Depending on the number of unsatisfied Ab Circle Pro customers who come forward, the fitness gimmick brand stands to pay out $15 million to $25 million in refunds, per a settlement between the brand and the FTC. The government agency has cracked down on over-hyped health claims in recent years to protect citizens from idiotic, empty promises like the Ab Circle Pro delivers. 
Honestly? Three minutes a day of mild exercise to lose 10 pounds in two weeks should be filed under “too good to be true,” and it is. The FTC isn’t having any of that noise.
According to the announcement on the FTC.gov site, “the defendants promised that a three-minute workout on the Ab Circle Pro – a fiberglass disk with stationary handlebars and two knee rests that roll on the edge of the disk, allowing consumers to kneel and rotate side-to-side – was equivalent to doing 100 sit ups. In the infomercial, pitchwoman Jennifer Nicole Lee compared the Ab Circle Pro to a gym workout, saying, “You can either do 30 minutes of abs and cardio or just three minutes a day. The choice is yours.”
Nothing is ever a substitute for hard work, not even a nearly non-existent workout. With a calorie-reduced diet and exercising at least 30 minutes moderate to high intensity workouts most days of the week, a healthy rate of weight loss is one to two pounds each week. A claim of 10 pounds in 2 weeks is not only not realistic but it isn’t healthy either. As far as toning your abs goes, well, that takes a lot more commitment to overall lifestyle than three minutes a day. If your entire workout regimen can happen in less time than a TV commercial break – you’re doing it wrong.
“Three minutes time is less than a warm up. Your muscles don’t even get loose in 3 minutes time – it takes about 5 to 10 minutes,” commented fitness expert Kelly Turner. “But let’s assume you did 5-10 minutes of light exercise before you hopped on. I can do 71 crunches in a minutes. Three sets of 71 crunches isn’t even an entire ab workout. No exercise, no matter what you are doing, is intense enough to create massive changes within your body in three minutes- even if done every single day.” (more…)
