By Richard Tardif
Late night television is really something, isn’t it? I surfed to Shaun T’s reduced Insanity T25, one of the most popular workout programs in the world, as was his 60-minute butt busting in your face 2010 Insanity workout, and thought, “Do we still believe the weight loss hype?”
Real name Shaun Thompson, former backup dancer for Mariah Carey and the creator of Hip Hop Abs and Rockin Body and the creator behind Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2 – Elite Training Series, released his videos in 2012 and they shot to the top of the list of fitness videos.
My hats off to Shaun T, and also Tony Horton, Creator of the bestselling P90X workout program and 10-Minute Trainer Workout, another immensely over-the-top popular workout that brings with it a diet plan and more in your face training for at least 90-days.
It’s no more about fitness gadgets. Today it’s all about getting your butt in gear. In the past, fitness advertising was about doing less butt moving and more quick fixes. It’s prompted me to look to the past.
Science says your body burns more calories when it’s slightly chilled, so why not wear an ice vest every day? I kid you not. The Cold Shoulder, a $150 ice pack developed by a NASA scientist, claims to burn fat 70 percent faster than dieting alone and will give you the most enviable abdominals in town. Just wear the vest up to three hours each day (two 90-minute sessions) on an empty stomach, and try to ignore the discomfort, reads the pitch.
When your losing weight in a chill look cool by wearing weight reducing blue tinted glasses. I am not kidding! The glasses were designed to prevent dieters from overeating because they make food look less appealing, and you guessed it, get those great abs in the process. The theory behind the glasses is that the blue hue acts an appetite suppressant, because few foods are naturally that colour.
How about a few magnets to cut some fat?
MagnaSlim claims to relieve stress and its by-product of overeating by placing magnets and a magnetized solution at specific acupuncture points. The magnet at the acupressure point would supposedly improve cell function, restore Chi (life force energy) and give a person more control over what they put in their mouths.
Toning Shoes. Ab Rocket. Thigh Master. Ab Lounge. Ab Circle. Dumbbell Utensils. Shake Wake, which actually sold two million units in one year, to name a few. Buns of Steel. Fitness Flyer. Sauna Suit, which looks remarkably like two garbage bags sewn at the seams, to name more?
And the Ab Circle that whips you around on a circular track? This machine claims to work off those love handles in response to a continued circular force, but like many fitness gadgets out there, there is no research to support these claims.
Vibrating Platforms. 8-Minute Abs. Thigh Master a la Suzanne Somers. The Ab Lounge. All of them support a lie that one can actually spot reduce and get it done without dieting. That’s what is the key here – gadgets of the past did not get you moving and didn’t come with a recommended diet. Are we advanced in our thinking when it comes to quick fixes? Yesterday I saw an infomercial for a body wrap you wear for 30-minutes a day for one month!
You tell me?
