Do “Balance” Bracelets Work?

The nutrition and fitness industry is like the wild west, and that’s a good thing!  Freedom drives innovation and discovery while fact-based insights and marketing help keep the freely driven industry accountable.  That is how Power Balance bracelets came about.  Freedom and a lack of fact-based informed consumers.  Does it work, and if not, why do so many people swear by them?

There are all sorts of products marketed as something that can do something amazing.  For example, remember those silicone wristband bracelets that promised to make you feel more “balanced?”  Did you read all their zinger words?  “Power Balance holograms“, “100% surgical grade silicone“, “Improve balance, flexibility and strength as well as contributing to an overall sense of well being.” 

Here’s my favorate part though:  “Mylar Hologram’s which are embedded with frequencies that react with your body’s electro-magnetic field.  When the static POWER BALANCE Hologram comes in contact with your body’s energy field, it begins to resonate in accordance with each individual’s biological energy system, creating a harmonic loop that optimizes your energy field, maintains maximum energy flow while it clears the pathways so the electro-chemical exchange functions like the well-tuned generator it was designed to be, resulting in immediate improved balance, increased core strength, greater flexibility, increased range of motion and overall well-being. ”  HOLY SHIT, that is some trash “science” lol.  And then you have all these amazon reviewers swearing by this trash.  I’ll touch on that sheeple mentality later.  First, let me dig into what REAL science says about this.

The Actual, Factual, REAL Science of These Balance Wristbands:

There are no scientific studies showing that power bracelet balance works. And there is no earthly science even remotely saying that we can capture frequencies and bottle it in a hologram.

Here is an actual, real, reliable, scientific study directly looking at the Power Balance band itself [1].  I’ll let the study speak for it’s self when it states:  “This study found that under the testing conditions used in the current study, there were no significant performance benefits when wearing the Power Balance^® bracelet compared to the placebo bracelet… Thus, this study demonstrates that t the holographic bracelets do not work as advertised. It should be noted that while this study investigated the Power Balance® bracelet, it is presumed that results inves-tigating other performance enhancing jewelry would be similar, under similar testing circumstances.”  AND then they go on to explain WHY the public demonstrations of this product “appear” to have a beneficial effect.  It states: “these improvements were attributed to the fact that subjects were either: 1) more warmed-up (Maud et al., 2006a; 2006b) or 2) habituated to the task (Benson and Friedman, 1996; Wright et al., 2009).”

Then we have the American Council on Exercise (ACE) conducts a study on the Power Balance Bracelet as well [2].  ACE’s Chief Science Officer, Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D. states “We ultimately found that the bands had no impact on performance outcomes. Moreover, the significant difference between the first and second time that participants performed tests is likely attributed to participants anticipating the specific test activities the second time around as well as becoming somewhat warmed up, not the bracelet itself… The study was designed to test the validity of the claims that wearing Power Balance bracelets with their embedded holograms restore optimal energy balance in the body to improve a person’s strength, balance and flexibility…  The bottom line is that after all the data was analyzed, there clearly was no evidence to support the notion that wearing a Power Balance bracelet improves physical performance.”

Even Psychology Today felt the need to throw their hat in the ring, even calling it a scam [3].  You can’t discredit science and say something like “well science hasn’t been able to detect this form of energy yet.” and then attempt to use scientific reasoning to justify your belief.  You just prove yourself wrong, contradictory, ignorant, and incompetent.

People That Look Dumb Now:

Even major companies can get duked into believing this trash works, CNBC did when they named it the “Sports Product of 2010”.  Boy, I bet they feel dumb now.  But I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different from major news media outlets who are notorious for not fact checking their propaganda they spew.

Then you have all these celebrity endorsements from wealthy morons such as, David Beckham, Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, P Diddy, Khloe Kardashian, Shaquille O’Neal, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kate Middleton.  Because we all know how reliable and informed celebrity opinions are too… yeah okay [4].

‘Power Balance’ Changes It’s Tune:

Then Power Balance comes out with all sorts of changes to their product.   They removed promotional videos that made all the sort of initial claims of the product; they are shutting down outlets that are presenting their initial (original) claims of the product and only projecting the new (revised) claims of the product; and they started offering full refunds to unsatisfied customers.  Why would they do all that if their product works?

Now if you go to their site, their claims are drastically changed and moved toward a more spiritual, religious sense.  According to their website, about the question “What does this wristband do?”  They state: “…it is based on eastern philosophies.” LOL  Wait it get’s better.  “What is Power Balance Hologram Technology?”  Keep in mind, this question is about the TECHNOLOGY.  Here is their answer “.… The hologram is designed based on Eastern philosophies.”  LOL WTF, eastern philosophies have a “cutting edge three-dementiaoin” imaging holographic idea in their spirituality?  If everyone emits this kind of “energy” and this band can harness this “energy,” why doesn’t it work for everyone?  They state: “... there is no assurance it can work for everyone… That’s why we offer a no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee.”  I guess some people just aren’t human if they don’t admit this “energy,” that or, the product doesn’t work at harnessing everyone’s energy… either way, that alone proves its a fraud [5].

Then How Are People “Feeling” The Effects?

Listen, the Placebo Effect IS REAL.  Check this out:https://www.youtube.com/embed/yfRVCaA5o18?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

The “Flexibility/balance/strength Test” these Balance bands tell you to do is more like a test of gullibility and here’s why.   First they tell you to do it without the band.  That’s important because you are doing it for the first time, you are unaware of possible current situational external things that make you loose your balance, like muscle weakness, fatigue, and other physical issues that would effect your trying to balance.

But, once you do it, you become aware of theses, consciously or subconsciously.  Then, when you put the band on, and test yourself again, you are suddenly able to balance better…

That’s because of the things that you were not aware of that impacted your balance, you are now aware of, and your body can naturally compensate for it; consciously or subconsciously.  That’s how the mind and the body interact naturally lol.

If you balanced on your right leg, and you felt your right leg was tired, maybe your outer quad was fatigued, the next time you balance on your right leg, you will shift weight to a different, not so fatigued muscle group; thus improving your balance, naturally.

Another nonscientific trick is that a sales guy will have you balance on one leg with your arms out and then he will push down on one of your extended hands, throwing you off balance.  Then, they will let you try on the band and repeat the test.  But this time, you consciously or subconsciously already know what to expect and your body will already, be ready to compensate the second time around… This natural mind-body interaction is then assumed it was because of the band, not the natural mind-body interaction.

Even the direction of the force applied by the sales man says a lot.  The first time they may pull you or push you down and away from your supporting leg; which would, naturally, throw you off balance.  Then the second tiem they may push you back toward your balancing leg, which just enables you to naturally shift your weight toward your stabilized planted leg.  And presto, you are “more” balanced lol.

And that was 10 years ago.  This crap got exposed 9 years ago.  And still, morons are still buying and believing in this “eastern technology.”  But, at least there are some people who have actually become more healthy from this product, the owner and executive staff of the scam.  They have made a financial killing off all the moronic customers.  And with those funds, they are able to live a healthier life.

Industry Accountability

If you are wearing one.  Sorry, your a gullible tool.  Take it off.  Go to the gym and workout your stabilizer muscles.

If you have a friend that wears one, put them in check.  Inform them of their stupidity and culpability in making scammers rich.

If you see a fitness and performance shop selling them, ask the manager how it feels to sell fraudulent products and be managing a company that is being scammed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737916/
2. https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/press-releases/1351/ace-study-reveals-power-balance-bracelet-to-be
3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neuronarrative/201101/power-balance-scam-shows-again-the-pseudoscience-song-remains-the-same
4. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1343941/Power-Balance-bracelets-better-rubber-band-Maker-forced-refunds.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
5. http://www.powerbalance.com/default/technology

Apps to Track Progress and Results

I am a data nerd!  I track every data point possible so I see trends and spot inefficiencies.  Last thing I want to do is waste my time.  Personally, I use Google Sheets to track everything but, if your not as nerdy as me, there are a couple of phone apps that can be just as useful for your journey.

The Strong fitness app is super simple and perfect for creating and tracking workout routines.  So customizable its awesome.  You can pick from pre-made workouts or create your own.  Then create your own routines.

MyFitnessPal, by Underarmor is top notch calorie and macro tracker.  This is key for low carb diets.  There is a subscription fee for more features, but it is cheap and worth it.  You can scan barcodes and create the sum calorie content of whatever meal you make.

Last you will NEED at least one of the three apps, depending on what device you are using.

Apple health, Fitbit, or Samsung Health.

Currently, Google Fit sucks.  Garmin is working their way up and I probably should have added them but I have yet to deal with them.

Also, Fitbit are still pretty nazish with allowing cross syncing with Apple Health, Samsung Health, and others.  They don’t allow it and provide punk answers as to why.  But, since they defined the standard of fit tracking and track everything you really need in once place, for now they are still being recommended.

With all these apps combined, you can track:

• Weight lifting progress.
• Rep progress.
• Routine scheduling.
• Calories.
• Macros.
• Diet scheduling.
• Calories burned during workout.
• Calories burned all day.
• Heat rate during workouts and all day.
• Miles ran with GPS tracking.
• Sleep quality.

AND MORE.

All the data you need to make the most informed decision about your fit life!

Fix Your Facebook Settings

Hey, if you want to continue to use a service that violates people’s rights (kinda like Jim Crow Laws, but for the digital age, and ideology instead of race), than that’s on you. Since you don’t think violating people’s rights on the internet isn’t a big enough deal to act, then, at least, at a minimum, take SOME sort of action, any sort of action, in the name of liberty and freedom; do SOMETHING if anything:

Do Wrist Wraps Work?

We see all sorts of people wearing wrist wraps while they work out. Some big guys lifting big weight with few reps and some small guys lifting a lot of small weights with a lot of reps, and everyone in between; all wearing wrist wraps. But, do they need to, and are they necessary?

There are two primary factors to help us understand the importance of wrist wraps (“WW”). 1) Form, and 2) weight. Proper form keeps from putting unnecessary stress on the fragile wrist, but, depending on the weight, sometimes the wrist can only take so much resistance despite proper form. Wrist sprains are more common than you think. And if you sprain your wrist, you could jeopardize your workout program or injury your wrist further putting a stop to your program all together. It’s kinda hard to do your best bicep curls, chest presses, and all those weird CrossFit workouts, when your wrist is all jacked up.

Wrist WRAPS are different from wrist STRAPS. One is designed to support your wrist, the other is designed to support your grip by wrapping a strap around the bar to better hold heavier weight longer. We are only talking about wrist WRAPS here.

What do WW claim to do?

It’s essentially a lighter form of a wrist brace. The idea is to provide support to the wrist. It helps to stabilize the wrist during quick movements or heavy lifting. If your wrist is sore from a previous strenuous workout, the WW may even provide just enough support to keep from injuring your wrist any further and may allow you to continue to work out.

When to use them:

So, you do not ALWAYS want to use them. You WANT your wrist to get stronger as you get stronger. Always using your wraps may weaken or keep your wrist strength the same as your body gets stronger, which can lead to problems later as your weight increases. In theory, you want to use them when you are going for a Personal Record (PR), 1MR, and doing a high repetition workout where your form gets compromised as you get tired. Another time to consider using them is when you are lifting over 60% of your 1MR.

How to use them:

You want to wrap where your wrist bends, to support the joint and prevent hyper-extension. So, you don’t want to wrap them too low. You also don’t want to wrap them too high and impede on your grip of the weight/bar/machine. Too high or too low will not provide very much support on the joint anyway. Don’t make them too tight either. Your hand needs blood flow for proper muscular grip functions, but too loose and they won’t provide any kind of support. You want them mildly tight and snug around your joint, centered over and where your wrist bends.

Is using wrist wraps cheating?

Some pricks say it’s cheating, but they need to mind their damn business. Cheating, against who? A lot of them are just jealous that you are getting more gains than they are, I guess. That’s the same as a runner, who only runs barefoot (all natural) arguing that using the best kind of running shoe to train for a race, is cheating. Are lifting belts cheating too? What about knee wraps? Gloves? STFU. It’s probably those same losers that bitch about people grunting while they workout. Measures to prevent injury and improve performance, isn’t inherently cheating. You want to improve yourself, do you whatever you need to do to achieve YOUR goals, f*ck everyone else and their opinions. And tell those nazi pricks to mind their business and do whatever it is they want to do to make themselves feel better about themselves.

The Actual Resistance of Resistance Bands

Feel like a boss curling 50lbs resistance bands don’t you? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s far from actually 50lbs. So don’t run off to the gym and try to curl a 50lbs dumb bell, you may hurt yourself. But, there is a way to estimate how much ACTUAL resistance you are curling.

At “max” stretch, or at 3x stretch, the resistance bands are given their “resistance” or weight equivalency.

Not all workouts need or use the “max stretch” or 3x stretch. Doing bicep curls, for example, may not require a long enough stretch to reach the bands weighted equivalency. Keep this in mind because it will become part of the calculations.

We will use bicep curls as our example. If at the starting position, the band is not stretched, that means, from the start, there is 0 lbs of resistance. Just like any workout from the starting position. As you begin the curl, you’ll notice that it is easy. So, half way up curling, you’ll notice it getting more difficult. This is the resistance increasing as the band stretches. As you complete the curl, the resistance will be at its most difficult. Then, as you lower, the resistance begins to decrease.

That means, curling a 50lbs resistance band, is not actually curling 50lbs. So, how much are you actually curling?

The first thing you need to determine is whether or not you are “fully” stretching the band at the completion of the workout. Observe the length of the band at the completion of the workout. Has it been stretched 3x more? If no, then you need to estimate how much of the 3x length it was stretched, because 3x stretch = 50lbs; therefore anything less than 3x stretch is less than 50lbs. Use percentages. If at the completion it has been stretched by 2x, then we can estimate that 33lbs of resistance were met. 2x stretch is 66% of a 3x stretch, so 50lbs x 66% = 33lbs. So your peak weight /resistance at the completion of the curl is ~33lbs.

But, you didn’t curl 33lbs of resistance the whole time. In fact, it was easier to get it up to competition, and easier to lower back to the starting position. Unlike curling a 50lbs dumb bell, you weren’t lifting 50lbs the whole time. With a dumb bell, it’s the same weighted resistance from start to finish. Half way up, you’ve barely stretched the band. That’s only 50% of the 33lbs, making the moment you are curling half way up, about 16.5lbs. Then, after completing the curl, half way back down is again only 16.5lbs. Therefore, you weren’t even curling 33lbs the whole time; more like 22lbs, averaged, of a 50lbs Resistance Band.

Now, there are workouts that do or could use the max 3x stretch, such as door mounted chest press/flies, even Squats depending on how tall you are and what you use to attach/mount the bands to.

Here us a universal formula to help determine how much actual resistance / weight equivalency you are working:

(( BW x S% ) + ₁(( BW x S% ) /2) + ₂(( BW x S% ) /2)) /3

Actual estimate of weighted equivalent resistance

BW = band weight
S% = Stretch % of Max
Sub script 1 and 2 = half up way, half way down

If you are starting out with the band already stretched, just add the additional percentage estimate of workout max stretch for sub script 1 and 2.

The real difficulty becomes trying to get the actual resistance to be the same as the weight you can actually lift. Let’s say you can curl a 35 lb dumb bell, and you want your average constant resistance to be 35 lbs too. That means you may need to use an 80lb rated resistance band. But that puts your estimated peak resistance around 50lbs just to get that 35lb average, which may be too difficult to peak. And if you can’t peak at that resistance, than your actual average is lowered.

So a rule of thumb is to find a resistance that you CAN peak with, that you can complete the workout. A estimated weight that you only need to hit for a second or so. Similar to a 1MR, one max rep, with actual weights. This “max” peak resistance can be an indicator if you are doing too much, too little, or just right.

ALSO depending on the quality, thickness, make of the band, the “max” stretch may be reached in a shorter distance of stretching. This is something YOU have to estimate and incorporate into your calculations.

Do Masks Work?

Part of diet and fitness is your overall health.  With so much hoopla about COVID and Face-masks, we want to know, supported by reliable data driven experts, if wearing a face-mask works, or does not work, or risks more harm or less harm; and how that can help you plan your safe, lower risk, workouts and going to the gym.

Women, stop with the weird selfies…

Just as the guys got roasted (Dudes, stop with the weird selfies…), Yes, women, it’s your turn.  With all the comments and messages we’ve received from around the world.  It’s time to call out all you females who take those annoying, awkward, weird, selfies!

It’s Flu Season!

Flu season is hitting hard.  With the annual flu virus spreading, on top of China’s weaponized flu, what can you do to help prep your body AND what can you drink if you feel like you are coming down with the flu?  This is what I’ve learned:

Do “Balance” Bracelets Work?

The nutrition and fitness industry is like the wild west, and that’s a good thing!  Freedom drives innovation and discovery while fact-based insights and marketing help keep the freely driven industry accountable.  That is how Power Balance bracelets came about.  Freedom and a lack of fact-based informed consumers.  Does it work, and if not, why do so many people swear by them?

Antibiotic-Free, Cage-Free, GMO-free, Food

Is antibiotic-free, cage-free, GMO-free, food better?  Are there any harmful side-effects to humans?  Is it immoral and unethical?  Are there health benefits?  All these questions are important but we must focus on the science and hard data, not on our feelings and the emotionalistic aspect of the topic.  I will answer, Is antibiotic-free, cage-free, GMO-free, food good or bad for you?

What does science say about the best way to building muscle?

Here are some guidelines set forth by findings in studies about building muscle.  These guidelines can be useful for creating a routine and exposing “for profit” exercise programs that harp on “You’ll lose all this weight!” but you are really just burning and losing muscle for energy.  Build muscle, get toned, and doing it the right way.  And the information is out there so get educated and be informed:

Fun Stats and Data to Track For Motivation and Results

Before you can use any sort of bodily formulas and calculations, you need to collect, at a minimum, the following data points:  Age, Height, Weight, Neck measurement, Waist measurement, and wrist measurement.  From these 6 data points, you can calculate all kinds of cool stuff.

Resistance Bands

I have done the whole GYM thing, weight lifting, power lifting, heavy lifting, for some time now and I wanted to test out Resistance Bands now.  So, I went out and got a whole ‘gym-like’ set up.  I’ll explain each piece and the science behind this:

Apps to Track Progress and Results

I am a data nerd!  I track every data point possible so I see trends and spot inefficiencies.  Last thing I want to do is waste my time.  Personally, I use Google Sheets to track everything but, if your not as nerdy as me, there are a couple of phone apps that can be just as useful for your journey.