Chinese create the ‘belly button challenge’ to find out if a person needs to lose weight

O Belly Button Challenge (or “Desafio do umbigo”, in Portuguese), has been taking over social networks in recent days. Born in China, it consists of making the person touch their own navel, passing their arm behind their back.

Although it seemed like a harmless game, the participants started a competition to see who could pull it off. To justify themselves, they claimed that the fever started due to an American study that would have proved that only those who met the challenge would be in good shape. Otherwise, the person would be overweight.

Interviewed by the British newspaper Daily Mail, Chinese personal trainer Xie Wei explained that this is not an effective method to determine whether or not a person is in good shape. According to him, three conditions are necessary for the exercise to be carried out successfully. “The first is whether the person is thin. The second, if you have long arms. The third factor is having good flexibility,” he explained.

Showing that the challenge has nothing to do with the person’s physical state, Internet users began to share images of people who are in shape and could not reach their own belly button, as well as people who are overweight and managed. And of course, the escapades that some took to get their hands on their navels – even if it was a little toy hand.