Ace Power!

Ace Power is South Korea's answer to the Shake Weight:



[Source: BuzzFeed]

Shake Weights: They Never Get Old

There's nothing wrong with exercising in public.

Wednesday's Workout

This morning, when I craned my neck from the pillow to peer at the alarm clock, the display read: 5:09 a.m.

Crap. I'd overslept by almost an hour, and the 5 a.m. class was already underway. I should've just gone back to sleep, but what the hell -- I was already awake, so I threw on some clothes and headed off to the gym.

The penalty for being 25 minutes late to class? Burpees and Shake Weight. The burpees were a decent way to warm up. The Shake Weight: Not so much. I think I would've preferred the Tug Toner:

I had enough just time to practice a set of pistols with the rest of the class before the metcon began.

3 rounds for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 12 pull-ups

My Buddy Lee rope has gone to jump rope heaven (it snapped in two, as did M's), so I grabbed one of the speed ropes at the gym. Unfortunately, the one I used today was fraying, and the jagged steel cable kept snagging on my shoelaces. After tugging it away from my laces a few times during the metcon, I ended up with an untied shoe -- which meant having to stop in the middle of the workout to bend down and tie my shoelaces.

After the first round of double-unders, I settled into a rhythm -- and although I had to put the kettlebell down a few times to catch my breath, I finished with a decent time.

Result: 10:14 as RXed. 

I was pretty out of it this morning, though. It felt like I'd been shot out of a cannon. Diving right into a metcon (albeit a quick one) less than a half-hour after waking was probably not among the smartest things I've ever done.

The Tug Toner

Move over, Shake Weight. Smell ya later, Free Flexor. Here comes the Tug Toner. [Warning: Probably NSFW]

Be The Official Face of Shake Weight!

I don't know why the makers of this dumbbell-slash-sex-toy are holding a contest to find the next "official face" of Shake Weight. It's clearly this guy:



But if you're looking to become the laughingstock of the fitness community win $30,000, go ahead and apply here.

(Source: Outside)

Shake Weight at the Gym

'Nuff said.

Shake Weight Shakespeare

Because sometimes, you just feel like reciting a soliloquy while handling a Shake Weight.



(Source: Urlesque)

"Dynamic Inertia" is a Euphemism for Sweet, Sweet Love

Yes, Shake Weight infomercials are hilariously porny. But do these thrusting, phallic dumbbells work as advertised? The L.A. Times did some digging:

Daniel Cipriani, an associate professor of exercise and nutritional sciences at San Diego State University, says the device can definitely give a person a good workout and probably would tone and strengthen arm and chest muscles, especially in people who are fairly new to strength training. People who already lift weights regularly "probably wouldn't see much benefit," he says.

Cipriani led the study mentioned in the TV ad. With funding from the company, graduate students in his lab measured the muscle activity required to use a Shake Weight and compared it with standard curls with a dumbbell of the same weight. (Cipriani says he has no current financial ties to the company.) As the ad claims, the Shake Weight did, in fact, require about 300% more muscle activity than the dumbbell. "Using the Shake Weight really got muscles fired up," he says. He adds that not many people can use the device for long without getting exhausted. "I could see someone using it at their desk for a three-minute break. I don't see it as a main form of exercise."

There's no doubt that moving a Shake Weight is hard work. But David Swain, a professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., isn't convinced that it's really an exercise breakthrough. In his opinion, it's "unrealistic" to think that a person could get a full upper-body workout in just six minutes a day. Even if a person used the device that long, there's no evidence that it would provide anything close to the benefits of a 30-minute workout with normal weights, he says. Users hoping to get rid of arm flab will be disappointed, he adds. "Spot reducing — losing body fat from a particular region by exercising that region —is a myth."

And "dynamic inertia"? Swain had never heard of it. "It's obviously just a phrase they invented for marketing the device," he says.

Shake Weights Just Got Even Better

Looks like SNL's taken the Shake Weights infomercial where it was probably intended in the first place:

What the -- ?

This is seriously fucked up, people.



There's got to be a way to incorporate Shake Weights into a P90X workout.