Faux-ercise

I am really enjoying the ads for the Ab Rocker, which is this spring loaded backrest that makes sit ups easier. The obvious appeal comes in the form of the device itself, which makes sit ups look fun because they are basically no longer exercise - its just like reclining a lazyboy over and over. Wheee. But I am also really loving the clips of people struggling to do regular sit ups - they are so terrible! These people make doing crunches look like trying to carry a 1,000 lb pack up the sheer face of a cliff. They struggle and struggle and barely get their heads off the floor - it's completely awesome. I mean, sit ups are hardly the most fun of activities, but they are not hard - multiple reps might be hard, but unless you are an invalid just doing one or two crunches is not exactly running a marathon. But this ad really pushes the whole "oh, sit ups are soooooooooooo hard, see these people can barely do them, but with the ab rocker they are so easy - you can suddenly do hundreds!" And of course, we all know that if it's easy, it ain't working. Of course, in terms of mental health and self esteem it might be awesome - hey look, I did a thousand crunches on my ab rocker! So whaat if I'm still all flabby because the thing basically pushes me up?