I’m sure by now you’ve all seen the hilarious commercial for the Shake Weight and you might be wondering if it really works. The commercial claims that using the Shake Weight for just 6 minutes a day can give you toned and defined arms in a matter of weeks. Well, I was in the mall the other day and saw one of those “As Seen on TV” product booths and decided to buy one to test out their claims myself. Any time I hear something like “in just 6 minutes a day” my alarm bells start ringing, because it just sounds too good to be true. Is it?
The inventors of the Shake Weight say that they’ve come up with a technology called “dynamic inertia”, which is just a fancy way of saying that you hold the weight in place and shake it. They say that this technology helps you build and tone the muscles in your arms to give you a sleek and slender shape. So, I tried it out and here’s what I found:
Pros: It’s great for beginners. Anyone can learn how to use it. I definitely felt a burn within one minute of using it and you’re isolating your muscles in a way that’s similar to the way you contract your muscles during a plank (i.e. isometric contraction), which means it’s great for stability work.
Cons: It’s great for beginners. Which means that after about 4-6 weeks you won’t really see any major benefit from the Shake Weight. Eventually you’re going to have to increase the intensity, which isn’t really possible, because it only weighs 2.5 pounds. Their claims of getting sleek and toned in a matter of weeks if you use it for only 6 minutes a day are false, because you’re going to have to do a lot more if you want to burn the fat that’s surrounding your muscles (eating right, cardio, etc.). If working out for 6 minutes a day worked I would have a lot more hours in the day to train a lot more people and most likely I wouldn’t even have a job.
It doesn’t quite shake the way it does in the commercial either. When I opened the box I began looking for batteries, because in the commercial the shaking almost looks mechanical, but you quickly find out that it’s actually slower than they advertise. And that’s not all bad, because it means that you have to work a bit harder. But, it is false advertising, which always turns me off from products, because it makes it seem as if the inventors don’t fully believe in their product as is.
The DVD that came with the product had some exercises involving shaking the weight, but a lot of the 6 minute video were traditional exercises that you could do with any old weight. So what’s the point of having the Shake Weight at all? Oh, and did I mention false advertising? The trainer they used for the DVD was rail thin. Seriously, a stick bug. Are they trying to tell us that you will look like her after using this product for just 6 minutes a day? I promise you that you will not.
And one more thing… From a purely exercise theory perspective, our bodies are designed to move in many directions and it’s best to work out your muscles in a functional way, which means that you should do exercises that mimic every day movements (i.e. a squat with a curl and a press mimics picking up something from the floor and placing it on a shelf). For instance, your shoulders move up, down, and around, so working out your shoulders by just holding them in place doesn’t really help you use them in the way they are supposed to be used. It will definitely help build stability, but it won’t build strength. A muscle needs to go through a full range of motion around the joint to fully reap the benefits of building strength and tone, so just shaking this weight while holding your position will only build the muscle in that position. Make sense?
Bottom Line: It’s good if you’re just beginning, but don’t use it thinking that it’s some magical device that will get rid of your underarm fat. It won’t. It may help, but eventually you’re going to have to progress beyond it. Would I tell people to spend money on it? No. Just get yourself a set of weights and shake those.
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