Great gams don't appear magically, even with LegMagic

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When I think of leg magic, the first image that comes to mind is Olympic figure skaters whose toned quads and calves allow them to complete triple toe loops and Axels with astounding grace. Or Xenia Onatopp, the James Bond villainess who can crush men with her thighs.

I definitely do not think of a piece of home exercise equipment, let alone one that looks like a kick scooter with two extending ramps instead of a lengthwise base on wheels.

And, because I don't believe in magic under the best of circumstances (um, Criss Angel?), I certainly had low expectations about LegMagic, which claims to have "changed the lives and legs of millions of people around the world."

I first spotted the lower-body fitness product at my parents' house; apparently, my mom was seduced by the late-night infomercials ($50 through www.buylegmagic.com). She mentioned that she uses it for roughly four minutes a day combined with a few other exercises, and could feel a difference after only a few weeks.

I needed to experience this so-called magic for myself. Stepping gingerly onto the two foot holders, I allowed my legs to slide together and apart, my hands resting lightly on the waist-high bar. In-out-in-out-in-out-in-out.

"How long has it been?" I asked my timekeeping father. "Um, you've not even done a minute," he said.

It wasn't that I was feeling winded; rather, my groin was barking at me, especially after doing quick pulses. At the two-minute mark, I needed a break. I got back on and tried hands-free for 30 seconds. Just over a minute later, the back of my neck was breaking a light sweat.

That night, I watched the accompanying DVD. On it, trainer Rosalie Brown demonstrates a 13-minute program that combines one-minute intervals on Leg Magic with squats, lunges and light ab work. She explains the different ways to target the adductor and abductor (inner and outer thigh) muscles and the abdominals while incorporating bicep curls and tricep extensions (without weights) for upper-body work.

This made for an entirely different experience the next time I tried LegMagic, because I was no longer doing a single exercise, repeated to exhaustion. Still, I wonder, why use it at all?

Jordan Cieciwa, a strength conditioning coach and personal trainer at the Professional Edge fitness facility in Winnipeg, says any product that gets sedentary people moving is better than nothing at all, but worries about the potential for LegMagic to create muscle imbalances when not used in conjunction with other exercises.

He says runners could benefit from the lateral movement, but cautions that the adductor and abductor muscles are much smaller than the quads and hamstrings, and working them alone is not an efficient way to build overall strength.

"If you're looking to build a home gym and space is an issue, you've got to think about the economy of exercise and how to get best bang for buck," he says, recommending kettlebells and an exercise ball as other options.

The more time I spent on the equipment, the easier it became. But the novelty is short-lived. Perhaps more problematic, there is no way to increase the resistance on the standard model. So my legs might get toned after a few weeks, but then what?

If nothing more, this strengthened the argument that when it comes to exercise, there's no such thing as a magic bullet.