As Seen On TV: Fad Exercise Equipment
I work in a giant, brightly decorated cubicle with two other people, and we often pass the days sending each other links to amusing things or dorky things or talking about the latest episode of Project Runway. Actually that all happened today.
But the other thing that happened today was one of us, and I’m not naming any names, saying she really wanted to buy this thing, an electric ab workout called the Contour Core Sculpting System.
Other fitness products that are apparently a source of entertainment in this cube are the Torso Tiger and the Gazelle (the key seems to be to name your product after an animal).
I always assume these are scams and colossal wastes of money, that they make their money by offering you a “30-day free trial” and then gouging you for shipping (which is often nonrefundable), or counting on a large percentage of people letting the 30 days slip away, even once they realize they’ve been had. I guess I see stuff like this as a part of the giant monolithic industry of irresponsible “too good to be true” quick-fix products, and I wish people would stop buying them.
I don’t have anything against exercise equipment per se; in fact, I’m still waiting for Precor to send me that free elliptical machine for my house. It’s just that these things seem flimsy, cheap, ineffective and—especially the ones with gimmicks like electricity—just a sucker’s bet, a 2008 version of the vibrating fat belt. But what do you think? Have you ever bought anything like this? Would you ever be tempted to?
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Exercise, Video, Weight Loss, Work
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My husband bought the precursor to that contour thingy! He had it before we were together, I’ve ever seen him use it, but he does say that he felt it worked, because it does contract the muscles, and he weighed the same then, worked out less, and had “better” abs (less squish). He got tempted by the newer version, because it covers more areas at once, but I talked him out of it on principle.
Oh good God! Anyone who has bought one of those is a SUCKER! It is too good to be true and it isn’t true.
But, I do totally heart Project Runway. Too bad I only have guys, who don’t watch it, near my cube so no dishing on that here.
Fad exercise equipment (excluding Boflex, Total Home Gym, and similar products) is just that, fad. There’s a reason why 99% of yard sales have at least one of those on the lawn.
It’s a frickin’ TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) unit. Except they purposely use it counter to medical advice–you aren’t supposed to turn it up till the muscles contract.
The closest I ever got to that was a soloflex, which I loved and adored. I got a lot of use out of that. But I don’t think it qualifies as a fad.
My daughter has a Gazelle and she uses it all the time, loves it. But this thing is hilarious-it does remind me of the vibrating fat belts and those big roller things that you used to put your ass on back in the day.
Oh my god. I went the Cake Wreck Site and I laughed until my head hurt and I had a wet shirt from crying so hard while laughing.
I want a Boflex, but if I ever spent money on exercise equipment I’d probably get an elliptical.
OK, this isn’t faddish at all, but my favorite equipment is a few sets of super-cheap metal dumbbells, used with a book on weight training for women. (I was going to link to the one I use, but apparently it’s out of print.) Cheap, easy, modifiable to all sorts of physical limitations or not. And after using them I feel SUPER TOUGH.
I can remember in the early 80s my aunt and uncle had some sort of fat vibrating machine. That thing hurt like heck! I’d be all for some magic cure – something that would allow me to be in great shape and healthy and free up a few hours a week for me to do something else. Ain’t gonna happen. So I’ll save my penny’s for a good old fashioned weight bench instead.
I prefer these exercise equipment..
http://dealstudio.pgpartner.com/search.php/form_keyword=exercise+equipment/st=query_link&ru=283
hehe..
Been tempted to, but haven’t done so. Weird story, though — I work as a part time bra-girl at a retailer, and a customer came in asking for Spanx. She told me that her friend lost a lot of weight wearing Spanx everyday because she couldn’t eat as much.
It sounded horrifying to me.
Back before I knew about FA/HAES, I was convinced that my stomach was SO gross. I had palpable firm muscles under the fat, but, ew, there was FAT there, good gods, we can’t have that! So… my idea of a solution to having a big tummy was to work it out more? Right, because adding on more muscle mass will somehow REDUCE inches… oh, wait. But, I bought the hype.
So I thought, well, my current yoga/ bellydance combo must not be giving my stomach muscles enough of a workout. I saw a commercial for one of those belts that send electrical impulses to your muscles. “This is what doctors use to restore muscle tone to atrophied patients!” said the infomercial-thing. Thinking, “muscle toning! That’s just what I need!” I got one of the belts and started wearing it during all my workouts, in hopes that it would enhance the effect of said workouts.
I do believe I had harder tummy muscles with the belt. I could certainly feel the stimulation, which was uncomfortable but not painful. But… sheesh, really, it was a stupid purchase. It’s a bunch of fuss to use for only a slightly better result than you could get from just being comfortable and doing your workout sans being zapped by electrodes. I’m not training for the Pudge Olympics, so really, there’s no need for me to have rock-hard abs, which btw were (and are) still buried under the fat. Also I never experienced the naturally improved posture and back comfort promised by “fitness gurus” when one possesses kick-ass abs.
Moral of the story: HAES should have infomercials. ;)
Um, yeah, totally did that pulse tummy thing. In my defense, it was post first baby and I was stuck in military base temporary housing for a month with a vomiting infant. I would have purchased anything at that point, just to relieve the tedium…
Total waste and long before I realized that I could not sit and eat a half gallon of mint chocolate chip while wearing an electric device and expect to lose the baby fat. Hard work and healthy eating is definitely the way to go!
But damn, those commercials suck you in! Logically, I think those of us who purchase such things know they are scams and we’re suckers for buying them, but we always hope that *this time* it will be true.
I thought long and hard about a Gazelle. When I realized it had no progressive resistance I just bit the bullet and got a gym membership instead.
You are totally evil for posting those links, just wanted you to know that you’re entirely responsible for me not getting a thing done last night. Between the cake wrecks that nearly made me pee myself laughing and the quizzes that I could not stop taking… ;)
I don’t buy into the fad exercise equipment so I’m not sure I can say much but that thing..the contour core sculpting thingy.. just looks like a waste of money.
I was about to say I know nothing about owning exercise equipment, but then I remember I do own a pilates setup. I don’t think it has done anything except make me hurt like no ones business the next day.
My point was to add another thanks for posting the Cake Wrecks site, though. I laughed, I cried and now I am at work forwarding my favorites around the office.
I owned and used a Nordic Track for many years.
It was a great workout, if awkward. I eventually got rid of it because it wasn’t so easy on my knees. It also weighed a ton.
This belt is a big version of the small, 2-electrode electronic massagers that are popular in Japan. Omron and others make them. They really do move your muscles. You twitch like crazy. Japanese use them when they have a crick in their necks or back pain.
Although your muscles move a lot, involunarily, I don’t know if the device actually develops your muscles. It seems unlikely that it would do that much. But normal muscle movement is triggered by nothing more than electric signals coming through your nervous system, so applying those signals externally probably does have some minor effect.
I thought it was like how mainstream stores market vibrators as “neck tension relievers,” and this electricity thing was actually some kind of sex toy.
Which makes it surprising even to me to say I haven’t bought one–and now I certainly am not tempted!
It doesn’t seem right to me that an exercise device should require batteries
How long before we see a version of the ThighMaster called the Cougar?
While your abs will certainly “feel” tighter from all the contractions, a belt, no matter how much it is working your abs, is NOT going to trim fat.
These things “might” work, and I stress might, if combined with a healthy diet, and regular daily Aerobic exercise.
Other than that it is a scam. Do you not notice the before/after pictures? Pay attention to their body OTHER than the Abs, they have leaner arms, pecs, waists etc. A miracle ab belt isn’t going to give you biceps and pecs lol. Those people hit the gym, THAT’s how they got like that, not some belt.
These gimmicks feed on peoples gullibility and naivety.
The products definately go through cycles. Those shocker belts have come back at least 3 times in the past decade. (Even longer if you look hard enough.)