No matter who you are, it’s likely that you’re confronted by messages from the health and fitness industry on a regular basis. This could include TV ads for the latest abdominal machine, something someone at the gym said, the marketing on a tub of protein or even a website that you managed to come across.

Many of these messages you receive on a regular basis contain misleading, or completely incorrect information. As a professional within the industry, I find that I spend a lot of time explaining to customers and clients that a belief they hold may be holding them back from their true potential.

There are a few beliefs that pop up continually, all of which I have written about from time to time in the past. Within this particular article, I really want to go through the top five misconceptions based on my experience in the industry. Let’s start from number 5:

#5 Supplements will Replace a Balanced Lifestyle

If something is too good to be true then it probably is. Nothing could be more appropriate within the supplementation industry. To be frank, there is so much crap out there on supplement labels that it’s no wonder uninformed people often concede that they will never move toward their physique goals after seeing that the guy on the tub of protein gained 25 lbs of muscle in a matter of weeks! And that was just by using this single supplement alone!

Supplements are a very effective tool and this is precisely why we have a supplement store with a range of high quality products. But supplements are most effective when they are balanced out with an effective approach to your health and fitness goals. For example, eating garbage all day long and then having a multivitamin is not going to undo all that harm you’ve inflicted on your body through your poor nutritional habits. You need to ensure that your entire lifestyle is going to assist you toward your goals. So this means to train, sleep, eat, rest and of course supplement effectively – all are as important as each other!

#4 Weights are for Muscle Gain, Cardio is for Fat Loss

There seems to be this misconception that weights are for gaining muscle while cardiovascular training is for losing weight (or improving ones fitness). This is simply not true. According to the research, the most effective way to lose weight is to combine an effective diet, cardio and weight training together.

Weight training can be extremely effective for fat metabolism, not only by increasing your metabolic rate, but also through energy expenditure. Meanwhile, cardiovascular training can enhance muscle gains by improving growth hormone secretion, fitness and lactate threshold. I’ve written about this in the past and you may wish to read this particular article on muscle gain, Cardio & BodyBuilding – Good for Muscle Growth? or search around this blog for other pieces on weights for fat loss.

#3 There is a “Best” Way to Train for a Specific Goal

Some people believe that there is a “best” way to train for one particular goal, whether that be fat loss, muscle gain, fitness or whatever. In other words, a one-size-fits-all approach that will work for everyone. I’ve seen this suggested by people in gyms, to advertisements on television suggesting that “This is the answer to everyone’s physique problems.”.

There is a flaw in this thinking and it does not account for differences in peoples goals, lifestyles, preferences, injuries, body types, genetic makeups and so on. An approach that may suit one person may not necessary be the most suitable approach for another person, simply because the other person is a completely different person. This goes for both training, supplementation and diet – both will vary greatly upon the individual and I strongly recommend you seek the advice of a professional who can tailor something up specifically for you.

#2 Women Shouldn’t Lift Weights

We’ve tackled this issue a few times, but there is an ongoing misconception that women should not lift weights for fear of bulking up. For women with normal hormonal levels, this should not be a concern, as due to lowered testosterone levels (and higher estrogen levels), muscle gain is greatly limited. Women, if you lift heavy and intensely, you’re not going to bulk up – you’re going to tone up and encourage weight loss. Such an approach to weight training can be very effective for many, but of course it’s important to consider your training experience, age and injuries.

#1 Spot Reduction

This is probably the most common issue that keeps popping up. I am personally continually asked about ways to lose fat from a particular area. Advertisements on the television “imply” that it is possible to lose fat from the waist exclusively, or around the butt and thigh area only. There is absolutely no evidence to support that this is possible – it is a myth that is abused my marketing companies time and time again.

While you can target a specific muscle to develop, your cannot consciously choose a specific region to metabolise fat tissue through diet and exercise. The only way I know that this is possible is to have invasive (and expensive) surgery, which is often not everyones first choice. Toning a specific area often requires fat loss (a result of a calorie deficit) and building the muscles in that particular area to provide some “shape” and definition.

We’ve written extensively on all of the above topics and I’d recommend that you read through those articles for further insights into these areas. However I hope this article is of use and helps to shed some light on these issues.

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First, a bit of a run-down on the previous article. Although the article was not solely focused on Power Balance (there were references to other brands such as Bionic Balance and Phiten), a fair portion of the article was focused on Power Balance. This is because this particular brand is probably the most prominent brand in the industry. Their product is characterised by the holographic sticker on the silicone wristband.

Within the article, I explained the “demonstrations” that I underwent, scritinised the validity of these experiments and then proceeded to investigate the evidence behind these products.

Based on my observations, experiences, research and discussions, I concluded that:

• There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that these product assist with strength, balance or flexibility (as previously suggested by Power Balance before their advertising was forced to be retracted by the ACCC)
• These products are bogus
• Their demonstrations are misleading and not a valid way to measure the effectiveness of these products

The only benefit I concluded with this particular brand is that by paying $60 (or so), you are effectively paying for the placebo effect, which can be powerful and greatly beneficial to you.

I would suggest reading the full article, entitled “Do Balance Wristbands Work?”

The Power Balance Interview

Now we move on to part two of the story. As mentioned within the article, I contacted Dr Rob Milne asking him a series of questions about the Power Balance product. He instructed me that “All press related information has to come from head office”. He was kind enough to forward me the contact details of Tom O’Dowd, who answered all my questions.

Here is the full interview. I have not edited my questions or Tom’s responses. I have however made some comments (in italics) as food for thought and these comments did not constitute any part of the interview:

Jay: What is the Power Balance product supposed to do?

Tom: This will be different for each person, because everyone has a different life experience, whilst we strongly believe that there are a number of common factors, we do not any longer state what we think the benefits are, we allow the user to form there own judgment. If they are not happy there has always been a money back policy.

Comments: Interesting, a very vague description of the benefits of the product. More interestingly, the name of the product “Power Balance” tends to suggest that this product assists with power and balance (well, at least that’s my interpretation). Previously Power Balance touted that the benefits of this product were to aid in balance, flexibility and power, before being pulled up on it by the ACCC. Now, this product “will be different for each person”.

Jay: How does this technology work?

Tom: This is a proprietary process and we do not divulge that information.

Comments: At the convention, Dr Rob was more than happy to discuss the special frequency of the Mylar technology embedded within the Power Balance bracelet. Dr Rob further suggested that this special frequency helps in improving balance. I find it interesting that this information cannot be released “officially”.

Jay: Rob mentioned that there is currently no peer-reviewed literature on the product. If there is, please provide details. If not, why do you support this product?

Tom: I strongly believe in this product and so do Power Balance users all over the globe, I have seen more than enough and experienced more than enough for me to support this product. We do not have any peer reviewed literature, I would have thought that this would have been more than obvious from the corrective notice on our web site. We never claimed at any stage to have scientific double blind or peer reviewed support.

With respect, it appears to me that you are going at the angle that there is no scientific peer-reviewed evidence, however just to be 100% clear, this has been extensively documented in the press and by the regulatory authorities..And it has also been reported that we have admitted that our product is a scam or that it doesn’t work, this is however totally incorrect, we have never stated that our product doesn’t work, and we do stand behind our product and our beliefs.

Comments: Clearly there is no peer reviewed literature. At best, people “strongly believe in this product”. I find it interesting how defensive this response seems to be. I simply asked why this product was supported if there was no peer-reviewed literature on the product. From what I can see, it seems the answer is because Tom and others “believe in this product”. I’m sure many of us would want to “believe in this product” if it was going to make us some considerable financial gains!

In all fairness, yes, I am sure that many people do believe in this product. And that is why there was a strong reference to the benefits of the placebo effect in my prior article, Do Balance Wristbands Work?

Further, I do not disagree with what Tom has said where he mentioned “we have never stated that our product doesn’t work”. True, the official statement reads “We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct…” Semantics? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Jay: Have you ever considered performing a double-blind test of your own?

Tom: This is not within our charter, we are a distributor of the product, testing is a responsibility of Power Balance LLC in the United States

Comments: I can only speak personally, but if I were going to invest a considerable amount of money into a product, I would want to know whether or not it works in an objective manner!

Jay: Has your company ever considered funding an independent double-blind test of this product?

Tom: Yes we had considered this, however it is not within our charter

Comments: After receiving all the bad press on this particular product, one would think that some research ought to be carried out in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the product. Again, I am only speaking personally, but if I launched a product that I strongly believed in also, I would be that convinced of its effectiveness that performing an inexpensive double-blind study would be right up the top of my priorities. Imagine all the positive publicity you would obtain once you proved all that bad press wrong? Further, imagine the discussion that such research would ignite and hence potentially boost sales through the roof?

I appreciate Tom being a good sport and providing us with some insight into the Power Balance Wristband product. Unfortunately, his answers were too vague to change my opinion on this particular product.

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Over the last few years, there has been a lot of media exposure promoting the benefits of a positive self-image and body-image. It’s now quite popular for a current affairs segment to feature “plus size models”, who are models that are technically overweight.

With all this added exposure, it is often suggested that being overweight is “okay”. And yes, this is perfectly reasonable advice. After all, you must love the body that you’re in to really get the most out of life, whether you are overweight, underweight or within the normal bodyweight range.

Psychology aside, what we are considering here is if you can be overweight and healthy at the same time. Upon considering all the positive “plus-size” features, and all the negative “skinny model” stories recently, being overweight is more socially acceptable than it was a decade ago. So it is therefore easy to infer that being overweight is healthy. Unfortunately, the research does not draw the same conclusion.

Being overweight carries a number of physiologically related medical health risks. This includes an increased risk of:

• Type II Diabetes
• Coronary Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Metabolic Syndrme
• Sleep Apnea
• Oseteoarthritis
• Gallbladder Disease
• Fatty Liver Disease
• Pregnancy Complications

Apart from these medical risks, there are lifestyle factors to consider too. If you’re overweight, you’ll find it harder to enjoy more physically active activities as a consequence of carrying around additional body mass. You may not be able to keep up with your kids, or may even sustain injury from being heavier than what a “healthy” BMI indicates.

We must not dismiss the potential psychological ramifications considerations of being overweight. It is commonplace to feel “down” about being overweight. Whether it’s to do with being disappointed with how you look in the mirror, or buying “plus-size” clothes, experiencing depressive symptoms as a result of your bodyweight is not healthy in any sense of the word.

It’s important to stress that there is nothing “wrong” with being overweight. If you are overweight then this is not something to be ashamed about. After all, we are all different shapes and sizes – and this is something that we should celebrate. The point of this article however is that you must not be mistaken into thinking that being overweight is healthy. It isn’t – being overweight carries a number of health risks (physiologically and psychologically) and may negatively impact your quality of life.

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It is quite possible are that you are going to be relatively impressionable when watching such an advertisement, particularly if you’re not overly familiar with the industry. We are naturally driven by the desire to be happy – and attaining an “ideal” body is often associated with a heightened sense of fulfilment. So, a product that almost promises guaranteed accomplishment of your ultimate goal can sometimes be far too emotionally driving to resist, even if the claims seem a little too good to be true. It’s no wonder that the dieting industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Bodybuilding supplementation advertisements also draw upon the same emotional response as the weight loss supplements do.

But just how true are these supplement advertisements and should you trust them? Well “technically speaking”, they are true – otherwise those ads would be deemed as false advertising. Though, many are very misleading as a result of a highly subjective presentation. Let’s consider two typical examples; one in each of the bodybuilding and weight loss supplementation arena’s.

The supplement ad that claims that you will gain 600% more lean mass. Often a claim like this will be highlighted and a highly subjective article will follow. The first obvious misconception about such a statement is that “lean mass” is muscle – this is incorrect. Lean mass refers to fat free tissue. Often a gain in lean mass can be attributed to an increase in fluid retention, for example. Next, we must question 600% more lean mass relative to what? Was it compared to a placebo? Delving deeper, you should then ascertain exactly how this claim was determined – was this via an objective third-party independent study, or was this conducted by the supplement company itself?

The statement “Lose 5kg in 5 days!” Such a phrase implies that you will lose 5kg of fat in 5 days, but this is not correct. The statement suggests that 5kg of body mass can be lost in 5 days. This is not necessarily fat tissue – this could be muscle and/or fluid weight as well. Especially in the early stages of dieting, significant weight loss is common due to a reduction in fluid retention in particular.

You could analyse almost any claim and subsequently identify that there is often a lot of “hype” associated with many of the marketing campaigns in this industry. Ultimately statements can often be quite misleading and it is your responsibility to understand exactly what is being said.

Now please don’t misunderstand – supplements are of great value in aiding you in accomplishing your health and fitness goals – otherwise we would not sell them in our supplement store. When used in an appropriate manner, they can assist you significantly in obtaining significant body transformations. Supplements, in conjunction with an appropriate and consistent exercise and dietary regime have the potential to completely transform your body, no doubt about it. What you must avoid however is developing unrealistic expectations when you do see a supplement advertisement, as this may very well be setting you up for failure.

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So, I have decided to use Subway as a case study in this blog post. Subway’s catch phrase is “Eat Fresh” and a few years ago they began marketing within Australia quite heavily as a fast food chain that was highly appropriate for people seeking to lose weight. Do you remember Jared? Jared Fogle was somewhat of the “Subway mascot”, who lost a phenomenal amount of weight, as shown in Subway’s advertising campaign.

But the question at hand here is not whether or not Jared lost weight on the Subway diet, rather, whether or not the food at Subway is healthy and if the food at Subway is good for weight loss. In other words, is Subway’s marketing campaign accurate with the message that they seem to be implying?

As with any marketing in the nutritional field, it is not wise to rely on what the marketing campaign purports. Just because something may be low in fat, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily “healthy”. After all, jelly beans are low in fat, but they are high in sugar and have a high glycemic index (or have very fast absorbing carbohydrates). Milk chocolate may have a low glycemic index, yet it is full of sugar and very high in fat. Low-fat butter may be lower in fat than regular butter, but it may still be 40% fat (and not the good fats either). So a good understanding of nutrition is vital when ascertaining whether or not food is actually “healthy” for you.

Coming back to Subway and whether or not it is healthy (or good for weight loss), it really depends on the actual food that you consider. Subway have a variety of foods available, all with completely different nutritional compositions. I have downloaded the nutritional information off the Subway website and am using this as my point of reference in writing this Subway review.

Let’s begin with the Subway cookies. The choc-chip cookie is 215 calories having a total of 10.5g of fat. It’s loaded with 18.2g of sugar. Other cookies from Subway are comparable and it really is a bit of a no-brainer that these cookies should generally not be consumed if you’re looking to follow a healthy approach to nutrition.

The salads, wraps and subs at Subway generally depend on the foods that you choose to add into the salad. The meat and sauces that you choose to add on can have a profound impact on the healthiness of the meal you consume. So rather than considering each item individually, let’s look at some of the fillings instead.

To begin with, all the vegetables are great at Subway! They are all fresh and packed full of nutrients. Plus, most of them are practically neutral in regards to net calorie intake. Go for your life with the veggies!

The ham, roast beef, roast chicken and turkey options are quite good, being minimally processed, relatively low in fat and good protein sources. These are all options on the “6 grams of fat or less”. Placed in a salad, you’re eating a very low calorie and high nutrient density meal. For example, a turkey salad without sauce equates to 107 calories (less than half of a choc chip cookie!). Yes, this is quite a healthy meal.

A low-fat 6-inch sub isn’t too much of a concern, assuming that you choose the correct bread and filling. Subway have just introduced a multi-grain sub, which would be a much better option than most of the breads that have available (being white breads). Multigrain will generally not only have a lower glycemic index, but also be more nutrient dense due to the wholegrains contained within the bread. A “6 grams of fat or less” sub will generally set you back around 200-300 calories. The exception is with the sweet onion chicken teriyaki 6-inch, being 352 calories; not a good option for weight loss. The high calorie content is due to the high sugar content in the sweet onion sauce.

Now, onto the Subway no-no’s for weight loss in this review.

There are a variety of add-ons that can really boost up the calorie content. For example, cheddar cheese adds in 42 calories to a 6-inch (double for a footlong). Bacon adds in 45 calories. Chipotle Southwest sauce adds in a whopping 98 calories from a very high fat content of 10.3g on a 6 inch sub! Thousand island dressing adds in 82 calories on a 6 inch – again, definitely one to avoid. The sauces at Subway can really boost up your calorie intake – so if you’re seeking to lose weight, be aware of the effect that this will have on your dietary program.

This is where it really pays to do your nutritional research. Something that is often conceived as low-fat is actually quite the opposite at Subway. Consider this – a tin of tuna in springwater found in your supermarket is typically around 80 calories. Meanwhile, a 6 inch sub at Subway with tuna contains 393 calories! Total fat content (with no add-ons) is a whopping 16.5g primarily from the tuna!

What may come as a surprise (I know it did for me) are some of the non-low-fat subs and how calorie dense they actually are. You may be shocked (and appalled) at how high in fat (and calories) a footlong meatball marinara with a couple of additives has. Let’s consider the following recipe:

1. Footlong Meatball Marinara
2. Cheddar Cheese
3. Bacon
4. Ranch Dressing

I chose these because I know someone who likes to order a footlong with this recipe! Let’s consider the calorie content of each of the above ingredients:

1. 956 calories
2. 84 calories
3. 90 calories
4. 120 calories

Total equates to 1250 calories. To put this into perspective, a Big Mac from McDonalds is 540 calories (according to the American McDonalds website). This footlong sub would be the equivalent of consuming 2.3 Big Macs (in calorie consumption terms)!! Alternatively, 1250 calories is possibly more than a female seeking to lose weight would consume in an entire day! I feel that this is fairly obviously not appropriate for anyone seeking to lose weight, let alone eat in a healthy manner.

So the lesson here is to do your research. Yes, there are certainly very healthy options at Subway, yet there are also very unhealthy options too. The same reigns true for nearly all food outlets and restaurants. It is most important to familiarise yourself with the foods that you consume from a nutritional point of view and to never (ever) rely on the marketing that is fed to you through advertising campaigns.

If you don’t feel confident in analysing the nutritional composition of foods, I highly recommend that you sign up to our free weight loss course where we discuss food in detail and interpreting this information for your own personal use.

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What I would like to discuss in this blog post is how to sift through the latest scientific research for your benefit in your health and fitness endeavours. There is often conflicting research that comes out of a lab, so how do you know what is accurate and what isn’t? For example, one day you may hear that margarine is better than butter. The next day, a new study will conclude the complete opposite!

At university I studied advanced science with a major in biotechnology. There were obviously a large number of studies that we needed to review and in doing so, it enlightened me as to the importance of taking one study at a time and never making any assumptions, such as any one particular study being correct over all others with conflicting conclusions.

You don’t need a science degree to understand the general concept of most scientific studies. However you do need to entertain each study with a fair degree of scepticism. Scientific studies are not perfect, especially those that deal with biology. Biology is such a complex topic; there so many simultaneous chemical reactions occurring with an organism that a scientist cannot possibly accommodate for every single variable. So, whilst one study may conclude that a particular training method may be the best approach for one particular goal, another study may conclude something different. This may be due to different testing environments, procedures, attention to detail, recording methodologies etc.

I’m fairly confident that you probably don’t wish to subscribe to a scientific journal and read through all the latest results from the lab. So the point of this article is to read abroad and look at multiple reports, rather than any one in isolation. If you hear something on the news that scientists have determined that “such and such” is the best way to lose weight – do your research before implementing this into your lifestyle. Yes, one study may have come to this conclusion, but there may be 100 others that disagree. Almost without exception, the media will portray scientific studies in a news bulletin in a highly biased manner without the reporter having done substantial research.

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Losing weight in an unhealthy manner can do some serious permanent damage. You may be interested in reading an article of ours on Yo-Yo Dieting which discusses some serious side effects of rapid weight loss, including the long-term weight gain implications of following a fad diet.

Safe, effective and sustainable weight loss comes down to well-known principles. Whilst weight loss can be a difficult goal to accomplish, the principles of success are relatively straight forward. One of the most difficult aspects of weight loss is actually implementing these principles consistently into your everyday life.

Below is a list of some very important aspects to weight loss. In isolation, any one of these factors is quite ineffective. However, if you combine all of these recommendations together, you will experience some tremendous body reshaping. It is a limited list, but it will get you started on the right foot.

Eat regularly. Aim to consume 6 meals a day, rather than 3 meals a day. But here’s the catch – make your meals smaller. More regular meals can stimulate the metabolism to burn more calories.

Eat natural foods. Natural foods require more energy to break down and digest within the body, relative to highly processed foods. Thus, their “net” calories will be much lower.

Watch your portion sizes. If you’re not losing weight, try reducing your portion sizes. Don’t skip meals, but rather aim for a gradual calorie reduction until you find that sweet spot.

Minimise alcohol intake. Any alcoholic beverage is loaded with calories. Don’t be fooled into thinking that a straight spirit is calorie free – a shot of vodka can have as many calories as a snack.

Move around as much as possible. As you move around (or, perform incidental exercise), you expend additional calories. Try walking instead of driving, or park a little further away. It all adds up!

Follow a structured exercise programme. The key is to follow a structured programme. Going into the gym aimlessly will not accomplish an optimal result. Work with a personal trainer if you have to, but have a clear plan for maximum results. Your training should include both cardiovascular and resistance training, multiple times per week.

Do not rely on supplements. Supplements can aid with weight loss, but it is important not to rely on them for weight loss. Rely on a sound approach to nutrition and exercise. This encompasses everything from meal replacements to weight loss pills. If you are replacing multiple meals a day with protein drinks, this is most likely too reliant on supplements and could be quite unhealthy.

Obtain 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Good quality sleep promotes healthy hormone production which can optimise fat loss. If you under-sleep, you will be inhibiting your weight loss progress.

Guilt is your own worst enemy. We all slip up from time to time. When it happens – learn from it and you have to teach yourself to move on. The worst thing you can do is drown yourself in guilt and thus sabotage yourself completely. One binge will have a negligible effect on your progress. A week-long guilt-induced binge will have a profound effect on your progress.

Get support. Surround yourself with other dedicated people who are serious about weight loss. When you are surrounded with a strong support group, you won’t feel isolated and will thus increase your chances of long-term success.

Hire a personal trainer. Yes, I know this sounds strange coming from a personal training website! A personal trainer will provide you with the necessary professional support to get you to your goals in a healthy manner. This will compliment your support group who provide a strong sense of social support.

Educate yourself. Don’t stop with this article – continue reading and learn the specifics of weight loss. The more you know about exercise and nutrition, the more interesting the subjects will become. Weight loss will seem far less overwhelming and thus your confidence levels will improve. Knowledge is power and it is readily available to you throughout this website!

From here, I would suggest that you continue reading on this topic in greater depth with our article entitled “How to Lose Weight“. This will discuss some of these quick weight loss tips in greater detail and introduce you to more detailed discussions.

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Upon considering infomercial exercise equipment in a general sense, I do hold the belief that the vast majority of these products are a complete waste of money for the vast majority of people who purchase them. Whilst this may be a result of unrealistic expectations, right now I am questioning why that is so. I have some thoughts on the matter which I am going to share with you.

Starting with the television advertisement itself, it’s obvious that these infomercials are not targeted to avid fitness enthusiasts. They are clearly designed for people who have little knowledge on the methods required to lose weight, build muscle and tone up. From my experience, it is commonly accepted by the uninformed individual that practically any form of exercise is going to result in weight loss. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Furthermore, it is a general belief that exercising a particular area of the body will necessarily result in a physical change in that particular area of the body. Again, this is not so.

These television advertisements seem to exploit these notions that are widely accepted, yet completely unsubstantiated. Furthermore, every single infomercial advertisement that I have viewed for exercise equipment hones in on the viewers emotions to promise them their ideal physique. Because your body shape is a highly personal attribute, it is far easier to close a sale by promising you the world, so to speak.

Being on television instantly gives a particular product a fair degree of credibility, just because it was aired on television. So really, these products don’t need to be effective at all – the marketing company just needs to have enough funds to put together a half-decent advertisement. Casting of some fitness models will add an extra degree of credibility to the machine, even if they have never used this equipment as part of their training regime (yes, this is a fact).

When I think about these infomercial fitness products in more depth, I have come to realise that they are all practically the same. Whilst the actual piece of equipment may be different and the motion in which you exercise varies, these infomercial products carry some common themes practically across the board:

• There is practically no science or research to back up the claims put fourth
• There are implications that minimal effort will result in maximal changes
• They suggest that exercising a particular area will tone that specific area
• They promote ridiculous and unhealthy transformations, such as losing 10kg in a week
• They promise that you will be amazed at the results in an extremely short period of time
• This equipment is a revolution in the health and fitness industry

Ultimately, we all want to hear that we can get into the shape of our lives with minimal effort – that’s just human nature. Unfortunately though, our human physiology does not allow for this. An abdominal machine, vibration machine, or any piece of exercise equipment for that matter is not going to change the way that the human body operates.

It has been proven over the years that consistency with a structured approach to both exercise and nutrition is the way to the physique that you desire. Using an abdominal machine or a vibration machine for a few a minutes a day as a substitute for a good lifestyle is not going to produce any noticable results.

A final thought. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Please be skeptical when you see exercise equipment advertised on television. These “too good to be true” products are only going to burn a hole in your wallet, make you feel bad about yourself from lack of results and waste a lot of time in the process.

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Unfortunately, yet not surprisingly, I do believe that this product strongly over-promises and will under-deliver. This opinion is based on how the product has been marketed and the science that just doesn’t seem to support these outrageous and “too-good-to-be-true” claims. In fact, the Cardio Twister in my opinion seems like the next generation of the Ab King Pro.

It claims to “target” the “problem areas” such as the inner thighs, outer thighs and butt. Sure, when you are performing a twisting action, you will be recruiting the abductors, adductors and the gluteals (or the outer thighs, inner thighs and butt muscles) – but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be losing fat from this area and developing muscle.

I guess that this is one of the most exploited myths within the health and fitness industry. Just because you are using a particular muscle group to generate force does not necessarily mean that you will lose fat from that area and/or develop that specific muscle’s size.

What may assist you in understanding why is if I define two commonly used (and yet highly confusing) terms, “toning” and “spot reduction”:

Toning

This term is thrown around commonly and yet not many people are aware of what “toning” actually means. Toning is a two stage process:

1. Muscle Gain
2. Fat Loss

Depending upon your current body shape, the degree to which these two constituents are required will vary. For example, if you carry a fair amount of muscle but have a lot of fat tissue to lose, then you will require more fat loss than muscle gain. The converse can also be true.

Note that you cannot turn muscle into fat or turn fat into muscle. Muscle tissue and fat tissue are two completely separate tissues and must be treated independently.

Muscle gain, or muscle development, can be induced through a number of means. Often though, cardiovascular exercise is not an effective way to achieve this goal. The Cardio Twister is a cardiovascular workout (albeit, I don’t believe it to be an effective one).

Meanwhile, fat loss is encouraged by creating a calorie deficit (or consuming less calories than what your body expends). Two major contributors to creating a calorie deficit are through regulating your nutritional intake (or diet) and through physical exercise. Sure, the Cardio Twister is exercise and thus you will be expending calories (yet, far less than other forms of cardio). However, this machine will not “target” fat loss located on your inner and outer thighs, along with your butt area. This brings me onto spot reduction…

Spot Reduction

This is (unfortunately) very commonly exploited by many marketing companies promoting products of this nature that apparently “target” a specific area of the body. Spot reduction suggests that you can use a particular set of muscles and thus lose fat from a specific area of the body. If this were true, running would result in fat loss from the legs, push-ups would result in fat loss from the chest and arms and so on.

However, the science strongly disagrees. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that spot reduction is possible. After decades of studies, science has concluded that we cannot consciously select an area of the body that we wish to lose fat from through exercise. Spot reduction is a complete myth.

So, coming back to the Cardio Twister, if you do consider purchasing such an exercise machine, be aware that:

1. You will not develop muscle tissue as effectively as other forms of exercise
2. You will not expend an optimal number of calories relative to other forms of exercise
3. You cannot choose to lose fat from your inner thighs, outer thighs or buttocks
4. In my opinion, “a few minutes a day”, without any other lifestyle changes (additional exercise, dietary change), will have minimal results

Having said all this, if the Cardio Twister is the only way that you will perform some physical activity, then go for it. After all, some exercise is better than none! But I would strongly suggest enquiring about our personal training services…exercise can actually be exciting if it suits you and your lifestyle!

Before concluding this Cardio Twister review, I would like to say one more thing. Although I don’t know the models who demonstrate this machine on the infomercials personally, I am very confident that they followed a structured exercise and nutritional programme to get in the shape that they are in. Whilst this is probably commonsensical, I say this with a fair degree of certainty because I was once requested to model a particular brand abdominal machine for another commercial. There were no pre-requisites (such as ever having used the machine before) apart from being in shape. Of course, I was not interested.

Anyway, I do hope that this sheds some light on the Cardio Twister and can assist you in making an informed decision if you do decide to proceed in purchasing it.

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But what I wanted to post about was not how effective or ineffective this product is. I don’t want to review the product because quite frankly I have no idea about fashion and undergarments. What I did want to share my thoughts on was some of the insinuations put fourth within their marketing campaign.

Being such a health and fitness advocate personally, it sometimes rubs me the wrong way when an advertisement implies that it is a viable alternative to looking after your body. When I observed this particular advertisement, there was a reference to the fact that no exercise is required. Also on their website, it is written that “no dieting” is required. It’s this apparent insinuation that this product could replace exercise and healthy eating that I really do not agree with at all.

A note: I am quite opposed to fad dieting and am an avid supporter of changing one’s lifestyle to consume a healthier diet that is sustainable in the long-term.

Both exercise and healthy eating is vital for so many reasons including:

• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Happiness
• Zest for Life and General Wellbeing
• Disease Prevention
• Self-Esteem
• Body-Image
• Injury Prevention

Considering this, if you ever do consider to purchase a product of this sort, do so knowing that it should not be a replacement for a healthy lifestyle. Sure, the marketing company may play on this psychology because it’s natural human behaviour to find the easy way out, but there is absolutely no substitute for a healthy lifestyle.

In saying this, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with purchasing a product of this nature. After all, we all buy clothes to make ourselves look better – and this would just be another addition to the wardrobe! But just always remember that if you are unhappy with your figure, you will feel so much better about yourself if you make some significant changes in your lifestyle to change yourself both inside and out.

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