Local author gives the skinny on waist training

Summer is here and as people are unpacking those swimming suits and bikinis, West Philadelphia’s own Vanna B is releasing her book “Waist Training 101” to help those seeking to improve heir figures.
Corset’s, once popular during Victorian Times, are back in vogue and “Waist Training 101” is written for those who use them in their effort to slim those waist lines.
“‘Waist training 101’ is an instructional manual on waist training and it just tells women how to go about it,” said Vanna B.
“A lot of people think it is as simple as going out, getting a corset, putting it on and tying it as tight as you could possibly get it, and they think they are just going to see results in a matter of days — just like that,” she said. “But that’s not how it really works.”
The first step to properly wearing a corset for waist training is what Vanna B has called, “seasoning it [the corset].”
“Over a two-week period you start wearing the corset very loosely on you for about 2 hours a day,” she said. “Then, little by little, you begin to slowly tighten it.”
In fact Vanna B said there is no point during waist training with a corset that you should wear it so tight that breathing becomes difficult.
“All of the negative flack that people get in the media is because people are going about it wrong. Of course if you go about it like that you are going to run the risk of injuring yourself.”
“If it’s ever to the point where it’s hurting, you can’t breathe, definitely you’re going numb — then it’s definitely too tight and you need to either take it off or loosen it a little,” said Vanna B.
Corsets should be worn regularly, said Vanna B and therefore, tightening one to the point where it becomes uncomfortable prohibits frequent use and therefore defeats the purpose.
Despite the warnings and some information circulating in the media, Vanna B said there is no record of anyone ever being seriously injured by wearing a corset even among those who make a practice of wearing them very tightly for long periods of time.
“They are called ‘tight lacers’ and they’ll have it tight like that and will still wear it 24 – 7, taking it off just to shower; they sleep in it and everything,” she said. “There are people who have been doing it for years and years and years, and they’re perfectly fine and healthy.”
This is because the body’s organs are malleable. However, she still recommends easing in to use over a 9 month period.
“When I started wearing it I immediately noticed how my posture changed and [how it relieved] back pain that I had,” said Vanna B, who began wearing Corset’s after developing a condition known as Diastases Recti, also referred to as abdominal separation, which she experienced after a pregnancy.
It was then that she began researching the topic of waist training.
In her book Waist training 101, Vanna B discusses not only the use of waist training but also other methods of waist training.
“Don’t just rely one hundred percent on Corset training ... I have different illustrations of abdominal exercises that you could do and just some basic chapters about dieting, cutting calories and measuring your body mass index,” said Vanna B.