By 

John P. Thiel "John T." (Astoria, Queens, New York City)

As a lifetime athlete who in recent years has gotten too busy for doing sports every day as I have in the past, this is a good addition to my various methods of dealing with the change in lifestyle.

I used to go cycling every day and do other outdoor sports on occassion, but my move to NYC five years ago and into corporate America has turned me into your typical weekend warrior. Just as the atrophy of office life was what first turned me into a serious athlete when I was 20, I am inspired at 41 to once again try new things to keep myself in shape--and enjoying it. Most recently these new things include an indoor trainer that I can use with my roadbike to pedal out the miles on weekday evenings, and this belt to work those muscles that cycling does not.

No real CON, but a few points I want to make:

I'm actually taking a star away for the instructions; you pretty much have to figure out how you want to incorporate this thing into your physical training on your own. For the price, they could include an adaquate training guide written by an expert. Perhaps someone at Amazon could suggest a relevant book.

The lack of adaquate instructions caused me to do the couch potato mistake of using the belt while slouched on the sofa in front of the TV and the uneven training gave me a bit of back pain for a week. It wasn't a big deal though.

Perhaps coincidental, but I started pooping like a newborn when I started using this belt.

You should be careful not to overdue it at first unless you already are used to working your abdominal muscles on a regular basis. The suggested levels and use times are a pretty good guide--just don't exceed them.

I was blown away by how much power three AA batteries were able to put out, but maybe it really doesn't take that much power. In any case, the power is more than adaquate.

DO NOT attempt to move the belt while it's turned on because you will literally be in for a shock. It's amazingly strong when the current goes through your fingertips.

BOTTOM LINE: This belt is very effective. My only caviat is that you should look for some kind of guide as to how to use it for maximum effectiveness and without causing yourself undue discomfort or pain.  

By 

Mr. Smarty (Bennington, VT)

Got this through the vine program for review. I am a physician and have experience and am well read on the subject of electrotherapy and also an avid gym rat. I thought this might be fun to try out for free. If you think for even one minute that this device will give you a six pack then you, my friend, are a sucker. Just like every late-night infomercial touting 6-minute abs, ab lounge, ab swing, etc, this device will not trim your midsection, destroy your love handles, obliterate your beer gut or baby fat, or even improve your strength. Let me explain how this works. You can not see your abdominal muscles because there is too much fat on top of them, not because they are not big enough. You can train and hypertrophy your abs all you want, but unless you get your body fat below about 8% you will not see them. As the old adage goes, abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. However, as opposed to all the other late-night sucker products that actually make you exercize (to varying extents), this is even worse. Similar to TENS units used by physical therapists for rehab, this device simply causes the muscle to contract artificially by passing a small current through the skin and muscle, triggering a depolarization. When you train a certain exercise naturally, you improve the neural connections to those muscles in that range of motion. Therefore, if you don't build and strengthen the neuromuscular connections to the desired muscles and their stabilizers, you do not get strength gains. Hence, this does not even make you stronger in real-world applications, such as, say, doing a sit up. So if it doesn't give you a 6-pack, and it doesn't make you stronger, then does it do anything? Well it may cause you to consume some extra calories. Muscle does have to use energy when it is depolarized and contracts, but that's about it - and a very small amount of calories at that. It's designed for lazy people with poor judgement and too much spare cash. Get on the floor and do some crunches...it's not that hard.  

By 

J-Reezy (Bay Area)

Getting my abs to look like a chiseled model has always been one the hardest things for me to achieve. After years of work, I know the only true way to make that happen is exercise and a GOOD DIET... you have to remove the weight/fat to get the abs to show. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time exercising your abs.

That being said,after a month of use, I truly feel that this product has helped improve the look of my abs. I have kept the same diet and continued my same workout routines, and simply added use of the Slendertone to about 40 mins every other day. A really difficult spot for me is the obliques. I truly believe the use of the Slendertone has helped tighten up my obliques to help accentuate more of a V-shape through my midsection.

I should also state that this is the third elctro-stimulation ab product I have used. Compared to the other two this is much better. The main thing that sets this apart is the use of Gel pads. Both of the other two devices required a liquid Gel that you put on the electrodes. With both of those products I found myself getting tiny little abrasions where the electrodes touch my skin... not good! With the slender tone, the fit is great and the gel pads stay snug against your body, which eliminates the abrasions.

In summary, if you are pretty avid athlete that has trouble getting those abs to show, give this a try it will probably help. But make sure you aren't ruinging all of your effort by eating to much fatty foods. If you are trying to lose weight, don't waste your time with this. Get yourself to the gym and work hard, eat well, and you'll see results on your own.