shake weight effectiveness

Health and fitness advertisement has become one of the top topics on television, newspapers and magazines. Fitness companies are creating new products that promise to improve an individual’s work out with half the time and effort. In a society with little time for exercise the ads grab people’s attention. The advertisement at hand depicts athletic-fit men and women performing the “Shake Weight” ideal motion, and mentioning the “Dynamic Inertia Exercise” concept. The Shake Weight is an object like a dumbbell that is shaken back and forth with the help of springs at the either end. It is a well designed and clean looking product. It is targeted for the masses as it claims to be seven times more effective than a dumbbell at a very affordable price. Through its advertisements in magazines and late night television, the Shake Weight has grown into a product that many individuals have in their home because of its easy workout. Imagine that, a six minute daily workout that promises to improve your upper body, to make you look like a model for $29.95 plus delivery costs. The Shake Weight advertisements depict the simplicity of working out, and yet building strength and fitness to ones’ upper body. The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, titled “Does the Shake Weight live up to its hype” which involved sixteen healthy volunteers, did the first study that was analyzed. They completed a total of two exercise trials, one involving a 5 pound shake-weight and a 5 pound dumbbell for men, and the other a 2.5 pound shake weight and a 2.5 pound dumbbell for women. The trial consisted of four different exercises for the shake weight, a one handed biceps shake, a two handed triceps shake, a one handed shoulder shake, and a two handed chest shake. The dumbbell exercises that were used for the comparison were biceps curls, triceps extension shoulder press, and chest fly. In this study they measured the “Electromyography” which is defined as a diagnostic procedure to assess the