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Here in India, lot of people doing workout in gym wear LANGOT(Loin Cloth or Drawers or Nappy), e.g. enter image description here enter image description here

They say that if they don't wear it, they will suffer from Hernia. I have joined gym some days ago and everyone in the gym use it and also advice me to use it or I will get hernia. But I don't think that wearing it will prevent me from hernia. So is there any need to wear that while doing workout in gym?

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If it prevented hernias, then a lot of people in the Sates, and other counties, would be getting hernias. It's just another gym myth. – DForck42 Nov 5 '12 at 19:22
3  
I'd like to start a myth that women should wear them to maintain fertility. – jontyc Nov 6 '12 at 23:20
You need to wear tight underwear while lifting heavy weights and hence this ritual of wearing langot. But the same can be done wearing a tight brief. – PravinCG Nov 9 '12 at 17:58
@PravinCG can you please explain what is the need of wearing tight underwear while lifting heavy weights, whether is it only to prevent external accidental injuries or there is any other reason – Shirish Herwade Nov 14 '12 at 13:18
I'm with @DForck42. I live in the US. This is not something American weight lifters do (don't wear this restrictive garment, and also don't go out of their way to wear briefs, or other tight underwear). I'm not the right person to write a bio-mechanical explaination of why they wouldn't help. If you want to avoid hernias, make sure that you're lifting appropriate amounts of weight. – DavidR Apr 19 at 12:54

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote accepted

No, there is no need to wear it. It doesn't prevent a hernia.

Even one doctor told me once not to wear it, because the testicles are held too close to the body. It is not good because when our body temperature rises, they need to stay away from body. While doing workout our body temperature rises greatly so it's bad to wear it during workout.

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I'd like to see more credible reference, but in this case I think the one who makes the claim (that it prevents hermia) is more obliged to provide some first. – Informaficker Nov 6 '12 at 15:20

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