I’m not normally one to buy in to exercise fads, gimmicks or ‘quick-fix’ type programs. I firmly believe that to get real results, you need to put in the work at the gym (or on the track, path, court, field or whatever your personal training ground is). You also need to maintain your discipline with your diet at the dining table and refrigerator, and make sure you take care of getting proper rest to allow you to continue doing all the above, injury free, on a long-term, regular basis. If you spend more time reading and researching about how to lose weight, get fit, or develop those six pack abs, you’re only kidding yourself if you think you’re going to find the answer on your computer monitor.

Like I said, that’s normally how I feel and what I believe.

There are times in life what your beliefs are forced to be challenged. When you no longer have the luxury of simply believing what you have always believed. For me, that came with a serious and debilitating back injury that kept me from walking normally for weeks, and sometime months at a time. The pain was excruciating, but it gave me a new appreciation for some of the simpler things in life, like standing upright and walking.

The other thing this injury introduced me to was a TENS unit; a small, electro-stimulation device that sent impulses into my muscles to help relieve the pain and discomfort through forcing the muscles to contract and relax continuously. Often times, this device was the only relief I could get short of using narcotics, which I neither wanted to use nor found very effective.  My only other source of natural pain relief was my inversion table. 

How does this all tie in to Slendertone? Well, the Slendertone system uses the same medical grade manufacturing processes in their product that I had in my little miracle device several years ago, but this is available direct to the public. And the beauty is, this isn’t reserved for poor saps like me who are in terrible pain. It is now used as both an injury prevention application as well as a ‘vanity’ application in helping people develop firmer, more defined abs.

Through the use of electrical stimulation, the Slendertone is able to work your various abdominal muscles continuously in a way that you simply can’t achieve in the gym. The main attraction to me was the ability to strengthen my transverse abdominus, the muscle that helps protect your low back by forming a kind of corset around your core.

Of course the more popular application of this device is to help establish the elusive ‘6 pack abs’. While I still believe that the biggest obstacle for most people in seeing their ab muscles defined is that they simply have too much body fat to allow them to be seen, according to the Slendertone reviews I read online, many people are finally achieving results with this approach when all else has failed them. For example, a reviewer on amazon.com say, “I have been using the Slendertone Flex for about 2 weeks and already notice a difference in my pants.”

Will the Slendertone help you get that beach ready six pack you’ve been dreaming of? I can’t promise you anything, but after reading more than one Slendertone review claiming some pretty impressive results, all I know is that I’ll be protecting my back first and foremost with it, but if it helps me look better with my shirt off too…??? That’s cool with me.