Shake Weight Study: It Barely Works!

Posted By elissa on Dec 28, 2011 | 3 comments

Lord, how I HATE misleading headlines!

Yesterday, I was surfing around teh internets, and a headline at MSNBC caught my eye: “Turns out, the Shake Weight actually does work.”  Naturally, I did a double-take on that one! Like most professionals, I viewed the thing as little more than just a goofy gimmick… could it be that I was wrong?

Nope… although I had to read through the bulk of the article in order to figure that out.  The completely un-astounding conclusion of the described ACE study didn’t show up until the 10th paragraph:

Furthermore, though the Shake Weight did increase muscle activity compared to a regular 2.5 pound dumbbell, the ACE researchers point out that not very many people work out with 2.5 pound weights. In fact, they conclude that the Shake Weight would be most beneficial to people who are on the “lower end of the fitness spectrum” because, essentially, doing something is better than doing nothing.

This is actually a very condensed version of what the ACE report concludes:

While the Shake Weight does indeed show more EMG activity, Porcari warns consumers to be sure to compare apples to apples when looking at this type of research. “Sure, it’s better than a two-and-a-half-pound dumbbell, but who goes to a gym and lifts two-and-a-half-pound dumbbells?” he quips.

“If you put forth effort, the Shake Weight, because it provides some level of resistance will produce an exercise response, particularly for individuals at the low end of the fitness spectrum,” further explains Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D., and ACE’s chief science officer. “For a person who has experience with resistance training, however, it’s probably going to have, at most, a modest effect. But for a person who is unaccustomed to resistance training, the law of initial value applies. In other words, if you’re not used to doing anything, just about any dose of exercise is going to have some positive effect.”

That said, it’s also important to note that the Shake Weight is basically an isometric exercise with vibrating tension that occurs in a very limited range of motion. So while you may gain some strength and endurance with the Shake Weight, those benefits would likely only be noticeable over a narrow range of motion. That begs the question: Exercise for what purpose? What is the true carryover benefit of the Shake Weight into real-life function?

Not much, says Porcari. “There aren’t that many things you do in daily life where you just shake the heck out of something. Really what benefit is that movement? Maybe if you’re shaking up a can of spray paint and you have to dislodge that little agitator ball at the bottom.”

In other words, using a Shake Weight is better than doing nothing at all. LOL, talk about damning with faint praise!

Needless to state, this doesn’t exactly fit my definition of “actually does work” – particularly since the Shake Weight ads imply that – used as directed – the thing will substantially build/sculpt one’s arms. Certainly there’s nothing in the description of the ACE study that supports this… or the headline of the MSNBC article. “Barely works at a minimal level” is a more accurate interpretation. It’s safe to say that most of the 4.5 million people who’ve fallen for this gimmick have been had, and the author/editor(s) of the MSNBC article are wrong to suggest otherwise.