This may sound revolutionary to some fitness fanatics, but to do yoga, you don’t need a mat or non-slip socks. To go to the gym, resistance bands and hand wraps are completely unnecessary, and if you’re thinking of starting home workouts, you can ditch the expensive equipment.
Last year, 14 per cent of the UK were members of a gym. The pandemic helped numbers increase, and according to GlobalData, 53.3 per cent of UK consumers invested in home workout gear between March 2020 and April 2021. Now, a few years on, the gym platform Hussle found that a third of these bought gear they have never used.
To help people make purchases that won’t collect dust, i asked fitness experts their top things that they’d never buy and are absolutely a waste of money.
1. Treadmills
“They are practically medieval,” says fitness instructor and canoeing coach Martin Sharp. He has a point. The machines were invented in 1818 to be used as punishment in prisons – it was meant for inmates to learn from their own sweat. Although they’re used by free will now, Sharp believes they’re “dreadful” and come with a heap of damaging side effects.
“Don’t use them,” he warns. “They set the speed you have to train at, not allowing for the natural changes in rhythm, stride strength and speed that occur as you perform, meaning you may not be working at your best.”
It’s a controversial opinion. Treadmills continue to be the biggest selling exercise equipment, and this year the under-desk treadmill, which allowed work-from-homers to get steps in as they type, went viral.
According to social media, putting your treadmill at a 12 per cent incline and three mph for 30 minutes is the ideal body-blasting, fat-burning, weight loss workout. But Sharp is unconvinced.
“There are plenty of studies showing that repetitive motion that targets the same muscles and joints leads to overuse, wearing and injury,” he says.
2. Massage guns
Many athletes swear by massage guns, or percussive therapy devices, to stimulate blood flow and enhance muscle recovery. There are hundreds on the market, from cheap models to hot and cold functioned ones, ranging from £10 up to more than £500. But if it was up to personal trainer Joe Johnson, they’d all be in the bin.
“While they may look cool and feel good temporarily, there is little evidence to suggest they’re anywhere near as effective as other techniques like a regular massage or an ice bath,” he says. For regular gym-goers, having a massage post workout is effective, and competitive bodybuilders should be aiming for a deep tissue or sports massage at least once a week, according to wellness platform Soothe.
3. Fitness trackers
“Fitness trackers are fantastic for monitoring your activity but then you have to do something with your data,” says strength and conditioning specialist Aleksander Saks. He says the metrics that smart watches monitor – typically heart rate, steps and tracking different forms of exercise – can hinder people’s progress as they do nothing with the numbers. “It’s cool but will it help you progress or make your lifestyle healthier?”
Saks also points out the inaccuracies associated with these trackers. In 2019, a study from California State Polytechnic University Pomona compared heart rates tracked on smartwatches with readings from electrocardiograms and found that the watches can be off by 20 beats per minute during vigorous exercise. Fitbit’s product manuals warn of these inaccuracies, stating that high-intensity movement “may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate”.
Other users have stated mental implications of access to so much data, saying they’re addicted to the numbers on their wrist, and needed a break from the lifestyle it brings.
4. Pre-workout stimulants
These powdered formulas typically contain a dose of caffeine marketed towards giving people a mental pick-me-up and energy boost before their workout. Johnson says “you can get the same effect from having a coffee before your workout, or just prevent the need for mental stimulation completely and just get more sleep”. The instructor recommends sleeping for seven to nine hours per night to avoid having to have caffeine before training at all.
Nutritionist Lindsey Kass says the dosage in some pre-workout stimulants is too high. For example, HR Labs’s Defib pre-workout contains 400mg caffeine per serving, the maximum amount adults should have, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. She recommends having a dose of one to three milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight an hour before working out.
5. Ab Toners
Ab stimulators promise to make abdominal muscles appear tighter or cause weight loss. Slendertone’s “most comfortable abs toning belt” retails for £179 and claims to be “clinically proven to firm and tone your abs from four weeks, recommended to use 20-30 minutes a day, five days a week”.
It comes with 10 programmes, including Pro Toning, Ab Power and Ab Crunch Training. Johnson says they were popular in the 1990s but he can’t believe they’re still around today. The machines work by sending electrical pulses through the muscles, causing them to contract so “you can work your midsection while watching Netflix”. Except you can’t, according to the coach.
The only way to have visible abdominal muscles is to eat in a calorie deficit – consume less than you’re burning – to “melt the fat around the stomach”. He said this is achieved through diet, not electrical pulses.
6. Weight Loss Drugs
This one Elon Musk could disagree with. When asked how he lost weight so quickly, he took to X (formerly Twitter) to tell his followers that he had been injecting Wegovy, the brand name for semaglutide, a weight loss drug. It is currently available in the UK for those with a BMI above 30, provided they meet other criteria. According to the NHS, when used with diet and physical activity, Wegovy users can achieve up to 15 per cent reduction in bodyweight after one year.
These drugs work by reducing people’s appetite, allowing them to sit in a calorie deficit without feeling hungry. Johnson agrees with the logic – if people are consuming less, they’re losing more weight. His problem is when people come off the drugs: “Most people go back to how they were eating before and put all the weight back on.”
A study from March this year showed that people regained two-thirds of weight lost on the drug when they come off. The drugs mimic a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when a person is full. This doesn’t rewire the brain, so weight loss may be temporary. With the monthly costs at £199 for a starter pack, according to Private Doc, Johnson says it’s not worth the money.
