book, watch TV, or cook dinner. According to the ads, it strengthens muscles, trims the waistline, tones the butt, removes love handles, even flattens a stomach after pregnancy. The actors in the commercial have the bodies to prove it.
The AbTronic is just one of many “electronic muscle stimulators” (or EMS devices) that promise an intense workout without the sweat. An ad for a similar product, the Tone-a-tronic, even claims that 45 minutes of muscle twitching is “equivalent to three hundred situps, one hundred pushups, and one hundred scissor lifts.” If only it were true.
Another device that was heavily advertised was the Ab Circle Pro machine, whose makers claimed that if you used it only three minutes a day, you’d lose 10 pounds in two weeks.
In 2012, however, in the largest Federal Trade Commission settlement involving an exercise machine, Ab Circle Pro promoters agreed to settle deceptive advertising charges by refunding up to $25 million to consumers who bought the device.”
EMS devices may help increase flexibility, but they can’t “tone” problem areas or melt way pounds, McArdle says. While EMS devices really do work muscles — unlike
