Exercise Training: Are you taken by the shaken?

“Find a fool, hit them up side the head and keep them dizzy”.

Kevin Williams

I heard this quote from my friend a while ago and I laughed at it. I didn’t give it any thought past the conversation we had that day until now. Read the quote again, do you know what it means? I’ll explain it to you because it hit me like a baseball bat the other day.

Have you seen the commercial for the Shake Weight? If you don’t know what it is, its a weight you shake (hence shake weight) which works on the idea of dynamic inertia. What the hell is dynamic inertia? Is that even a word? I had to laugh, as I sat down and watched the commercial. I thought,”who the heck is going to fall for this?” I would be willing to bet alot of people are falling for this, especially women! I am not saying women are any different from anyone else out there, but the commercial was geared towards women to tone up their flabby arms. It came complete with testimonials and the guarantee of only 6 minutes a day. I watched how they held the weight and what they were doing and it didn’t make any sense. Ok, let me let you in on something…women by predisposed genetics carry more fat on the back of their arms than men. So from the date of birth, women are at a disadvantage when it comes to toning the back of the arms. Did you know that? I bet the person marketing the Shake Weight, did. Marketers play on our fears and worries and convince us we need something even when we don’t really need it. Everyone, and I do mean everyone falls for it at sometime or another because its based on emotion. We rarely buy on need, but always buy on emotion. Don’t believe me, check this out. All of us were kids at one time, and begged our parents to buy us a toy because the commercial persuaded us by appealing to our emotion. I know some adults who are still buying on emotion not to mention eating on emotion. But, do you remember getting the toy you begged for and most of the time it didn’t even amount to what you saw in the commercial. Most of us played with it for a minute and after the “shine” wore off so did our need for it.

I wonder if we get caught up in the “marketing” of the product versus the product itself? I remember when I first started training I wanted to get my six pack back, so I bought some fat burners. I used them religiously for the first couple of weeks and now they are sitting in my pantry gathering dust. I didn’t even finish them. I have done that many times thinking that this time the “answer” was finally coming. How about you? Have you ever had that experience? The fitness industry will always give you the “answer” if you are looking for it. I bet at any given time you can go on your computer and get several different answers to your question, but only one will be the truth. Please realize this if you haven’t already… there are basics to everything and those things always work. Don’t get caught up in the marketing because marketers are only trying to, “ find a fool and hit them up side the head and keep them dizzy”. Be smart and buy on reality and not the “promise” of reality. See you on the lean side.

Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist