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Today I came across the term “corset waist training”, which of course led me to wonder “What is corset waist training??” If you, like me, are wondering just what is corset waist training (also known as “tightlacing”), well you’re in luck, because I’ve figured (no pun intended) it out for you.

Corset waist training is pretty much exactly how it sounds: you “train” your waist, by wearing a corset.

Now at this point you may be thinking “train my waist to do what, exactly? To roll over? Shake? Speak?” (Actually my waist already does two out of three of those, with no training at all, thank you very much.)

Corset waist training is the practice of lacing (also known as “tightlacing”) yourself into a corset, on a regular basis, to ‘train’ your waist (your waistline) to become, well, smaller. And by ‘a regular basis’ what is meant is anywhere from 8 or more hours a day to 23 hours a day, all in name of trying to acheive an hourglass figure that your body, having been punished into, will retain for increasingly extended periods of time.

There are different methods of corset waist training out there, including the Cycle method of corset waist training (where you wear the corset as tightly as you can stand it for as much of the day as you can, then ‘listen to your body’ and let it out when you must), and the Roller Coaster method of corset waist training (different durations of corset wearing on alternating days).

According to some, one of the most important things in corset waist training is the material from which the corset is made. It turns out, I have learned in my research, that you can’t go for a cheap knock-off waist training corset, oh no. Those cheap knockoffs use plastic bones, and what you need to lace your waist into submission is a corset made with steel bones. (The cheap knockoffs sell for a fraction of the ‘real thing’, the latter of which can run from $400 to $1000, according to this article on corset waist training.)

Also, according to Lucy’s Corsetry there are several other factors, along with corset quality, that go into how effective your waist training will be. These include body type (including your internal organs and whether or not you’ve had a baby), and your lifestyle and exercise habits.

Apparently women are also squishing and reshaping their ribcage, as, for example, Lucy’s Corsetry advises that another factor is “Are your ribs flexible and are you able to accommodate corsets with a conical ribcage easily, or is your ribcage very inflexible and difficult to move? Those who are easily able to train their ribs are likely to see faster waist training results than those whose ribs are very rigid,” and “If you want to train your ribcage, you might need a corset with a conical ribcage, which gradually tapers down and increases the pressure on the lower ribcage.”

Recently Kardashian sisters Kim and Khloe have shared selfies of themselves wearing their waist training corsets.

Kim Kardashian (left) and Khloe Kardashian (right)
show off their waist training corsets

 

Personally, I don’t think it makes their waists look smaller as much as it makes their hips and backsides look a lot bigger. But seeing as that’s Kim’s signature big body part, I guess that’s not surprising.

If you are thinking that all of this sounds questionable when it comes to health and safety, well, you’re not alone.

Says nutritionist and fitness expert to the stars, J.J. Virgin, in an interview with Fox News, “People should know better. This is so ridiculous. You are blocking oxygen, reducing flow to your lungs, heart and other organs which in turn slows metabolism as your cells become deprived of oxygen.”

“Organ failure can also occur. In a word: don’t,” added Virgin.

Words to live by, quite literally.

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