Do Ab Machines Shown on TV Really Work? - Report from ABC News
MrsJim
22 years ago
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billdara
22 years agolast modified: 9 years agojen823
22 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
A TV reporter.
Comments (11)"Auto sales and service rank very low in overall customer trust." Really? That's actually not the case nationally according to the BBB. There are quite a number of occupations that score much worse than ours. I'll challange anyone to take a hard look at what they do for a living, and then across the board imagine only a 2.4% occurance of an issue that requires the work to be done over. Granted less experienced and trained techs have a higher ratio of comebacks than the better trained, and seasoned technicians, so if your seeing a lot of cars have to go back it's most likely a training/experience problem, not one measured in honesty or lack thereof. That's the problem with most of these "sting" operations. The people attempting to do the story themselves don't have the knowledge and skill required to properlly access what the actual outcome of their own "study" was. "I used to work in that industry and witnessed a lot of corruption. .... I still own a 4 bay auto service garage that I lease out." I never said there aren't things that are wrong, I am talking about going about fixing them the right way, not the trash this reporter put out there. Why did you get out of this business? With the kind of money that you must of had (or have) that you can own a building like that you had a leg up on many that try to run a shop, anyone can fix cars, right? Would you have fallen victim to this reporter if they had shown up at the shop you were working at? Remember, or if you need to go look at the video's as linked too. The transmission pan gasket is "not sealing". The wetness is indeed evidence of a leak, the dealer tech admits that it is leaking with his "re-check". "BUT", they still attack the tech and the shop for discovering the leak and treat it as if observing it was wrong. Never mind the fact that missing it is wrong for quite a number of reasons. One thing overall stands out and needs to be recognized, I called them, and her out on this. They are NOT willing to have me re-evaluate their story, even if it cannot be aired which means they don't have to apologize to anyone if it is found, and I'm willing to bet lunch on this that repairs have since been performed to the car after the "sting" that would exhonerate a number of the shops from the "alledged attrocities". Your last paragraph. If these are things you "witnessed" in places where you worked, I only would have needed to see something like that one time, and I would have walked out. It is my hope that places that run like that fail, and yesterday isn't soon enough. Unfortunately IMO the places that do things like that, are where we see the cheapest labor rates, and "discount" prices on telephone quotes....See MoreAb Energizer:
Comments (4)This is what I found in internet. Please read this before you order this ab energizer... Good Luck! Good Morning America's consumer correspondent Greg Hunter found that the machines can cause minor skin burns. Experts told him that anyone who thinks that the devices alone will turn them into Mr. Universe is mistaken. The gadgets are based on electronic muscle stimulation, or EMS, a system that delivers an electric charge to make muscles contract. John Porcari, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin, tested an EMS device similar to those on the market in a study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise. After eight weeks of using the device only, participants had no significant increases in muscle size or strength. "I think people are wasting their time," Porcari said. "I think they're better off spending their money on a personal trainer or buying a membership to a health club, or buying a home piece of exercise equipment that they're going to use." AbTronic declined any comment under advice of their attorney. Ab-Energizer also declined comment, and Fast-Abs did not return phone calls or e-mails sent by Good Morning America. Want Flat Abs? Order Now The Fast-Abs ad claims the technology makes it easy: "It's like our engineer shrunk half a gym of bulky, expensive exercise equipment into a little electronic miracle the size of a pack of matches." Victoria Delaney, a San Francisco Bay area woman who saw the AbTronic infomerical, was intrigued by the thought of achieving amazing abs just like the young woman in the commercial. "That's what I thought I was going to get," Delaney told Hunter, pointing to the buff young woman's flat stomach. After seeing the ad, she immediately reached for her telephone and credit card and ordered an AbTronic. Delaney thought the device would let her get trim while sitting around and reading a book or watching TV. "Sure, I thought it would be easy," Delaney said. Company Warns of Skin Burning Reports Delaney said she used her AbTronic religiously for three days, but then she said she had to stop because it gave her a number of minor but painful burns on her arms, stomach, both legs and her back, making it difficult to sit. When she looked at the instruction booklet later, Delaney discovered that the company warned that "skin irritation and burns ... have been reported." Though Delaney does not have any permanent injuries, her pride is a little scarred, and she feels nae for being taken, she said. But it is easy to see why people like Delaney might be drawn to the devices. Not only does the AbTronic infomercial show seemingly perfect men and women using it, the commercials claim that a University of Maryland study backs up products like theirs. "Their conclusion was that an electronic stimulation was much better than exercise alone, whether you use it as a supplement to your normal workout, or just by itself," a female co-host of the infomercial says. "That proves that you get better results by the use of the AbTronic fitness system," the male co-host chimes in. Machine Can't Do It Alone The University of Maryland scientist who conducted the study, Dr. Gad Alon, published an article about electronic muscle stimulation in 1987. He said that he believes high-quality EMS devices can strengthen the abdominal muscles, but that the AbTronic infomercial took his findings out of context. "In fact, we have used electrical stimulation on abdominal strengthening in a number of studies," he said. "And that particular one [AbTronic] does not look at all like the type of strengthening we do with electrical stimulation." Porcari acknowledges that medically approved EMS devices can play a useful role in rehabilitative medicine. But he says consumers can't comfortably get strong enough contractions from these infomerical devices to build "awesome abs" without real exercise. "To get the benefits, you have to make your muscles contract to a certain level, and that requires you to be able to withstand a lot of pain," he said. Dr. Julio Garcia, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon, appeared in the AbTronic infomercial touting the device. "The nice thing about the AbTronic system is you don't have to go to a gymnasium, where you have to do weight-lifting exercises, where we may have some other medical problems that prevent from doing that - whether it's high blood pressure or bad joints," Garcia says in the infomercial. Garcia told Hunter that although EMS. can help maintain muscle tone, it will not help people lose weight. He also said that the AbTronic commercial took some of his words out of context, and that the machine alone cannot help a person lose weight, lose inches and gain muscle definition. "It was my intent to talk about many things together - diet, exercise, and the machine," Garcia said. "It has apparently been portrayed as just a machine itself. And that's not what I was there to talk about." Delaney says she spent $150 on the AbTronic, and chalks it up to one of life's lessons that she hopes others can learn from. Her advice to anyone lured by the ab machine commercials is simple "Don't buy it," she said....See MoreReporting from Haiti
Comments (17)I posted this sentiment on the other Haiti thread: Even though I am an employee of the media establishment, I am so conflicted every time a natural disaster like this happens: Reporters must go and report on these things, photogs must take pictures so the rest of the world can grasp the reality, but as anchor people and reporters etc are there, don't they use up some of the scarce resources there are? I know they probably bring food, water, etc., for themselves, but they are also taking up precious space. And if they're bringing their own supplies, they're taking up space of others wanting to come in and bring supplies (tho I know the airport is quite limited right now). They have certain things available to them--restrooms, for example--while some residents have gone 2 days + without food, we are told. But Socks etc. are right that no one can NOT suffer an emotional toll being there. Just looking at some of the photos has been distressing....See MoreHeirloom Tomatoes for TV cooking show
Comments (18)Well done PP. Great to see your hard work being shown off. I am not sure they appreciate the effort that you have put in to produce those babies but eh, thats the way of the world we live in. I could ramble on here but... ok...Ray, Adam, I will by kind. Hi Mabb and all, re Mabbs query on blacks.. I have grown a few blacks and for me they are a bit iffy. This past season I grew Carbon, Paul Robeson and Cherokee Purple (if you consider this a black). Last year I grew Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. Cherokee Purple is a winner re; taste, but I cant get it to produce more than One truss of fruit. Carbon this year produced lots of fruit where others didnt but the flavour was just umm. Paul Robeson, well, I cant give a report on this one cause I think I had a dud. Small mahogany bits of yuk that the chooks loved. Black Krim , last year was a late sowing from a seedling I got from a garden show here. I let it sprawl where it wanted and it pumped out some lovely , really black fruit and it has stuck in my mind as a "must give another go". That is until I read on other forums that Black from Tula is better than BK. So, bugger it. I am going to grow both, and side by side in identical pots this coming spring. I will report back NOW bakkto tha foooty...See Morethe_buffalo_gal
22 years agolast modified: 9 years agopanzees36
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