Bogus fitness equipment: A shirt that burns body fat?

People frequently fwd me pics of products that make outlandish claims about what a product can do and most of this is directed towards belly fat for men, and other parts of the body for women. They are all bullcrap and are directed at people that don't want to do any exercise but still want to look fit. Unfortunately for all the couch dwellers hoping for 6-pack abs this isn't going to happen, no matter what the manufacturer claims.

Here is a new one for me and I can't imagine the type of person that actually looks at this and thinks "oh that seems legitimate!"

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So basically this is a compression shirt that claims that by simply wearing it, you can eliminate body and chest fat. It also claims to eliminate Gynecomastia, which if you don't know what that means get in line: It is basically "bitch tits" the likes of which were featured on Meatloaf in the movie Fight Club.

I love how the advert says the numbers they put on there are "based on clinical reports and testimonials" but that is all the detail they go into. I would imagine that if you could actually find the clinical reports that there were a few other things that the test subjects in question had to adhere to such as diet and exercise. "Testimonials" is the equivalent of the press saying "anonymous sources" meaning that they totally made it up or paid someone to say that they got results.

It is anatomically impossible for any shirt to burn belly fat unless it actually has a method of piercing the skin and sucking the fat out of your body - like a walking liposuction machine.

It should come as no surprise that this shirt is over $100 as well and comes with a ton of Terms and Conditions as part of the sale. The statements are not evaluated by any government organization because it is a shirt, not a drug and therefore the FDA has no position on it.

I don't need the FDA to determine that there is no way that a shirt is going to burn belly fat.

Unfortunately, if you have belly fat, and most men and women beyond the age of say 35 or so are going to, the only way to get rid of it is diet an exercise. Also, to make matters even more depressing for people with this common affliction, there is no exercise that can "target" fat from a specific part of the body. Trial after trial has shown that the body's decision on where to burn the fat stores from seems to be completely arbitrary and there is nothing available on the market that can tell your body where to burn it from. Professional trainers that I have spoken to almost always have the same opinion of "it's always the last to go" when talking about belly fat, so if you do want to get rid of that I'm afraid you are just going to have to remain dedicated to a life-long system of diet and exercise.

It really isn't as tough as people think but you actually do have to put in some work. It isn't going to happen because you spend $100 on some dodgy website from a company that a year from now wont even exist anymore. There is a reason why reputable sport companies like Nike and Adidas never market crap like this and that is because it would completely destroy their credibility. They tell their fair share of lies as well but mostly it is about shoes.

Be smart! There are no shortcuts or magic products that are going to get you fit, you have to put in the work!

_{I have no professional or education qualifications for what I say here but what I do have is many years of doing things wrong and then later correcting them. If I can lose 50 lbs in my 40's I am relatively certain that almost anyone else can do it as well}