Bogus fitness equipment: The Vibro Shape

I want to believe that most people are smart enough to realize that any product that claims you don't have to exercise or diet in order to lose weight or tone muscles is a bogus product, but sill these products continue to get made and people actually do purchase them. I have seen a lot of these products over the years and although they vary in their claims it all kind of boils down to the same thing: They want people who are too lazy to actually work out to believe that can and will lose weight if they just spend a bit of money.


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I think only the true lowest common denominators of society would look at the above picture and think "You mean I can have a body like his just by lying on the sofa?"

I can all but assure you that the person who that torso belongs to doesn't even own a Vibro-Shape although they probably did give him one.

The Vibro Shape does exactly what you would expect it would just by looking at that picture. It vibrates and you are meant to resist the belt's movement in order to build muscle and "burn fat." I'm not saying that the product does nothing because if you actually did resist the movement with all your strength this resistance actually would give you a workout of some sort although it would still be a very weak one.

However, what is more likely to happen is that someone is going to wear this thing and not resist it at all , get a little belly massage and then wonder why the fat isn't just falling off their body the way it is represented in the infomercial.

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Not only can it melt fat away from your stomach but it can be relocated to problematic areas that women worry about such as the thighs and butt too. Amazing!

Unfortunately for the dreamers who want to have a body like either of the models above there is no independent scientific-evidence that proves any of the claims that this product or others like it tend to make. Edward R. Laskowski, M.D. who works in conjunction with the Mayo Clinic says

But comprehensive research about whole-body vibration is lacking. It's not yet clear if whole-body vibration provides the same range of health benefits as exercise you actively engage in, such as walking, biking or swimming.

While the good doctor is very kind in the rest of his words he basically tells you that you can lose weight with this machine if it is combined with a good diet, as well as aerobic and strength training. Basically he's saying that this product might provide some benefit but it is definitely NOT a replacement for traditional exercise.

He does go on to say that the device "may" reduce back pain and I suppose that is always a good thing.

I don't know if he is trying to avoid being sued when he is quite nice to the product but when someone says that (insert name of product,) combined with a healthy diet and exercise, can help you lose weight... what they are really saying is that the same thing can be accomplished if you remove the product, but the same can not be said if you remove either or both of the other two and therefore any logical person will realize that you don't need this product at all.


There are a lot of silly products out there than make grandiose claims and generally this appeals to people who are either too lazy or don't have enough time to put actual exercise in their lives... which is bullcrap anyway.. there is no one that is too busy to fit in a 15 minute run every day or just to walk around for an hour 4 times a week.

Any product that tries to tell you that you can sit on your sofa and work out, is lying to you.

If you truly do not have time for exercise (and I don't believe you if you say that) then just change your diet, this is a much bigger part of the weight loss equation anyway.



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oh these things are great. Whatever happened to those things that sat on the floor and just wobble your body. Those actually had a calorie counter on them also.

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I always called those the wobbler and unfortunately they were quite popular at less serious gyms. What an absolutely crazy piece of fitness equipment. The fact they had a calorie counter on there should be illegal.

Thankfully, they have all but disappeared from the gyms that I am aware of.

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