Health and fitness have become one of the top subjects on television, in magazines, and even in stores. Fitness companies are changing their products in order to improve an individuals work out with half the time and effort. The advertisement at hand depicts athletic-fit men and women performing the Shake Weight’s ideal motion, and mentioning the “Dynamic Inertia Exercise” concept. The Shake Weight is an object like dumbbell that is shaken back and forth with the help of a spring at the ends of the handle. It is targeted to improve the upper body, such as an individuals’ chest, arms, and shoulders. Through its advertisements in magazines and late night television, the Shake Weight has grown into a product that many individuals’ have in their home because of its easy workout with proven results. However in some studies, it has proven that there is no significant difference between a regular dumbbell and the Shake Weight. Even though the Shake Weight has proven to be more effective because of its product design and diverse advertisements, the basic dumbbell has more variety of weights that an individual can improve their strength and overall fitness. The Shake Weight advertisements have shown the simplicity of working out, and yet building strength and fitness to ones’ upper body. The first study that I analyzed involved sixteen healthy volunteers, they completed a total of two exercise trials, one involving a 5 pound shake weight and a 5 pound dumbbell for men, and the other a 2.5 pound shake weight and a 2.5 pound dumbbell for women. The trial consisted of four different exercises for the shake weight being: one handed biceps shake, two handed triceps shake, one handed shoulder shake, two handed triceps shake, and two handed chest shake. The dumbbell exercises that were used for the comparison were biceps curls, triceps extension shoulder press, and chest fly. In this study they measured the Electromyography which is defined as a diagnostic procedure to assess the health of muscles and the nerve cells that control them. (Electromyography (EMG). (2012, October 25). Retrieved October 12, 2014) The results to this study indicated that the EMG was higher for all of the muscles tested during the shake weight, compared to the dumb-bell exercises. Although, when testing for specific mussels for each exercise the shake weight did not result with a great significance. The final result of this study indicates that using the shake weight is superior to using both the 2.5 pound and the 5 pound weights. A restrictions that is resulted from this study is that it is incredibly unrealistic to assume that individuals are going to lift weights that only weight 5 and 2 pounds, which is what the shake weight provides. A traditional work out consists of weights that are much heavier than 5 pounds. In the same article they conducted a second study which consisted of 5 females. The exercise that they tested for these five woman were the biceps shake and the biceps curl. What they tested for in this study was the percentage of an individuals one rep maximum. The final result of the study being that the shake weight activates the mussels of the upper body to a higher degree than that of a dumbbell, but it only exercises the the triceps brachia, as opposed to a dumbbell which provides a more well rounded exercise. The second article, “Comparison of the Shake Weight modality exercises when compared to traditional dumbbells” compares the electromyographic muscle activity to the shake weight to a traditional dumbbell. The trial consisted of twenty five healthy adults. Twelve of which were men and thirteen women, all of which were volunteers and no had experience with the shake weight prior to this study. The two comparisons that were made for this study were between isometric contractions of the shake weight and that of traditional dynamic contractions of the same muscle for every individual’s lift. One of the concerns that was brought about during this study was the lack of training for the full range of motion (ROM) during isometric training. This type of training seems to increase strength at a specific angle rather than the ROM. There were three different exercises that were performed for this trial, being: Chest shake, biceps shake, and triceps shake. The volunteers were randomly selected to start with either the shake weight or a standard dumbbell. They were to perform these exercise’s while standing straight, shoulder width apart, with their feet facing forward in a shaking fashion. There were both depended and independent variables for this study. The independent being the different shake conditions and two weight conditions and the dependent variables being the results of the independent variables, which we get by the electromyography, which is what the first article discussed above used as well. To get the results all muscles were to be compared between the standard dumbbells and the shake weight for all three exercises. In the findings it is prevalent that the biceps brachia muscles showed significantly greater EMC activity during the chest shake exercise for the standard dumbbell exercise. During the triceps shake exercise’s the muscle activity was higher for the dun bells in all muscles compared to the shake weight. EMG was also higher for the dumbbells in all muscles for the trapezius during the chest shake exercise. For this study there was no significant difference when comparing genders. The conclusions of this study are that there are no significant increases when comparing a shake weight to a traditional dumbbell. Both the studies that have been examined from the two articles would conclude the same limitation, being that it is not ideal to assume that individuals work out with weights that are 2.5 and 5 pounds. The third research article that I used to examine the effectiveness of the shake weight examined the vibration treatments on neuromuscular performance. Although it does appear that vibrations appear to enhance greater strength and power gain in athletes there is still no clear consensus on the mechanism by which vibration may enhance the actual neuromuscular performance. 
 Although the shake weight has proven to be an effective way of exercising, the claim that the shake weight is seven times more effective than a standard dumbbell would have to be false. In analyzing these three research articles the consensus that I have received would be that using the standard dumbbell is much more effective. When exercising with dumbbells, you are able to use weights that are more than just two or five pounds, which as I stated earlier is unrealistic to assume that all individuals use weights that are this low in weights.

References

Glenn, J. M., Cook, I., Brezzo, R., Gray, M., & Vincenzo, J. L. (2012). Comparison of the Shake Weight® modality exercises when compared to traditional dumbbells. Journal Of Sports Science & Medicine, 11(4), 703-708.Porcari, J., Hackbarth, J., Kernozek, T.

Doberstein, S., & Foster, C. (2011). Does the Shake Weight live up to its hype?. Journal Of Sports Science & Medicine, 10(3), 598-599.

Luo, J., Mcnamara, B., & Moran, K. (2005). The Use of Vibration Training to Enhance Muscle Strength and Power. Sports Medicine, 23-41.