Exercise in a vacuum

A new fitness machine promises results in women's problem areas

RALEIGH -- Like most folks who exercise, Barbara Friedewald has a goal.

"I want to wear black leather pants. Not 10-cent-a-dance leather pants," the 58-year-old Morrisville resident quickly clarifies, "classy leather pants."

It's a goal you might think she would have already met. A family history of high blood pressure and cholesterol prompted her to start eating better years ago, and for the past 4 1/2 years she has undertaken a rigorous power-walking routine that has her putting in three to five miles a day, four or five times a week at a brisk 4 to 4.5 mph.

Yet she still couldn't fit into those classy black leather pants. Well, she could fit into them. "I can wear them. I just can't breathe in them."

Even the classiest black leather pants aren't very forgiving in the waist, hips, thighs and behind -- problem areas for some women, particularly middle-age and older women.

But that was before she found Vacu Step, a new device that promises big results through minimal exertion. She added it to her regimen in October, and now Friedewald thinks it won't be long before she's breathing easy in those black leather pants.

Friedewald learned about Vacu Step through acquaintance Swanie Tolentino, who discovered it while working in France.

A marketing executive for an international computer company, Tolentino was on assignment in Paris in 2005 and her busy work life left her with precious little time to exercise.Though petite herself, Tolentino was beginning to feel the effects of one-too-many croissants. Squeezing in a workout became imperative.

That's when she stumbled upon Vacu Step at a spa in her neighborhood.

Essentially, Vacu Step is an elliptical trainer encased in a fiberglass shell. Climb onto the trainer wearing a rubber skirt similar to that used by whitewater kayakers, pull the skirt snug around an opening in the shell creating a nearly airtight environment, flick a switch and a vacuum is created inside the trainer.

The concept was a bit unusual, but it promised just what Tolentino needed: quick results in a short time. In exchange for 30 minutes a day of low-key exertion, the Vacu Step promised to trim "stubborn fat" from those problem areas: the waist, hips, thighs and buttocks.

Tolentino was quickly hooked. So much so that, shortly after returning to Raleigh last April, her entrepreneurial urge prompted her to look into bringing Vacu Step to the area.

In July, she took a leave of absence from her job, and in late October she opened Body Chic, a spa/studio featuring Vacu Step in The Lassiter at North Hills, an upscale Raleigh shopping center.

And Friedewald says, after using the equipment for two months, Vacu Step wasn't just blowing hot air.

"In 30 sessions," she says, "I've lost nine inches overall" -- from her waist, her hips, her thighs.

She can almost not feel those classy black leather pants now.

Theories behind it

Vacu Step operates on two theories.

First, go slow and work out in your fat-burning zone.

Targeting your fat-burning zone is an exercise theory embraced by segments of the fitness world. Essentially, it holds that if you keep your heart rate below a certain level during exercise, you will burn only fat, not calories at work elsewhere in the body.

Second is the vacuum thing. According to literature supplied by Vacu Step, this theory holds that, "During aerobic/cardio exercise, the body temperature is decreased in the stomach, buttocks, hips and thighs because blood typically flows away from the skin and into the muscles. Blood must be available to transport the required fat for the muscles to burn as energy."