If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

As a professional in the fitness industry for quite some time now nothing is more maddening or heartbreaking than to see people getting bamboozled into buying fitness gimmicks or fad diets that overpromise and under deliver. While this is a short list of fitness flops, the take home message is clear; if it sounds too easy and requires no effort or dietary restrictions to see results you are probably wasting your money. In other words it’s a rip off.  Real results come from real hard work done consistently for a long, long, time. By the way, all these products were heavily advertised on TV.

# 1.  Ab Lounge:

Imagine being able to get “Great Abs” while you watch television”?

When a product’s marketing claims sound too good to be true they usually are. To work the abdominal muscles there may be 1,000 more effective and cheaper exercises but the ab lounge is one of the few which you can comfortably sit in front of the television and not break a sweat or feel any muscle burn. The cost of the ab lounge ranges from $129 to $179. This money would be better spent on a gym membership for several months or a few sessions with a personal trainer to learn proper training techniques for the entire core not just your abdominal muscles.

# 2.  Six Second Abs:

15 times more effective than a regular crunch.

The name six second abs plays on the great success of 8 Minute Abs, which was a series of videos that came out in 1994. The video involved 8 minutes of various exercises done in timed intervals with brief rests in between. The actual gimmick product for 6 second abs is a very low quality piece of plastic that is to be placed on your thighs while sitting in a chair. The resistance offered is very insignificant and offered little, if any benefit. A DVD was also included to show several different ways you could use the six second abs machine. The cost? Around $40 plus shipping and handling for this fitness gimmick. Again this is money that might have been better spent on a fitness ball and a set of resistance bands from your local sporting goods department. YouTube has tons of free fitness videos for virtually any type of workout, any length of time and with any type of equipment including abdominals on fitness balls.

# 3. ThighMaster

We may not have been born with great legs but now we can look like we were.

If you turned on a television for an hour during the early 1990s you would most likely have seen an infomercial for the Thighmaster with none other than the famous Suzanne Somers. This may have been the beginning of the “results by association” phenomena which is prevalent in the fitness industry today. If Suzanne Somers has great legs, and she uses the Thighmaster, it must work right? Many of these celebrities were born with amazing bodies and have probably had some help along the way in terms of plastic surgery. The Thighmaster is a foam covered piece of metal with a spring in the middle. The design of the Thighmaster limited its use to squeezing the legs together which only activates the adductors but does little to strengthen the quadriceps, hamstrings or glutes. The prospect of perfect thighs had women purchasing the ThighMaster in record numbers in the 1990’s.

# 4. Electric Abdominal Belts

Get great abs and an unbelievable 6 Pak quickly.

It’s unfortunate how many people fell for this fitness gimmick but when the infomercial actors are comfortably lounging around watching TV while developing their 6 paks what’s not to love about that right?  These electronic muscle stimulators are commonly used in physical therapy as an adjunct tool for rehabilitating weak muscles where joint mobility is limited. The muscles are literally being shocked into repetitive contractions and there will be an improvement in muscle strength if used regularly.  What they won’t do is magically melt fat cells away or improve overall fitness. If you still have a layer of fat over the abdominals you won’t be seeing that 6 pak. For overweight and obese people that have too much fat covering the abdominal muscles the stimulation just can’t penetrate the muscles. If you desire to improve strength mildly, the device might work for you — but only if you’re already of a normal weight. The biggest problem with this gimmick is that It overrides the fundamental root cause of fat & flabby abs in the first place which in most cases is a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet and possibly excessive stress. Unfortunately something is lost when the individual is not consciously activating the muscle fibers themselves by thinking with their brain about how to contract the abdominals. When connecting the brain to the muscle movement new neural pathways are developed and this is a good thing.  If the prospect of sitting on your desk eating Ben & Jerry’s while simultaneously toning your waist caused you to spend anywhere from $50 to $150 on an electronic ab belt you probably are not shocked with electronic ab belts being the #2 most worthless fitness gimmick of all time.

# 5.  Sauna Belts

The Sauna belt system sweats away unwanted fat, eliminates cellulite, lose weight and ease muscle pain, all while in the comfort of your own home.

Instead of actually moving or contracting muscles to burn fat, the sauna belts claim to melt fat off like a form of thermal liposuction. The marketing of these types of neoprene belts capitalizes on the myth that sweat reflects fat melting away from the specific location. Wrong! Sweat produced by merely wearing a heat trapping material around the midsection, or any body part for that matter is completely unfounded. Sweat loss equals water loss and can be a byproduct of an intense workout where you undoubtedly burned fat. When you are burning fat while exercising, it is coming from everywhere on your body NOT a specific location. You are literally burning fat from your face all the way down to your toes. If the sweat loss was externally induced by trapping heat with neoprene, saran wrap or any type of cream, gel or petroleum based goop, this is not a reflection of fat metabolism. Whatever inches have been lost will be gained back immediately after drinking enough water. The price for this fitness gimmick is around $50.00. Again this money might be better spent by purchasing a great pair of walking shoes and hit the streets or trails every day for 30 minutes and notice a difference in your shape.

How to Avoid Fitness Gimmicks

Perhaps a tell-tale sign of a bogus product is the inclusion of a disclaimer that reads similar to this one found on the 6 second abs advertisement.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS MAY VARY AND WILL DEPEND UPON THE NUMBER OF DAYS FOLLOWING THE COMPLETE 6 SECOND ABS EXERCISE/DIET PROGRAM AND YOUR INITIAL FITNESS LEVEL. PROGRAM INCLUDES COMPLETE 1200 CALORIE DIET PLUS 30 MINUTES OF EXERCISE PER DAY. CONSULT WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING THIS OR ANY EXERCISE/DIET PROGRAM.

So the recommendation I would give is to use your common sense and live by the age old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” There is no substitute for hard work and discipline. Educate yourself about the most valuable possession you have, your body. This body that you live in is the only vehicle you get in life so take care of it now while you can. Treat yourself well, eat healthy, exercise regularly and you won’t be inclined to waste money on products that are doomed to disappoint.