Our favorite, most ridiculous fitness gadget of all time has made the big time, as the Shake Weight was parodied on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live.

My review of the Shake Weight has been very popular, has drawn a lot of people to the site and has generated some pretty unintentionally funny comments over the past several months.  This gadget really serves as a great example of what is wrong with the fitness equipment business, just how ill-informed the general public is and how desperate too many people are to get the benefits of exercise without actually doing any work.

Even though I understand the people are the way they are – willing to spend money on gimmicks – I am still amazed that people are willing to spend money on this kind of dreck.  Rather than buy a few pairs of dumbbells that allow an almost unlimited variety of real exercises to be performed through a full-range of motion people want to believe holding a vibrator is legit exercise.

Oh well…I’m sure there will continue to be many more successful exercise gimmicks of dubious effectiveness to hit the market for as long people are looking for quick fixes.  However, I’ll bet that none of these devices will provide for as much unintentional humor – and intentional humor – as the Shake Weight.  So watch and enjoy!

Some really ridiculous fitness products have been brought to market, but the Shake Weight just might represent the cream of the crop when it comes to nonsensical exercise equipment.  Based on the oxymoronic “principle” of “dynamic inertia,” the Shake Weight is alleged to give users, “lean, sculpted arms and shoulders.”

Despite the fact that the muscles of the arms, chest, shoulders and back are not moving through a range of motion the makers of the Shake Weight claim to be able to deliver muscle and strength building results.  This flies in the face of just about every bit of existing legitimate scientific data on the subject of muscle and strength building.

Furthermore, the muscles of the biceps and triceps are among the smallest muscles of the body, and “exercising” them provides very little stimulus – metabolic or strength/muscle building.  There is a lot to learn from the advertisement’s claim that users will, “feel it instantly.”

Just because you may “feel” something doesn’t mean that this something is beneficial or will result in a beneficial outcome, strength/muscle building or otherwise.  For example, bend your index finger back as far as possible towards the back of your hand and hold it there.  You feel that, don’t you?  Does that “feeling” mean that you will derive a benefit from the action? Nope.

The users of the Shake Weight do not provide any of the so-called independent scientific research that is responsible for the creation of this gimmicky gadget.  If this research is such a home run and illustrates that the Shake Weight is better than using dumbbells, the makers of this product should be featuring this information on their web site.   I did not find any research on dynamic inertia in the vast, online databases of the National Strength and Conditioning Association or American College of Sports Medicine.

Dynamic inertia is a great example of what I call, “Vapor Research;” research touted as proof of effectiveness by an equipment huckster that isn’t provided and cannot be found.

Keeping the upper body in an isometric contraction for any length of time, while holding any implement, is going to induce fatigue.  Squeeze the steering wheel of your car while you sit in traffic and your entire body will feel the effects before too long.  And this is NOT a good thing.

The submaximal isometric contraction needed to hold the Shake Weight has no dynamic or functional strength building benefits.  Furthermore, isometric contraction training only provides benefits to the muscle at the specific angle in which the contraction is held.

So an isometric contraction where the arms are held at a 90 degree angle will only offer strength benefits at this specific angle.  Certainly, taking a muscle group/joint through a complete range of motion using dumbbells is much more efficient and effective method of training.

Save your time, money and effort.  The Shake Weight gets a, “Do Not Buy,” recommendation.