer when they itch.

First and foremost, rest assured that around 25% experience itching when waist training, and it’s not a problem that’s specific to a particular brand - it can happen with any waist trainer.

Should you wear your waist training when you’re itching from it? Yes, you should. The itching isn’t a sign of anything serious, and it usually goes away after a few weeks of use. The itching results from friction and heat, causing the mast cells in your skin to release histamine. You can mitigate this by wearing a thick cotton tank-top under your waist trainer.

The only time you need to stop wearing the waist trainer when itching is if you notice a rash or pigmentation differences that come along with it. Then, seeking out medical care is important. You can read more on the specifics of waist trainer itching here.

Enjoy the journey!

Now that you know that the length of time waist training should be done for is 4 to 8 hours per day for an hourglass figure/smaller waist and the scenarios when you should stop waist training, it's time to get started. Choose your waist trainer according to your waist size and prepare for the weight loss (paired with a healthy diet) and waist sculpting journey of your life.