Please Join Me in Reliving the 5 Cringiest Fitness Products of the 2010's

Updated on 11/14/2019 at 11:35 AM

The 2010s have been a TIME in the world of health and fitness. The body inclusivity movement took off, Instagram and YouTube became workout destinations, and we all started to learn that exercising and eating well didn't just help you look good — they helped you feel freakin' amazing, too. In general, everyone's starting to get a little better educated on what their body needs, and that includes leaving behind some of the more . . . questionable fitness equipment we've seen advertised over the past decade. The best we can say is that most of these products meant well — more convenient weight loss or muscle gain is a worthy goal! — but missed by a long shot, leaving us both cringing and truly appreciating how far we've come since the days of Shake Weights and Skechers Shape-Ups.

Shake Weight

The Shake Weight is iconic. It is a precious artifact of our time. It does not, however, work. Shaking a weight back and forth (and back and forth, and back and forth) just isn't going to build muscle or burn as many calories as, you know, a regular weightlifting workout. Also — and I can't stress this enough — when you use this product, things get NSFW real fast. Despite the fact that I've never personally seen one of these bad boys in the wild, Shake Weights are still going strong (you can buy one on Amazon right now for the low price of $30!) and will likely remain the butt of fitness jokes for years to come.

Ab Shocker

I just have a lot of questions about this product. The ab shocker (which, in this case, also comes with bicep shockers AND a glute shocker!) sends an electrical impulse through your muscles, stimulating them to contract, which sounds both painful and pointless. Contracting a muscle, especially if you're not actually moving your body or carrying a load to do it, isn't going to give you a ripped, lean body. And some of the promises made by these products were just over the top. This option (currently sold for $20 on Amazon) promises that 12 minutes of use is equal to running 1500 meters or swimming for 30 minutes, which I'm just not buying (in any sense of the word).

Skechers Shape-Ups

Skechers legitimately had a lawsuit filed against them, back in 2012, for claiming that their Shape-Ups would help users lose weight and tone their butts. These shoes are still available for purchase (Amazon sells them for $100-$280), and customers have claimed they help with back and foot pain, but at the end of the day, padding up the bottom of a walking shoe isn't going to magically blast fat and lift your glutes. Try regular walking with some squats and lunges instead.

Sauna Suits

Yes, plasticky sweat suits (like this $30 pair on Amazon) will do what they promise: make you sweat. And yes, if you sweat enough, the number on the scale will go down. But whatever pounds you're losing are just water weight; you'll gain it right back as soon as you rehydrate, which you're gonna need to do after sweating out buckets of fluid. Probably best to leave this fad to the boxers.

Waist Trainers

Ugh, waist trainers. Popularized by celebrities like the Kardashians, these corset-like devices (this one costs $10-$14)are meant to be worn for hours at a time, a practice that's supposed to permanently shrink your waist if you do it for long enough. To be honest, though, there's not much evidence that they do anything except feel super uncomfortable. They might even cause breathing and digestive issues. Waist trainers are fine from time to time (for a costume or a special occasion), but they're not the secret to weight loss and an hourglass shape.