The health and fitness industry is always happy to make money from fads that seem to promise great things, but sometimes don't deliver real results.
Many businesses sell you a 'fitness regimen' that plays on your dreams of losing weight and your frustration of not being able to achieve your goals.
Many fitness regimes may look cool, but they don't always work.
It will always be fashionable to be athletic, slim and curvy. There will always be thousands of women, just like you, who want to look their best.
It's the right thing to do.
But let's face it. Having a body to be proud of isn't easy.
Going to the gym a few times a week and seeing what you've been eating may sound like a simple thing to do, but these basic things aren't being done and you really don't see a change in yourself.
And that's the problem.
Because many people will avoid putting in the sweat and effort in favour of easier and simpler methods.
But with clever advertising slogans, pretty models and shoddy science, it can be easy to be lured into believing the hype. In a world that demands you to be in top shape every year, it's hard not to be interested in the latest super-cool training method, diet or piece of equipment.
Today we're going to take a look at what "Sales pitches" We've been being misled by all along. Here are the top five weird fitness fads you should stay away from
Waist corsets
We've all seen this equipment before!
Waist corsets are popular because they are endorsed by various celebrities and professionals, which is always a red flag for fitness products that make promises but don't deliver.
This is despite the fact that the kardashian family's "Good looks" Seem to be associated with such products.
Many people think that you can lose weight by wearing a girdle that 'trains' your waist into an hourglass shape.
Manufacturers claim that because it produces calories, it burns more fat and reduces appetite. Some people even believe it removes 'impurities'!
So, what does a girdle really do for us?
Girdles can cause crush injuries if not used properly and without professional guidance. Girdling has also been shown to cause serious side effects such as breathing difficulties and high blood pressure. Some women can even displace internal body organs, such as displaced kidneys and broken ribs in the lower row.
So there is really no need to use it.
Swinging bells
Swing bells that will help you lose weight and get fit! Sounds crazy, doesn't it?
That's the basic principle of dumbbells. In just 6 minutes a day you can get your body stronger, less fat and healthier.
The swinging bell is a bit like a dumbbell. They only vibrate and pulsate at high speed if you use the "Inertia technique", which tones your arms and shoulders.
But if the vibrations make you stronger, your arms will be stronger on the bus or on the mountain bike every day. Your electric toothbrush will also make your jaw look big.
The truth is this. In the laboratory, high-frequency oscillations have been shown to increase muscle activity. That's why vibration training is used in the professional training field.
But a cheap hand-held vibrating dumbbell has no such effect.
Squat magic
This is the latest strange fitness method and it is likely that many people in this country have not yet seen this equipment.
What is squat magic?
Think of spring loaded stilts. Only instead of wrapping your feet around it, you sit on them.
Squat magic claims to be a revolutionary piece of equipment that uses a pneumatic seat to support your squatting phase and help you on the way up.
The purpose of this is to help you squat more easily, which will allow you to develop a 'peach butt' without the hard work of squatting.
What's wrong with regular bodyweight squats, or sitting in a very heavy barbell squat, and doing a set of heavy squats to enhance your butt?
Making a workout easier won't help you get better results. It's like designing a car that drives slowly, will it get you to your destination faster?
It's not going to.
Power breathing
Power breathing is a technique where you take long, purposeful breaths that last about 20 seconds. It originated in russia, but for some reason has become popular again around the world.
It works by emphasising that when you oxidise fat during exercise, you exhale about 75% of it. The rest is secreted through sweat and urine.
But some genius thinks that if you exhale more air, you also exhale more fat. But they completely miss the point. When it comes to fat loss, that's not how physiology works.
Breathing is simply an expulsion process. Yes, when fat breaks down, it oxidises into hydrogen, oxygen and carbon.
But in order to burn more fat, you must first stimulate oxidation through exercise.
Breathing exercises are helpful for those with high blood pressure or poor health. But it has no effect on fat loss.
Electrical muscle stimulation
The last strange trick is ems training. This is a relatively new method of exercise that is now popular in boutique gyms and studios across the united states.
It looks to improve muscle tone and reduce fat by using special sets that send electrical impulses through the skin to the muscles.
The principle behind ems is that by stimulating your muscles with small electrical currents, you can simulate the changes in muscle fibres during exercise.
Combined with exercise, ems is said to increase the efficiency of workouts by increasing muscle activation.
But this is why ems is a strange way to work out and one that you need to avoid.
Just because muscle fibres are activated doesn't mean it will get stronger. In order to grow muscle or increase strength they must also be elements of progressive overload, you have to fatigue the muscle fibres, not just activate it.
The scientific studies on ems and fat loss have found absolutely no connection and little to no results.
Like the other modalities we have presented, it is simply masked by a nice marketing system, hot fitness models and apparently shoddy science.
To get real fitness results, it's better to start with the basics of training and diet.