Question...

[Ash]

Remember those old exercise machines that had a strap that went around the user's back.  It vibrated back & forth like crazy.



What were those things called and what exactly were they supposed to do?

[Mofo Rising]

I had one of those things! I found it in sequestered in my grandma's basement one day. Since I'm a bit of a connoisseur of the absurd I had to move it into my room for the sheer ridiculousness of it. I'd show it off, too. Putting that belt around yourself and turning the machine on just leaves you laughing and laughing.

The general idea is that the shaking will do the exercise for you. Lose weight by doing nothing! It doesn't work, it just shakes you. I burned more calories just laughing then the actual machine would lose for me. Think of it this way. You are not going to lose any weight sitting in a massage chair, other than the energy you burn just to stay alive.

While trying to Google a name for the thing, I found that "vibrational exercise" is still around. It still doesn't work, but hope springs eternal for the eternally lazy.

[Flick James]

Oh My God! I know the machine you're talking about. I think it was popular in the 60's and 70's. What a strange contraption. It's one of those obscure bits of American kitsch, like teepee hotels and tobacco store wooden Indians.

[Raffine]

There's a great scene in Dwain Esper's MANIAC (1934) where a blonde 'beauty' sings La Cucharacha while being shaken by one of these reducing belts.

[Hammock Rider]

I think there was one in an episode of Get Smart.

[AndyC]

Guys like John Harvey Kellogg were experimenting with vibration therapy and "passive exercise" way back in the 1800s.

I'm pretty sure the vibrating belt (at least the variation we all know) was invented in the 1920s. It probably would have faded away into obscurity if it hadn't looked so damn funny. How many of us would be familiar with it if not for its appearances in old cartoons.

Although it never actually went away. No matter how goofy some past medical theory is, they all still have their adherents. And the mail-order fitness industry never lets anything go to waste. They just keep updating the look and what it's supposed to do for you.
http://www.bioenergiser.com/Vibra-Massager-p-225.html

[Flick James]

Sure, that's all fine, but you're not going to get real results unless you actually exercise. What I don't get is if someone is going to spend X amount of time standing and getting their guts jiggled, why not spend the same amount of time on an exercise bike? It's not all that painful to your precious lazy muscles and it might actually yield results.

[AndyC]

I'm not suggesting there's any merit to the thing, just noting that the crackpot theory behind it goes back at least 150 years, and never completely went away.

I agree, standing in one spot while a motorized belt rapidly jiggles your pelvic region can't possibly be more enjoyable than real...... hmmmmm..... Maybe people do get something out of it after all.

[Paquita]

Sure, that's all fine, but you're not going to get real results unless you actually exercise. What I don't get is if someone is going to spend X amount of time standing and getting their guts jiggled, why not spend the same amount of time on an exercise bike? It's not all that painful to your precious lazy muscles and it might actually yield results.

I'm not an expert, but I think the idea of the shakey-vibraband was for women to lose weight without getting all muscley (even thought it didn't work).  I wasn't around 50 years ago, but I've got some old bittys in my family that were and it sounds like women were afraid of exercising because they thought they'd end up looking like popeye with a wig.   

[Flick James]

Sure, that's all fine, but you're not going to get real results unless you actually exercise. What I don't get is if someone is going to spend X amount of time standing and getting their guts jiggled, why not spend the same amount of time on an exercise bike? It's not all that painful to your precious lazy muscles and it might actually yield results.

I'm not an expert, but I think the idea of the shakey-vibraband was for women to lose weight without getting all muscley (even thought it didn't work).  I wasn't around 50 years ago, but I've got some old bittys in my family that were and it sounds like women were afraid of exercising because they thought they'd end up looking like popeye with a wig.   

That explanation makes perfect sense.

Oh, and Andy, I wasn't finding fault with your post. I didn't mean it to come across that way.

[HappyGilmore]

There's one of these machines in the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Dare to Be Stupid."  Make sense.