HOUSTON – Can you get six-pack abs without situps?
'Tis the season to pack on the pounds. If only getting rid of excess weight was as easy as putting it on during major holiday calorie fests.
The search for a solution has led to myriad machines throughout the ages to jiggle, wiggle, pound and poke us, with the goal of ridding us of those extra pounds.
One of the newest entrants in the field is the Emsculpt. It uses electromagnetic energy to create 20,000 muscle contractions in a single half-hour session.
"The electromagnetic field forces a supramaximal contraction; what that means is it makes the muscle tighten in even more than you could doing exercise. This is the only device that does what it does, there has never been a device that does this,” plastic surgeon Dr. Adam Rubinstein said.
Yubi Sardinas tried it.
"I was really skeptical about it because I've seen a lot of things over the years," Sardinas said. "It feels like a little shocking electricity. Sometimes it feels like a little chiseling ... like it's being chiseled and molded."
Sports medicine and exercise expert Dr. Jose Antonio weighed in on the ability of Emsculpt to give you amazing abs, leaner legs or a tighter tush without cutting calories or breaking a sweat.
“The problem is there's no data comparing it to exercise and so what you're left with is really a lot of what I call guesswork," he said.
As for Sardinas?
"I definitely am seeing results," she said.
An analysis of some non-invasive flab-fighting devices found while they can have some effect on your shape, there’s little effect on weight loss.
If you really want to get slim, you still have to break a sweat.