Are you stuck behind a desk all day?  The good news is that you can get fit while you work, without ever leaving your chair!  Or at least that’s what the makers of the “Hawaii Chair” would like you to believe.

What does the Hawaii Chair do?  It’s pretty simple, really: you sit on it, and the motorized seat swivels your hips around.  This is supposed to duplicate the motions performed by Hula dancers.  The result?  No less than a toned and trim waistline.  According to the sales spiel, the chair will give you a “complete fat-burning aerobic workout” that can “increase your heart rate by over 200%.”

Uh-huh.  Suuuuuure it does… 

I don’t doubt that Hula dancing is a great, calorie-burning, aerobic exercise.  But that’s because it’s a weight-bearing activity, and the dancers are performing the work.  In contrast, the Hawaii Chair does the work for you.  Sure, there are some compensatory muscular contractions that you need to do to remain in a stable, upright position, but this hardly constitutes a “workout;” nor will it reduce your waistline.  Fat around your waist belongs to your whole body, and simply contracting your abdominal muscles won’t do anything to shift it. 

The Hawaii Chair is a great example of the maxim: “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  I’d just as soon spend my money on a grass skirt and coconut shell bra and actually, y’know, learn to dance the Hula.  It would be cheaper, a lot more fun, and I’d look like less of an idiot in the process.