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| Sketchers Shape Ups |
Everyone has seen those trendy, yet funky-looking shoes with the chunky soles that claim to help you lose more weight in less time. Sketchers "Shape Ups" and Reebok "EasyTone" are just a few brand name examples. The celebrity endorsers of these products—Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, and Mel B of the Spice Girls—make it seem like a thin, healthy body is just a pair of shoes away. And in this day and age in which so many people want to lose the most weight with the least amount of effort, the popularity of special shoes that claim to increase weight loss and improve health is not surprising.
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| Kim Kardashian & Kris Jenner, endorsing Sketchers Shape Ups |
This ad alone for Sketchers Shape Ups makes several specific claims regarding the health benefits of even just walking in these shoes:
- improves posture
- improves blood circulation
- strengthens the back
- tightens abdominal muscles
- firms buttocks muscles
- reduces cellulite and tones thighs
- firms calf muscles
Seeing the benefits of walking while wearing these shoes certainly does make them seem worth the large price tag. However, I must admit that I always had my suspicions about Shape Ups and EasyTone shoes. I just never quite bought their claims. It seemed almost too good to be true.
Once might ask, based upon the claims of this ad, what additional benefits do these shoes offer that walking alone does not provide? A recent Harvard study shows that walking at a moderate pace (3 mph) for up to 3 hours a week—or 30 minutes a day—can cut the risk of heart disease in women by as much as 40%. This is the same benefit you would get from aerobics, jogging, or other vigorous exercise. The benefits to men are comparable. Along with its benefits to the heart, walking:
- improves circulation
- helps breathing
- combats depression
- bolsters the immune system
- helps prevent osteoporosis
- helps prevent and control diabetes
- helps control weight
What about the claims about calf and abdominal muscles in the ad? Well, Dr. Tommy Boone with the Discovery Channel's Fit & Health website says that walking alone strengthens calf muscles, tibialis anterior & ankle extensor muscles of the ankles, hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, buttocks, and abdominal muscles. This covers nearly all the claims presented by the Sketchers' ad!
On top of that, recent medical research by exercise physiologists at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse seems to dispute the claims made by shoe companies. In fact, they found no difference in muscle activation or calorie burning in users wearing Shape Ups compared to users wearing normal tennis shoes:
"There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone."
In my opinion, walking is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Any sort of exercise, when done regularly and in conjunction with healthy eating habits, can help one to lose weight and achieve better overall health of mind and body. If these special shoes help to get people off the couch, there is a definite benefit in that. However, they shouldn't promote their shoes by advertising benefits that are implied to be a result of using a particular shoe, when any old sneakers will get the same job done.
Agreed :)
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