The Shake Weight Gets a “Do Not Buy” Recommendation
November 3, 2009 by Sal Marinello
Filed under The Healthy Skeptic
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.
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As someone who knows quite a bit about fitness (from both a personal and professional stand point) I can tell you that on the surface this product looks like it will do what it says it will do. First of all, the reviewer is right about isometric exercise (it will only build strength at the specific angle of the arm). However, to my knowledge this product doesn’t advertise that it will make you stronger, it advertises that it will tone your arms. In fact, isometrics will tone your entire arm a lot faster and with far less effort than doing reps with dumbbells. When lifting weights your muscles will only use the number of fibers necessary to lift the load. The reason you do reps is to fatigue those fibers so the muscle will employ more fibers to compensate. In fact, 98% of the benefit of lifting weights is in the final rep. Isometrics triggers every muscle fiber at once, so in essence, isometrics lets you do the final rep and get the 98% gain without spending time on prior reps. This makes the workout easier, faster, and gives you more incentive to keep exercising because you will see almost immediate results by investing as little as fifteen minutes every other day. I’m also tired of traditionalist putting down isometrics. I’ve stayed fit my entire life by employing a regime of isometrics and dynamic tension (which is using the isometric force throughout your full range of motion). While these methods may have their limits (reach a peak where strength gain continues but visual muscle growth does not) so more bulk can be achieved by dedicating yourself to a time consuming isotonic workout plan; I stay fit because I only need do 15 minutes of exercise every other day (in addition to my aerobics) and have fun arm wrestling those that waste hours lifting weights thinking it’s the only way to build strength. In fact, Charles Atlas (voted the most fit man of his time) developed dynamic tension by watching lions in the zoo and realizing that they have a huge amount of muscle mass and strength without having ever lifted a weight.
The bottom line, this product will tone your arms. If the exercises are to keep your arms on only one position, then it’s isometric (you’ll still tone the entire arm but only build strength in one position). If the exercises have you move your arms throughout their range of motion then it’s dynamic tension (you’ll tone your arms and gain strength throughout your range of motion). If it is isometric and you want to build strength then simply repeat the exercise with your arm in numerous positions (keep in mind, however, that this will increase the time of your workout).