Bun and Thigh Roller (Www.Bunthigh.Com)

¶ … Bun and Thigh Roller (www.bunthigh.com)

The exercise device known as the Bun and Thigh Roller 'as seen on television' proclaims itself to be a five-minute way to sculpt the so-called problem areas of the thighs and buttocks. The promotional television clip on the website states that the Bun and Thigh Roller can activate the muscles of the thigh and rear areas just as much as more expensive machines. It also claims to offers a pain free, injury-free work out unlike squats or the use of heavier weights. Its celebrity endorser, Don Tornabene, "former Mr. America," says that he was inspired to create the machine when working out on a Swiss ball. "Before my workouts, I was using the Swiss ball to stretch my lower back, hips and thighs. I realized this would be a fantastic way to sculpt the lower body if it only offered the resistance necessary for fast results" ("The Bun and Thigh Roller," 2007, Official Website).

This claim is problematic for two reasons. First of all, Don Tornabene is not a doctor, personal trainer, or scientist. He is not even an athlete, as a Mr. America is evaluated upon his appearance, not upon his physical fitness. Secondly, Tornabene admits that he created the low-impact machine while warming up for his regular work-out. In other words to gain his physique, much more strenuous effort is needed. The machine comes with a diet plan, so essentially the advertisement's real claim is that the person, who buys the machine, sticks to a low calorie diet and adds at least some additional activity onto their current exercise regime will lose weight.

It could be argued that at very least, the machine does no harm, as it does encourage the person desperate for weight loss to engage in low-impact movement, without harmful supplements. However, the machine, which costs 3 installments of 16.95, is not cheap, when one considers that very likely, doing crunches and other exercises at home similar to the activities the machine is supposed to facilitate would be equally effective. The money would likely be better spent, if at all, on some inexpensive free weights to be used in conjunction with a workout found for free on the Internet, in a magazine, or in a book in the library (Noakes 2003: 777-789). Or better yet, since raising the heart rate through cardiovascular exercise is more effective for weight loss in the short-term because it burns more calories, an individual would be better advised to spend his or her money on a new pair of running or walking shoes (Kolata 2003).

What is more troubling about the product is the way that it plays upon fears, usually female fears of having 'fat thighs' or 'fat buttocks' which are not even the most dangerous areas to gain weight, from a health standpoint. A study from the Institute of Preventative Medicine in Copenhagen found that so-called apple-shaped woman with excess fat around their waists were likely to be less healthy than a curvaceous, pear-shaped woman whose fatty deposits were concentrated in the buttocks and thigh areas ("When it Comes to Stored Fat, Shape Matters," 2005, Daily News Central). From an aesthetic standpoint, toning exercises and machines like the Bun and Thigh Roller are not useful -- the only thing that shrinks one's body is weight loss, and burning more calories than consuming more calories -- for which cardiovascular activity is better suited. No one can choose where their fat stores accumulate if they consume more calories than they burn.

Of course, strength training and flexibility are also important aspects of a fitness regime. But here the Bun and Thigh Roller falls short as well. While a person who uses weights can add weight as they grow stronger, once a person maximizes the fitness benefits of the exercises one can do on the machine, there is no way to make the exercises more difficult. "To reshape yourself, you have to hypertrophy muscles," that is work them by adding additional effort as the muscle adapts to the harder regime (Kolata 2003: 234)