Slendertone thingys ?

Gaz

Seen these advertised alot lately, for anyone who dosnt know what im on about its those belts/pads you wear that zap you and are suppose to be the same as doing sit-ups etc

Im just curious , do they work? Anyone had any succes with one ? Or is it just another con ?

Jak

They are absolute junk.

Do not waste your money.

The advertisers know damn well the kind of market they are aiming at - and offer up false hope for a nominal fee, which might make you feel better about doing something to get back in shape while waiting for it to arrive in the post.

There are many articles out there denouncing these items, and the meagre benefits they offer pale in comparison to even light excersise.

JAK.

Jaden

Slendertone as a product is quite useful, and is,despite many grumblings, most definately worth the money.

yossarin

I found one in my house and gave it a go.

the adds imply drastic results but all that the belt thingie does is up to 30 minutes of tense and flex on your abs.
You can only use it twice a day (30 mins max every six hours) and it eats batteries.

honestly, you'd get the same results if you walked 20 minutes every day, or did a few situps. the only bonus is that you get to watch TV while you are doing it.

its pretty much another con. I'm putting my faith in the ab-roller

Jaden

Slendertone as a product is quite useful, and is, despite many grumblings, most definitely worth the money.

There are two points to note however:

1. Beware imitations. There are plenty of EMS (Electro Muscular Stimulation) devices on the market today, the vast majority of which are ineffective, and some of which I would even raise safety concerns. The brand "Slendertone" has been operating for over 30 years, and it's consumer devices are an offshoot of it's medical device division. The devices adhere to all relevant safety standards, and have proven efficacy. Anything else is more than likely a rip-off. They exist for the quick buck, and live in the hope that you don't notice that you've bought an imitation product. Devices like these are saturating the market, and promoting consumer distrust, such as the opinions voiced by Jak. In the states, these devices are illegal, and only Slendertone devices are FDA cleared.

2. Toning devices have two limitations. They DO NOT (a) Act as a weight loss mechanism, or (b) act as an exercise replacement. Some imitation devices will make both claims, but cannot substantiate.


In conjunction with a healthy diet, and exercise, a Slendertone can help you attain the results you are looking for, with greater ease. IT WILL NOT help you, if all you do is sit on your arse eating cream buns, and watching TV.

I own one, and it works for me. I use it twice daily (at work, and while watching telly), and my abdominal muscle tone is way beyond what I could have got with conventional exercise alone.

Jak

Aye Jaden, important distinction to make is that you are doing something with it.

In that case, excercise + slendertone is gonna equal a little more activity then just excersise + couch, but at a guess many of the people who get them are initially hoping to rely just on the machine itself.

Personally I'd say you are better off buying a swiss ball and working on your abs with that.

JAK.

Jaden

A Swiss ball is a good idea, but not as effective in most cases as a Slendertone unit. Still it will get the job done.

However, there is a vicious circle that exists when it comes to personal fitness training. The biggest contributory factor to lower back pain in the general population, is poor abdominal development and excess abdominal fat, leading to a strain in lower back muscles trying to compensate. Standard abdominal training predominantly requires substantial lower spinal flexing as a matter of course. In effect, someone trying to alleviate lower back pain by working on their abs, has a fair chance of hurting themselves further. With EMS based products, this problem is overcome, and so, for a substantial section of the market, may be a preferred option.

As a nation, we are getting heavier, and less healthy. Anything that assists this worrying trend should be given it’s due. Now get off your arse and go and get some exercise. When you get to the point where abdominal definition is an issue, get a Slendertone (not a rip-off wannbe). They come with money back guarantees, so there’s no risk. Do anything you want, but stop lying about doing nothing. The longer you leave it, the harder it gets.

Jak

Most people perform sit ups incorrectly for their level of fitness/experience, but that is another matter.

JAK.

Turner

I wouldn't use a slendertone if i was you. It says on it not to be used for more than 30 mins.
They know what can happen if you do (ie irreversible damage to the collagen and connective tissue surrounding your muscles.)

Sofa ball better, or sit ups even better (Patrick Bateman style even better again)

Magic Monkey

Originally posted by Chief---
Sofa ball better, or sit ups even better (Patrick Bateman style even better again)

Patrick Bateman, a lá "American Psycho" ?
I haven't seen the film. How does he perform sit-up's in it, then?

Turner

legs in the air at about 80 sit ups per min.
I can do ehhh 2.

frea

Whats sofa ball ???

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Falkorre

Know this is an *old* post, but i gotta say coz i dont think any1 else did,....

DO NOT TOUCH THESE THINGS IF YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF EPILEPSY OR SEIZURE SYMPTOM DISORDER!

I have photosensitive epilepsy, an *usually* the only things that make me seize are sunlight, tv's, (not pc monitors strangely, think its a frequency thing), light thru fences or trees...etc ad nauseum

so thought id be ok with one of these, am in a chair so *need* excercise BAD as I was a lifter in my early teens but not for last 7 years coz of V bad back..... shudda listened to my docs when was told somone with spinal condition shouldnt lift twice (too often more hehe) his bodyweight lol

but yeah, slendertone sent me shimmying & spasming all the way home, lol, an not in the expected way, alltho tonic-clonic / grand mal, seizures *do* give u a bad-ass workout, its not the regime i would reccommend


Dawntreader.

paddyc

junk junk junk

Caesar_Bojangle

Just out of curiosity, how much did the slendertone set you back?

Arkan

pump hump hump, pump it!!! i have massive muscles, hey i'd even bet yer all jealous!

corkviewer

Just to add that my gf has been using the slendertone bottom and thigh toning shorts for the last three months and has noticed great results.

I believe they work best in combination with exercise as has already been said and if you are very obese it won't work either. Girlfriend was size 12 - is a ten now but if someone was say 18 the elctrical impulses probably wouldn't reach the muscles through the fat.

unkel

Jaden, you work for Slendertone?

If not they should pay you ;-)

Niamhbxo

hey wanted 2 ask, i bought slendertone but i only got the pads and the ting u put around your stomach in the pack, do i have 2 buy dat controller ting seperate?:o

Write back!

Zamboni

Surely people are still not buying these things. :eek:

This thread should be in a dodgy gadget forum rather than a fitness forum :pac:

GrayD

I worked in a Sports equipe store which stocked these...

I don't see a problem with the product if it is used for its meant purpose.
Problem is, everyone wants a quick fix and thinks this is some sort of wonder-belt.

The product DOES tone abs, thighs, or whichever one you have....

But put it this way... If you tone a muscle covered in a layer of fat then this is going to be hopeless.. it just won't show... infact, if you "build" a significant amount of muscle under a layer of fat you're more likely to look bigger.

Here's the problem... I've sold belts to people who realistically, the belt won't even fit around their waist... I tried my best to insist this wasn't the product they needed while being as diplomatic as possible for the reasons but most just won't hear it... they saw it on tv and it "zaps fat"... I don't think slendertone make any such promises as far as I'm aware of but people hear what they want to hear.

The strange thing is, I've never seen an otherwise slender, fit person who might actually see the results of using on of these due to their low Bodyfar percentage actuallyt use one... because they usually work out enough not to really need it....

I think they are cashing in on peoples stupidity really... they don't even promise all these things people seem to want from it yet people still believe it... strange really.

Zamboni

GrayD wrote: »

The product DOES tone abs, thighs, or whichever one you have....

Is that your opinion or is it in a research paper by the slendertone institute?

I can't believe people still use the word 'tone'

GrayD

Um, well... its fact. It tones the muscle.... thats what it does but thats ALL that it does, nothing more, like people like to believe.

Er, and whats wrong with the word tone? Ever visit a gym?

rubadub

GrayD wrote: »

The strange thing is, I've never seen an otherwise slender, fit person who might actually see the results of using on of these due to their low Bodyfar percentage actuallyt use one...

Bruce Lee used them. I would advise against them, he certainly did not get that way from just a slendertone! some ads do make crazy sort of claims or inference, slendertone are not too bad in their ads. People see the lads with 6-packs and it infers they got that way using them.

GrayD wrote: »

Er, and whats wrong with the word tone?

have you a definition for it?

Zamboni

GrayD wrote: »

Um, well... its fact. It tones the muscle.... thats what it does but thats ALL that it does, nothing more, like people like to believe.

Er, and whats wrong with the word tone? Ever visit a gym?

Tones the muscle?

Muscle hypertrophies or atrophies.
What are you on about?

kevpants

GrayD wrote: »

Er, and whats wrong with the word tone? Ever visit a gym?

You're dressed head to tow in spandex right now aren't you? What kind of gym do you go to? Does it have people shouting "Tone it! Tone it!" at each other as motivation?

You can't tone a muscle unless you're talking about fake tan.

I'm resisting the urge to get really sarky here but basically these things don't work. In fact people who are out of shape should not work their abs directly FULL STOP, electrocution or sit ups. If you're gonna do one thing to make yourself get into better shape then SQUAT. Don't plug yourself into a wall socket. Sheesh!

Relevant

Gaz wrote: »

Seen these advertised alot lately, for anyone who dosnt know what im on about its those belts/pads you wear that zap you and are suppose to be the same as doing sit-ups etc

Im just curious , do they work? Anyone had any succes with one ? Or is it just another con ?

What i want to know is whether the OP got one... because if they've been using it twice a day since they posted this in 2002 they must have amazingly defined abs.

GrayD

Um, No, no spandex... but since the average punter has never heard a word like hypertrophies and the like...

Don't even know why I'm arguing this but what word would you use besides "toning" a muscle to imply the idea here? Jesus, who cares, I'm worse...



And as far as the original point goes, it you bothered to read my full post you'd have seen the point... They can work but you can't possibly see reuslts unless you have EXTRMELY low body fat percentage which is an area most people just don't fall into... especially those interested in buying the product off us anyway so it was useless to them.

Did this persuade them not to buy it? Even if you gently point out this fact to them? No! Why? People want quick fixes and believe anything they want to believe... I don't think slendertone advertises in anyway to be a weightloss product that'll have you loose 100lbs in a week like some people think.

Zamboni

In fairness GrayD its not something worth arguing about

The word tone was probably first used in relation to muscles during the lycra clad Jane Fonda era and probably refers to the actual proper word tone from music. This referred to a taut string on an instrument (check out etymology online) and was probably used as an analogy to a defined muscle with low bodyfat.
The word tone has no meaning in the myology.

As for the Slendertone, to make a claim that it works would require some decent research behind it or at least some decent references to such research.

Some on this thread have claimed it works in conjunction with exercise and diet. I would be skeptical and say it was probably the diet and exercise that was causing any improvements.

Topper Harley

Not sure if anyone’s interested in this anymore but just saw on the Slendertone website that “20 minutes with Slendertone a day is like 120 abdominal crunches.” I’m not sure if the use of the word ‘like’ is a cop out, so they can say “well we never actually said that it was equivalent to 120 abdominal crunches.”

So even if this is true, which doesn’t seem unrealistic to me, then you’d have to consider what doing 120 abdominal crunches every day would do for you. As far as I know (correct me if I’m wrong), for most people who are looking to lose fat around the abdomen, doing sit ups won’t help, it will only build muscle under the fat they have and when they stop doing them that muscle will turn to even more fat.

Has anyone who exercises regularly and has a healthy diet used one and then noticed a difference? Surely if they were completely ineffective they would not still be around.

ninjasurfer1

Topper Harley wrote: »

Has anyone who exercises regularly and has a healthy diet used one and then noticed a difference? Surely if they were completely ineffective they would not still be around.

I exercise regularly and have used this for periods of up to a month. Definitely found that it firmed up the muscles in the stomach!!
I found you have to use it every day for the month or so to see the difference.

Havo

Can u get these products for your legs? Would they work in strengthening your thighs (if you got bad knees, would they help strenghten them up?)

sunnyjim

Be honest with yourself - What do you think?

I started a thread a while ago about these, because my girlfriend insisted on buying one. Hasn't made her fitter or anything, but her stomach muscles have tightened up if you feel them (that's not a suggestion lads). Not really noticable from the outside, which is the result she expected.

Havo

sunnyjim wrote: »

Be honest with yourself - What do you think?.

Probably not , but every little helps

EdenHazard

Massive bump but we got one of these a while ago, it works without question. I've spend my teenage years walking everywhere but genetic reasons I never had proper defined abs. I exercise and do weights and having this product has given me the motivation to train harder and also better able perform core exercises. Overpriced and prob not worth it but not the nonsense people make it out to be.

Mellor

EdenHazard wrote: »

I exercise and do weights and having this product has given me the motivation to train harder and also better able perform core exercises.

Have you considered that it was the fact that you were training harder, and focusing more on core that was responsible for the results, and not the product you bought.

Oryx

I think this thread needs to be put to bed.