BungyPump poles are your latest exercise fad

Cross-country skiing is great exercise, which is why people spent most of the ’90s looking faintly ridiculous with the NordicTrack for a few months before consigning it to the purgatory of the garage.

Hope springs eternal, though, especially for exercise equipment manufacturers, and the latest attempt to get your money in exchange for tools to improve your physique is the unfortunately named BungyPump.

Here’s the standard “makes you look like a dork” video all exercise equipment must feature:

Essentially, they’re spring-loaded poles where the midsection plunges straight into the bottom part of the pole. The basic idea is that you use them while walking and, as you press the pole down into the pavement, you get a workout for your arms as well as your legs while walking. It’s also supposed to be gentle and good on the joints.

This may sound a bit familiar and, in fact, there already is something called Nordic walking, which is just walking with rigid poles instead of springy ones. But really, how springy your pole is should remain a private matter.

BungyPump [Official Site]