- My great-grandmother, who was born in 1896,
passed down to my grandmother and my mom this exercise.
You have to do this
all day.
Hey, I'm Issa Rae,
and today I'm gonna be reviewing
some of the wildest wellness trends on the internet.
- Hey, Issa, Zahra Barnes here.
I'm SELF's executive editor.
I am here to let you know what health experts
really think about these wild wellness trends.
- Come on, Zahra, come through.
- First up, garlic to clear congestion.
- I'm not sure how long
you're supposed to leave this in for,
but we'll check in later. [Issa laughs]
One fell out, so I had to replace it.
I can feel, there's already things happening
[Issa laughs] inside me right now.
Okay, it's--
- Eew!
[up-tempo music]
- Yo, this is so gross.
That was disgusting, but I'm doing it again
'cause I'm obsessed now. - Girl!
There's so many ways to clear congestion.
Vicks VapoRub is key for me.
I don't need to put garlic in my nose.
You could put garlic in tea,
make a garlic paste, put that shit on your feet.
But putting it directly in your nose,
no, I absolutely would not try that.
The way that the snot was just dripping down her nose,
it seemed like maybe it worked,
but that's just not my method.
I think Zahra would think it's desperate.
I think Zahra would feel like there are better ways,
and that you shouldn't take health advice from TikTok.
- Some TikTok users
are putting entire cloves of raw garlic up their noses
in order to clear up congestion.
This tactic might look really effective
because of the flood of stuff that comes out of their noses
once they remove the garlic,
but doctors are pretty clear on the fact
that not only does this not work,
it can actually be harmful.
All of that liquid you see coming out of people's noses
when they remove the garlic,
just means their noses are having an inflammatory reaction
to something that does not belong up there.
Raw garlic has all of these oils and compounds
that can be really irritating to your nose's mucosa,
which is the mucus membrane lining.
That inflammation and irritation can lead to a ton of mucus.
Also worth noting, you can get that garlic stuck up there,
and no one wants to go to the ER to get garlic removed
from their nose.
- Well, to that I say, "Duh."
- Next, we have a dance workout trend on TikTok
called hip thrusting.
[upbeat dance music]
[Issa laughs]
- They just turned crunches into a dance.
You're not fooling anybody.
I would be embarrassed to do this in public,
but if you put drinks in my system,
you know, I might do that.
I honestly think it's a legit,
any dancing is a good form of exercise,
so I would imagine that Zahra approves.
- So I talked to a personal trainer
on SELF's staff about this one,
and the concept of spot reduction,
or reducing fat on certain areas of the body
with certain exercises, it's been pretty well debunked.
That said, this type of hip thrusting movement
can actually be a good part of your workout
if the moves are originating from your core,
and you are squeezing your glutes
each and every time you thrust forward.
You don't want to just rely on your hip mobility
and joints for this one,
especially because with any repetitive movement like this,
if you do it for long enough, you risk an overuse injury.
Our trainer did note, you'd have to hip thrust a lot
for that to happen, but it's still worth remembering.
Technically, hip thrusting does actually engage
the abdominal muscles,
though not better than traditional core moves
like planks, or even full-body moves like squats.
So there's no reason you have to hip thrust
if you want to work your core.
With that said, if you do it correctly,
and that is engaging your core,
squeezing those glutes when you thrust forward,
it can be a good part of your workout.
- That make sense to me.
- Okay, Issa, here is the next clip.
[heavy bass music]
[Issa laughs]
[Issa chuckles]
- You could mix the shit together and drink it.
I just don't understand what the emergency is
where you're like, "I gotta [slurps],
"and then, [slurps]," you know?
It's just, you don't need to do that.
The protein powder is made to mix,
and she coulda choked.
It's like the cinnamon powder challenge,
all these things that people do,
and I was sure that it was gonna backfire, so [hands clap].
Congrats, girl, you did it.
If Zahra thinks this is acceptable, I'd be surprised.
- So dry scooping is when people put a scoop
of dry pre-workout powder directly into their mouths
instead of following the instructions
by first mixing it with water or another liquid,
and then drinking it.
The goal is to boost the supposed effects
of pre-workout powder, mainly be increasing your energy.
There are multiple reasons why people should not do this.
For starters, the FDA doesn't regulate supplements,
which means you don't ever know exactly what you're getting
or in what quantities those ingredients are coming.
In general though, with that said,
pre-workout supplements tend to contain a lot of caffeine.
So when you take pre-workout undiluted,
you can deal with symptoms like jitters
or an elevated heart rate.
Some people have even said they've had medical emergencies
when doing the dry scooping challenge,
which is just not what you want.
Also, trying to swallow a huge clump
of dry pre-workout powder can be a choking hazard,
and it can cause breathing troubles,
especially for people with conditions like asthma.
- You know what, I'm glad she said the point number two,
about the fact that it could increase caffeine
and your adrenaline, and your heart could start racing.
I feel like that was take four for her.
She just got it right,
and she tried to pass it off as,
"Take one, I did it right."
So we caught you.
Zahra always knows.
- All right, next we have a couples core challenge trend.
[upbeat music]
- Let me not be a hater,
because maybe there are a lot of couples
that like to work out together, and that need motivation.
'Cause my first instinct is like, "Y'all got each other,
"just do it together and shut up."
There are couples that want
to get a workout routine together,
maybe they might be inspired by this particular couple
and their techno moves.
I feel like Zahra will be optimistic and supportive.
- I talked to one of the personal trainers
on SELF's staff about this one,
and she says, not only is it just pretty cute,
but it actually is a good way to get a good core workout in.
This couple is hitting most of their major muscle groups
with these moves,
so their glutes, their core, their shoulders, their legs.
But if you only did this for as long as they do it,
that is pretty quick,
so it's not necessarily going to be a full workout.
But it can give you a great burst of energy,
and if you want,
you could incorporate these moves into a longer workout
for a really good body weight challenge.
With that said,
doing these moves correctly with proper form
is essential to getting any benefits from them.
For example, if you're not keeping your core
relatively stable during the plank moves,
and your butt is high up in the air,
that means you're not engaging your core fully
during the plank.
So, doing this for speed might not be the best option
if you're new to these moves
or new to exercising in general,
but if you can do these moves with speed and proper form,
then it's definitely a good way to just have fun working out
and get a good core and cardio blast.
- Listen, good for them, you know?
Great.
I'm personally not impressed,
but I'm happy for them, and I hope they last forever.
- Last up, we have a jaw exercise for you.
[distorted music]
[Issa laughs]
- I want to see a before and after.
It's so funny because my great-grandmother,
who was born in 1896,
passed down to my grandmother and my mom this exercise,
and yeah, it got to me, where my mom was like,
"You have to do this
"all day."
You just have to exercise your jaw like that.
So the fact that someone has made money
off of a human chew toy, as it's described, is crazy to me.
I'm curious to see the results, because, you know what?
I might try it.
I might.
- So some people have been chewing
on these little plastic devices
aimed to give their jaw muscles a workout,
and actually change the shape and appearance of their jaws.
The truth is that facial exercises may be able
to actually give your face muscles a workout.
This doesn't mean you're necessarily going
to see any noticeable results
from working out your jaw in this way,
especially because your facial muscles are really small.
On top of that, you would have to be extremely dedicated
and consistent with this type of device
in order to see any type of noticeable effect.
Even then, it would probably be pretty minimal.
But if you're into this trend for whatever reason,
experts say, "Go for it."
They're not really too concerned about potential harms.
- You know what?
She didn't say that it wasn't gonna work.
And honestly, that's all I need to know.
So shout-out to my great-grandmother,
who was ahead of her time.