I hope you’ve enjoyed our first two articles exposing fitness gimmicks. I personally have received quite a bit of feedback both positive and negative (guess I ruffled some feathers with that Zumba article!) But don’t worry I’m not scared! They can’t stop me!

#3 The Shake Weight

Really I could have picked just about any “sold on TV” fitness product and used it here, but the shake weight is what’s hot right now. I know people are gullible, but I am truly surprised that this thing is selling. Let’s for a moment forget that the whole thing was probably created from a bet between to perverted friends to see how ridiculous they could get people to look, but seriously you think shaking your hands back and forth is going make you fit?

When it comes right down to it, exercise is a game of physics. Acceleration takes energy. Deceleration takes energy. So accerlating and decelerating load will expend energy. Energy expenditure increases metabolism, and uses unwanted fuel (body fat). The shake weight takes a great idea, and completely ruins it. First of all the level of resistance on this device is completely insignificant (2.5lbs) and even if you do find it suitable, you won’t for long..then what? Moreover, it’s great that it will “tone” (haha) your arms, but what about your abs, erectors, hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, etc…? What about your cardiovascular system? What about your flexibility? What about your balance? Yeah this thing is great.

What Makes it a Gimmick

First and foremost it’s sold on television in a typical cheesy infomercial for…you guessed it, $19.95 plus shipping and handling! The commercials also boast that you can see results from just 6 minutes a day. If it was legitimate, legitimate fitness professionals would be using it. Do you see kettlebells being sold on infomercials? How about barbells? Didn’t think so. Now there are actually people on the internet saying they’ve “seen results” from this product. To that I say: If you are a completely sedentary person and get winded taking a walk across your bedroom floor to the bathroom, than just about any kind of motion (being sexually suggestive or not) will have some kind of effect on your body. Keep in mind that the shake weight is not dynamic, and it’s repetitive. Which means the soft tissue of that same sedentary person would probably be negatively affected

Mr. T pities the fool who buys the shake weight!

and would develop some kind of repetitive motion injury. Good job shake weight.

The Verdict

Complete crap. Final score: 9.9 out of 10

Tags: Article, Education, exercise, fat-loss, fitness, informational, Workout