I was just thinking about the Cardio Twister article that I wrote up not too long ago. There is no doubt in my head that many people purchase this particular product with completely unrealistic expectations and fail to see the desired results, even though they may use the apparatus on a daily basis.
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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