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Sexually suggestive exercise tool Shake Weight - our thoughts. Plus, a Youtube challenge...

Posted: 01/01/2010 at 09:24am by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness

Right, so it’s time for New Year’s Resolutions, and many people will plump for weight loss as their number one goal.

Cashing in on the New Year-New You ethos is a time-honoured act for many diet pill companies and exercise fad pushers, who like drug peddlers, rely on desperation in their bid to make a quick buck.

We were recently offered the chance to review the ‘revolutionary’ Shake Weight, which claims to tone and sculpt your arms in just 6 minutes a day. Alex Gerrard (nee Curran), wife of Liverpool and England player Steve Gerrard has become the UK face of the product which attracts attention for all the wrong reasons.

Have you ever heard jokes related to men with one arm bigger than the other? Well, it seems the designer of the Shake Weight (UK RRP £29.95) had this in mind then worked backwards, for if there’s one thing this product reminds you of… yep, that’s right - it’s male masturbation.

Now the tone has officially been lowered, I ask that you watch the short video showing American chat-show sweetheart Ellen Degeneres with the product below then continue.



Alex said: 'I use The Shake Weight every day and my arms have never looked so good. It really works.' This would be much more sincere if she wasn’t being paid to say it.

In a recent interview, Alex told the Daily Mail that this year, after seeing a picture of herself on holiday, she hired a personal trainer and cut down on the Big Macs and Quarter Pounders and is now looking toned – no doubt the reason for the weight loss, rather than the Shake Weight.



From a results point of view, this product is, much like Katie Price/Jordan’s PR team at the minute, a huge waste of money.

Now for some truths

The makers claim that using it for six minutes a day will tone the arms thanks to a technology called 'dynamic inertia’. However, the concept is as doomed as carbs in Victoria Beckham’s household, because although it claims that it will target your bingo wings; as I, and many greater minds than mine have said before, you cannot, I repeat, cannot, spot reduce, or reduce body fat in specific areas just because you want to. If you lose weight, you lose it from everywhere at different times along the journey, not your upper arms just because you train using that body part.

No number of crunches will get rid of your post-Christmas bulge, and no amounts of squats will entirely rid your bum and legs of the wobbles. The fact is, if you want to lose body fat, which is what ‘bingo wings’ are laden with, resistance training, such as training with the Shake Weight or doing weight training, will not cut it. You could do 2000 crunches a day, but you’d still only be exercising your muscle, barely affecting the layer of fat covering it.

Only aerobic exercise, such as jogging, cycling, swimming, skipping, boxing etc combined with a healthy diet will trim your waistline with any real affect, although resistance training should be an integral part of any weight loss effort in order to shape your body and improve your metabolism.

6 minutes, or 6 hours a day of ‘exercising’ with the Shake Weight will not get rid of the body fat surrounding your upper arm. Fat and muscle are two distinct body tissues – the same reason why you can’t turn fat into muscle or vice versa as people sometimes believe.

Back on the note of spot reduction, (the attempt to lose body fat from your ‘problem areas’), think about it this way – if you used a cycle regularly, and were hugely overweight, would you just lose the weight from your legs because you were only exercising using your legs? The answer is no, you’d lose it from everywhere - your arms, face, stomach, you name it, you exercise enough, you’ll lose it.

The Shake Weight will undoubtedly tread the same forgotten path as the Coleen Rooney-endorsed Flexi-bar, the Last Big Thing™, which we wrote about in November.

Now for your Youtube challenge

I will personally try to get one of these hilariously misguided exercise tools to whoever posts the funniest exercise video in the comments section below. In a few days time, if we have enough, I'll feature the videos in a blog on the site and ask you guys to vote for the funniest. I can't say fairer than that!

So, get Youtubing, if nothing else I'm sure it'll be a giggle.

Happy New Year guys.

Add Comment View Comments

Comments

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It works though - and you can save £10 with this offer - www.newimagetv.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=158

Posted by: Joan, 12/01/2010 at 03:45pm

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Thanks for your comment Joan, it's much appreciated, but even if you paid me to use Shake Weight, I wouldn't endorse the fact that it 'works'. I've recently been sent a sample, which is again appreciated, but just compounds my belief that it's a waste of plastic cashing in on a time of the year and the public's wish to find a quick fix. I hope this blog helps people understand that spot reduction is one huge myth.

Posted by: Rich Leigh, 14/01/2010 at 06:16pm

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I'm have no interest in whether all these fads work but just want to comment on your "comment" re spot reducing. The product doesn't claim to reduce fat on your arms/bingo wings it claims to tone the muscle. Now to be fair if you're overweight you might not see a nice toned tricep because of your body fat but it doesn't mean it won't be there underneath. Just like all the crunches in the world won't get rid of fat around your middle but the muscle underneath it will be working. I agree that good old fashioned cv exercise is the way to burn the calories and lose the fat but you can target muscle groups when toning especially with weights.

Posted by: Tracey , 03/04/2010 at 09:59am

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