Our favorite, most ridiculous fitness gadget of all time has made the big time, as the Shake Weight was parodied on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live.
My review of the Shake Weight has been very popular, has drawn a lot of people to the site and has generated some pretty unintentionally funny comments over the past several months. This gadget really serves as a great example of what is wrong with the fitness equipment business, just how ill-informed the general public is and how desperate too many people are to get the benefits of exercise without actually doing any work.
Even though I understand the people are the way they are – willing to spend money on gimmicks – I am still amazed that people are willing to spend money on this kind of dreck. Rather than buy a few pairs of dumbbells that allow an almost unlimited variety of real exercises to be performed through a full-range of motion people want to believe holding a vibrator is legit exercise.
Oh well…I’m sure there will continue to be many more successful exercise gimmicks of dubious effectiveness to hit the market for as long people are looking for quick fixes. However, I’ll bet that none of these devices will provide for as much unintentional humor – and intentional humor – as the Shake Weight. So watch and enjoy!
I couldn’t agree more! I thought the Thighmaster was the pinnacle of ridiculous fitness gadgets. But then came the Shake Weight and the Thighmaster was knocked out of its lofty position! It drives me crazy that gadgets like this appeal to the uninformed consumer.