03 March 2011

Product Review: EFX and Power Balance holographic band

So has anyone else seen these holographic bands popping up on all sorts of athletes? Late at night they have irenew bands on tv. Now the bands are starting to pop up everywhere. The first one I ever saw was when I was at no gi nationals in 2010. Marcelo Perdomo, Black belt and owner of BTT Long Beach had this little rubber and hologram bracelet on. Some MMA fighters have started to pop up wearing these bracelets including Vitor Beltfort, and Court McGee. The theory behind them is that there is a little hologram embedded in the bracelet, necklace, whatever you buy and this hologram somehow acts like a tuning fork for your body and re aligns the electronic waves in your body. It sounds interesting to say the least, right? I got a hold of two companies, EFX, and Power Balance to product review both wrist bands.
A warning to everyone, I have no idea where to find any form of testing or information that substantiates their claims. I checked on both websites and although EFX does have a little more information on theirs, there is really very little written. I let different people try both bracelets, and ran the tests without them knowing what was going on. It’s definitely something new to try. The bands seemed to work, whether it’s a placebo effect or not I don’t know. So instead of dwelling on which one works better, etc I’m going to go straight to how they stacked up against each other.
EFX sent me two bracelets, one medium sized, and once large sized bracelet. The medium bracelet had one hologram and actually fit me pretty well. The large bracelet had two holograms and was a little too big for me, so I had one of my teammates try photo (2) it out to see if it worked for him. The bracelets are black and red, pretty simple. I’ve been wearing it about a month now and it has gone through everything, jiu jitsu practice, bjj tournaments, and even lifeguard instructor training. It hasn’t lost it’s color, it’s flexibility, nothing. On the EFX website  they have a huge variety of products, from bracelets, to sweat bands, necklaces, and even holograms you can just sew into your uniform. EFX even has two specialty bracelets. There is a pink breast cancer awareness that “EFX designates 15% of net sales from these bands to research through 26.2 with Donna National Marathon, as well as the San Diego and Orange County chapters of Susan G Komen Race for the Cure.” They also have partnered with Save the Sea to make a blue Save the Sea bracelet.  Again “15 percent of all sales from these bands will be directly donated to the organization to further their movement.” Here is a video of one of the females at my school trying out the EFX balance test.
The Power Balance bracelet came a little later. It is light blue and white. They sent me a medium, but there was a definite size difference compared to the EFX bracelet. I will admit I had a Power Balance bracelet before, they fitted me to the wrong size ands within 3 weeks it had torn. the silicone is slightly thinnesky blue r than the EFX bracelet. Power Balance like EFX has a variety of different products to choose from. It’s more about what do you think not only will work best for you, but what style you like. Power Balance works with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. They have a limited edition band that comes in either green or white. $15 is donated for every bracelet bought.
The bracelets are interesting. I seem to have more balance, which isn’t saying much I’ve been terribly clumsy for most of my life. As for the strength aspect, I don’t get as sore after lifting weights as I used to. The flexibility tests don’t really work on me, I’m extremely flexible so it’s hard to read any of it on me. Most of the people I had try it out did seem to have better strength/ flexibility when trying the bracelets. Some like my teammates Tyy and Mike, didn’t see any difference at all. For people who are into the holistic side of things, it may be something to look into. At the very least the placebo affect it has may be well worth it.

4 comments:

  1. Navita,

    I love your blog, but this latest post has me frightened.

    Don't buy into the woo that is the powerbalance bracelet. It's based on nothing but lies. There is NO science behind it.

    The body does not have an energy field. It has never been detected proven. Therefore, how could PowerBalance determine the "optimum frequency" with which to make the band?

    We all have different features yet we all have the same energy frequency? No, that's bunk.

    The 7.83 Hertz frequency is bogus. They got that from the magnetic fields that happens when lightening discharges in the sky. It has nothing to do with biology or physical ability.

    Also, 7.83 Hertz is a very low frequency. The item creating it would have to be bigger than a bass drum because the waves at that level are so big.

    Finally, their own sales man can't identify it in a blind test. Watch this clip from an Australian News Program:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlhvgG8lRhk

    You claim to feel more balance and that you're not as sore after work outs, but all you're feeling is the placebo affect. That's more real than the powerbalance bands.

    Read this article about the placebo affect for pain: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=11267.

    So please take off that waste of money and focus on your training. That's what will make you a better athlete, not the band.

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  2. pestana, like I said I have no idea on the 'science' behind them. I tried to keep it solely on based on what they were like, how they held up.

    I have no way of proving or disproving them but some of the jewelry is cute at the very least

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  3. HI Pestana & Navitas. Im an Indian living in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Recently in an exhibition here, I bumped into an EFX store that was attracting quite some crowd attention. what they were doing is to make people stand on one leg with arms out stretched. then they would push people on one of the arms and they lose balance and fall. then they ask the person to hold an EFX wristband in one hand and then push the other hand and this time people dont fall come whatever pressure the EFX guys apply. I was astounded by what I saw and decided to try it out myself. and to me shock it worked just the same for me as well. The guy was virtually hanging on to my arm and I did not lose balance. I felt only slight pressure which I could easily resist and keep my balance. My friend who was with me also alowed himself to be experimented with same results. We stood there watching and all the people had the same result. How can this be explained?? I do not believe in any kind of hoaxes or scams, but Im at a total loss about what I personally experienced. Would you people have any explanation to this??

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  4. Sorry for the late comment as I'm just reading through the archives of this blog now, but the "balance test" is just an old sideshow trick. Here's a video of Richard Saunders explaining how it works..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9_6St8XDms

    Lets face it, the things are a scam, if they worked in any way the creators would be winning nobel prizes and not just hocking them to athletes haven't fully studied the placebo effect. There's nothing wrong with wearing them because they look cool or what have you, but I wouldn't particularly want to give money to companies knowing making fraudulent claims like that.

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