Chapter 26
Ten Fitness Rip-Offs
In This Chapter
Ten products that are a waste of your money
Ten tips for buying fitness products advertised on TV
A
t a fitness-equipment trade show not long ago, we mentioned to an
infomercial executive that a certain abdominal gadget appeared to be
flimsy and useless. “I wouldn’t disagree with you,” the executive said, smiling.
“But we’ve sold 20,000 units in the first month.”You oughta be insulted. The fitness industry has no shortage of hucksters,
and they count on the public’s naiveté — and hunger for a quick fix — to keep
the money rolling in. They sell exercise gizmos that, off the record, they
admit are useless. They use scientific mumbo jumbo to promote products
based on nothing more than wishful thinking. They pay celebrities big bucks
to go on TV and lie.The Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that monitors truth
in advertising, is aware of these scams and has boosted efforts to nail compa-
nies making fraudulent health and fitness claims. However, the advertising
police are not unlike big-city cops: They only have the manpower to hunt
down the most egregious offenders. And with the rise of the Internet, fitness
crooks have proliferated.All of this means that you need to be a very savvy fitness consumer. In this
chapter, we give you the lowdown on ten products that we consider to be a
waste of money. We also offer tips on judging other fitness products that you
may come across on TV infomercials, on the Internet, in magazine advertise-
ments, and in fitness-equipment and health-food stores. Our advice, in a
word: Beware!