If you haven't already seen the infamously hilarious Shake Weight commercials (check it out below), or seen celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Queen Latifah poking fun at the weight-lifting product, we'll clue you in. The Shake Weight for women is an "As Seen on TV" 2.5-pound dumbbell-like product with spring-action that supposedly targets your biceps, triceps, shoulders and chest, and claims you'll only need to work out six minutes a day to get the full muscle-toning benefits.

The men's commercial, seemingly aimed at wannabe bodybuilders, asks, "Would you like to get your arms ripped? Your shoulders pumped and your chest sculpted ... Do you hate working out for hours at the gym with big, bulky equipment, or boring, slow dumbbells?"

The Shake Weight for women commercial, meanwhile, is aimed at fans of Michelle Obama's arms. "Work out your entire upper body in just six minutes a day," the ad touts. "You'll get arms you'll be proud to show off. Feel free to go sleeveless."

The commercials go on to explain these claims are possible because of "dynamic inertia." The manufacturers assert that if men use the Shake Weight for just one minute it's equivalent to doing 240 repetitions of regular weight-lifting. For women, the commercial explains, "Scientific studies at a prestigious University prove that the Shake Weight increases upper-body muscle activity by 300 percent compared to traditional weights." All that for a price tag of $19.95 (plus shipping) for the ladies' version or $29.95 (plus shipping) for guys.

The Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association, the fitness industry's primary source for tracking participation and industry earnings, has released a breakthrough study that tracks the top exercise trends across the country right now. "The exercise industry is not immune to the side effects of this tough economy," Tom Cove, the president of SGMA, said in the study. "But more people are aware of the importance of regular physical fitness for de-stressing and overall health."

If you think everyone is ditching fitness during the recession, think again. This study found some potentially surprising trends in the exercise world, including a classic gym class that's making a comeback.

Here are some of SGMA's year-end highlights:

You know that you need to add weight-lifting to your workout routine but you may not be sure which routine is best.

Just like any other time you start a fitness program, you'll want to start out slowly.

First, you'll need to start with one or two sets of eight to 12 repetitions. If you're older, injured or unsure of your strength you can do 10 to 15 reps with less weight. When you can lift a weight eight to 12 times and it gets harder to lift during the last rep, you'll want to add a little weight and decrease the reps.

Even if you're a seasoned weight-lifting veteran, alternating the workouts is key. You shouldn't do arm workouts and shoulders exercises on consecutive days. You should avoid working on legs consecutively, too. It's important to vary how you're focusing on strengthening different muscles. For instance, you may want to start by isolating the shoulders. At your gym you can do an overhead press, lateral raise or front raise to work on this body part. Start with two sets of eight to 12 repetitions.

Other parts of this workout might include strengthening the chest via the bench press, chest press machine or push-ups. You can work on your back as well in a seated row machine. To build your biceps you can work on bicep curls, hammer curls and concentration curls using hand weights. As for the triceps? You can do tricep extensions.

As you alternate days to work on your lower body, you can try squats, lunges, leg-press machines, deadlifts or calf raises. As for the abdominals, there are always crunches, oblique twists and pelvic tilts.

If you begin your weight training regimen at your health club, the fym should have staff to supervise and answer specific questions.

Now that you've got your weight-lifting routine set, check out That'sFit's cardio workouts.

Tsumoto Tosaka isn't your average septuagenarian. At 74, he's in such amazing shape that he recently took the top spot in the Japan Masters Bodybuilding Championship (held, fittingly, just a day before Japan's Respect for the Aged Day).

And just in case you're thinking that the only way to create a body like Tosaka's is to start lifting at an early age, know this -- Tosaka didn't begin weightlifting until he was in his 40s!

Tosaka told Reuters that he wants to send a message to other senior citizens: "Anyone can stay young and healthy if they exercise from time to time," he said. Many of his fellow countrymen are obviously already aware of this -- Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world, with more than 40,000 people over the age of 100.

Looking for more finely-aged inspiration? Just guess how many marathons this 81-year-old has completed!

Photo: jupiterimages

In the past we've told you about how calorie restriction, hiking and weight lifting are good for your health and fitness. These lifestyle choices along with other healthy habits, may also be good for keeping your outward appearances -- and internal organs -- looking young. Discover 25 things -- you may already be doing -- to keep your body as youthful as can be.

Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic, Ph.D., R.D., and co-author of "The New Rules of Lifting for Women"

That's Fit: Can you explain why "inefficiency" in exercising may help you achieve a leaner body?

Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic: Think about it in the way gasoline fuels your car: If your car is really efficient, you can go farther on less gas (which is what most of us want for our cars), but if it's inefficient, you burn more fuel faster. In the case of your body, when it's "inefficient," when you start running out of fuel (i.e., food energy), your body will need to tap into other resources to help it perform. This sometimes will be your fat stores because they are the most energy-dense fuel in your body. However, you have to eat fat to help your body burn fat, otherwise it will use other sources in your body such as glycogen (stored carbohydrate) or muscle protein (not desirable when that's what you're trying to maintain or increase). So, try to avoid eating a fat-free, or ultra-low fat diet or your body won't be able to burn the fat within you that you're trying to get rid of.

Zoe Smith looks like your typical 14-year-old. She has a shy smile and, at only 5' 2'', she's quite petite. But Zoe is strong ... seriously strong. She's a competitive weightlifter and is creating quite a stir in the sport. Zoe weighs around 125 pounds, but in one clean and jerk, she hoisted 210 pounds worth of weights over her head.

Hailing from London, Zoe took gold in the 2008 Commonwealth Games and was later named one of the British Olympic Association's Athletes of the Year. That's impressive under normal circumstances, but when you consider that Zoe has only been involved in the sport for two years, it's even more astonishing.

What an awesome role model Zoe is for young girls. Strong and dedicated, she shows how young girls can accomplish anything when they set their minds to it.

Keep an eye out for Zoe in the next Olympic Games. My guess is she'll be there. And maybe she'll show her teammates how to lift without making tragic exercise faces.

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Tiki Barber was on NBC yesterday morning promoting his new book, Tiki Barber's Pure Hard Workout. The man may not be playing football anymore, but judging by his body, he's still hitting the gym, hard.

Tiki's workout focuses on powerlifting using basic lifts, like squats and deadlifts, rather than machines. It's intense -- when Tiki first entered the NFL, everyone thought he was too slight to be a star. However, after he started working with powerlifting legend Joe Carini, "Tiki became pound-for-pound the strongest man in the NFL and a true force on the field."

The book contains 300 full-color pictures of Tiki performing every exercise as well as in-depth instructions to help you perform each exercise and understand which muscles the exercises are working. Sounds like a great book for anyone serious about gaining strength and muscle. And, with all those pictures, it's something the ladies probably wouldn't mind having around the house, either.

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One size fits all may work for certain types of clothing, but certainly not for exercise programs. That's why it's important that you find a workout that's right for your specific fitness level, rather than relying on one that's better suited for a world-class athlete.

That said, for the person returning to the gym after a year-long hiatus (or, as stated before, someone who's completely new to lifting weights), try using a combination of free weights and machines. Ideally, try to start with a 60:40 ratio of time with free weights to machines, progressing gradually to nearly all free weights after two months.

Stick with light weight and concentrate on maintaining proper form. Also, resist the temptation to focus on T-shirt muscles and instead target larger muscle groups with compound exercises. Before long, you'll be ready to build to the next level, and by following this approach you'll be doing so with a well-built foundation.

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Have you ever driven across the great plains? It's a beautiful landscape, for sure, but no matter how far you drive, it never seems to change. Mile after mile, all that surrounds you is the same flat prairie, in some cases without as much as a small hill to change the scenery. Well, if you haven't changed your workouts, your results will flatten out just the same, causing you to reach a similar plateau.

Just like you would need to take a different driving route to see new scenery, you have to change your workout in order to continue seeing new results.

While it's not always necessary to make major changes to your workout to bust through a plateau, you must make change of some kind. Otherwise, your body will continue to maintain your current level of fitness but never go much further than that.

The tricky part is, the more experienced a lifter you are, the more dramatic the change you make usually has to be. While altering rep counts, increasing or decreasing the speed of lifts, or reducing rest time in between sets may work for some people, it may not be enough of a change for people who've been pumping iron for several months or years.

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If you find that you can barely move the day after you perform a resistance training workout, it means one of two things; either 1) You're doing something very wrong (lifting too much weight, using poor form, etc.) , or 2) You're doing everything right. Please ... allow me to explain.

Provided that you're not feeling actual pain, and are instead only feeling soreness in your muscles, I hate to break it to you but this is part of the muscle-building process. When you lift, small tears occur in muscle tissue, and it's the proper recovery and rebuilding of this torn tissue that makes muscles become bigger and/or more defined. But, does this mean that you have no choice but to grin and bear it? Maybe not, says a a study published Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, wherein researchers may have discovered the physical reprieve some exercise newbies are looking for.

Evidently, performing quick bursts of cardio between strength training sets reduces post-workout soreness. Because cardio pushes more blood to muscles when done at elevated intensity, the quick delivery helps prevent further muscle damage and also begins a rapid repair. This, as stated, leaves you feeling less sore in the days to come. For best results, try doing 30- to 45-second bursts of intense cardio between your resistance training sets. A very easy way of doing this is to bring a jump rope with you and get that thing spinning in overdrive in between sets.

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As I've said many times here on That's Fit, to truly maximize your time spent in the weight room, you'd do well to avoid isolation exercises and instead focus on compound movements.

Unless you're a bodybuilder, tweaking and finishing your physique, there's really no need for exercises that focus on one, small muscle instead of those that target many larger muscle groups all at once. What's more, performing compound exercises require greater caloric expenditure than isolation movements, which means you'll also shed more pounds.

Applying this logic, I feel it's worth highlighting these two isolation exercises, both of which experts feel aren't all they were once cracked up to be.

Leg Extensions. There are two separate, but related, reasons why you would do well to skip this exercise.

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Have you ever heard of the mind/muscle connection? Generally speaking, this is the process of focusing on, and visualizing, the muscle group you are working as you actually do. For example, if you are doing a set of bicep curls, you would focus on your biceps getting as good a workout as possible and, as best you can, visualizing the muscle working and growing.

The same way this mental connection helps build muscle, it also helps prevent injuries. This is because the visualization process is basically the same; intently focusing on your muscles as you work them will help ensure that you are sticking to proper form.

Most exercise-related injuries occur when attempts are made to lift unmanageable amounts of weight and/or when proper form is all but forgotten. Homing in on these areas of your body as they are being worked will reduce the likelihood that you'll abandon correct form and, consequently, lower your risk of injury at the same time.

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Weight training is a great way to strengthen, tone, and shape your body. In addition, building up your muscles helps you burn fat and improves your bone density. But it's important to keep safety and proper technique in mind when lifting weights. When starting a new weight lifting routine, consider consulting with a personal trainer -- a trainer can give you ideas on a routine that works well for you and can instruct you on proper form. Here are some tips from Revolution Health to get you started:

• Do lift an appropriate amount of weight. For most purposes, a weight that you can lift 12 to 15 times is right.
  
• Do learn to do each exercise correctly. When you use proper form, you get the most benefit and you minimize your risk of injury.
• Do remember to breathe. Don't hold your breath while lifting.
  
• Do balance your routine. For the best results, remember to work all of your muscle groups.
  
• Do give your muscles a break. Alternate days that you work on muscle groups so your muscles have time to recover.

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Weight lifting is great for your body. But if you don't follow proper technique you're not only wasting some of your effort, you're putting yourself at risk of injury. Incorrect technique can cause you to sprain or strain your muscles. You may even encounter more serious injuries like fractures or muscle tears. Revolution Health gives you some things to keep in mind:

• Don't skip your warm up. 5-10 minutes of aerobic activity will warm up your muscles and reduce your risk of injury.
• Don't hurry. Control your movements. A slow rhythm helps isolate the muscles so you know you're getting the most impact for your efforts.
• Don't overdo it. Pushing yourself way past the point of fatigue may cause injury.
• Don't work through the pain. While some soreness and mild discomfort is expected when you're working muscles, pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Listen to your body's signals.
• Don't forget your shoes. Shoes will give you proper traction while lifting weights.

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