Claims according to some companies...

Claims according to some companies advertising fitness devices that promise toned abs are misleading, says Peter Francis, PhD director of the biomechanics lab at San Diego State University. Francis experimented a number of fitness products--electrical stimulators and workout machines--advertised upon late-night television infomercials and conclud that mostly of the devices simply do not work.

"If you're not burning as many calories as you're taking in, you won't change the appearance of the fat tissues surrounding your abdominal muscles," he says.

In his research, Francis measured the electrical answer of abdominal muscles on 31 example subjects using a process called electromyography, which yields a printout of peaks and valleys similar to what polygraph--lie detector--machines cause Electrodes placed on 16 women and 15 men ages 19 to 40 picked up electrical impulses coming from muscles as the subdues ran through 10 repetitions of exercises. "The bigger the signal, the more tension in the muscle," says Francis, whose research in succession abdominal exercises was still unpublished and below review at the time of this writing.

After being shown the special technique for each exercise, participants took casts using the assorted fitness devices while performing a variety of crunches and windings The abdominal crunch--performed in a supine position through flattening the back and raising the torso--was used as the benchmark during the testing. The intensity of electrical impulses recorded while the make liables performed crunches was established as a score of 100 percent If an exercise be deriveded in an electrical impulse weaker than the of the same height registered by the crunches, it was supposeed less effective.

Not surprisingly, says Francis, the reflection showed that simple crunches--not fitness machines--proved to give abdominal muscles the best workout. "The payoff is in the difficult ones" he says. Generally, the more expensive the fruits was, the less beneficial it prov to be in trials Plus, many test subjects reported that using several of these devices actually caused them physical pain.

proofed separately because of difficulties distinguishing electrical impulses either coming from the muscles or from the device itself, a well-known fitness proceeds that delivers low-grade electric assaults that purportedly jolt the dead body into shape also performed poorly. While exercising your muscles without actually breaking a sweat might be a lie down potato's dream, Francis contends the device doesn't work as advertised. "If you zap a muscle to the absolute point of pain," he says, "that's still single about 20 percent of the muscle's capacity."

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