Whatever is in the air and water of Canada has sparked some innovative thinking.
ABDOMENIZER
Canadian chiropractor Dennis Colonello’s product may not have been revolutionary, but his way of selling it was. When Colonello invented the abdomenizer, it was one of the first fitness products sold an entirely new way: the infomercial—now the most popular and successful way to sell fitness and weight loss products.
The abdomenizer was basically a piece of plastic with handles. It included a hollow space to protect the lower back. It was a way for people to do sit-ups without injuring their lower back—something Dr. Colonello was familiar with. Users could sit on it, grab the handles, and “rock, rock, rock their way to a firmer stomach.”
Dr. Colonello invented this exercise tool in 1984 and it was manufactured and distributed by a company called Fitness Quest, based in Canton, Ohio. He said the reason it worked is that the hollow for the lower back caused the user’s pelvis to tilt, isolating the abdominal muscles and making sit-ups safer.
The one-minute infomercial, which can still be found on YouTube, opened with a sloppily dressed woman doing sit-ups and acting like they were causing her pain. Cut to the svelte, shapely blond woman on the abdomenizer, doing sit-ups with ease and without pain. Shoppers could buy this amazing product for the low price of $19.95. And they could buy a second abdomenizer for just $9.95 more.
The infomercial was a huge success, perhaps because of its timing. In North America, people were beginning to take exercising much more seriously, creating an “exercise craze.” By 1992, 1.5 million had been sold directly to consumers through infomercials and another 2 million were sold through stores. Sales continued until the early 2000s when the distributor, Fitness Quest, stopped offering the product so it could offer a different product with a higher profit margin.
After his success with the abdomenizer, Colonello decided to capitalize on it and invent a few more products. His amazing abdomenizer was followed by the Back Therapy System, Nordic Rower, Nordic Power, and Nordic Ab Works. He also served as the treating doctor for various members of the National Hockey League teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, and the Canadian Olympic women’s basketball and wrestling teams. Eventually, he moved to Beverly Hills and became a chiropractor to celebrities such as Gavin MacLeod (of Love Boat) and Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough).
In parts of Canada, McDonald’s serves a McLobster sandwich.
And creative Canadians and other North American users of the abdomenizer discovered that even if it didn’t flatten their stomachs, it made a great sled. After a few people got hurt using it that way, Fitness Quest included a warning on the box that said, “This is not a sled!”
DID THE INUIT INVENT SUNGLASSES?
You might think of sunglasses as a fairly modern invention, but the Inuit of the Arctic might deserve some credit. A pair made from walrus ivory was found in northern Baffin, Quebec, dating from between 1200 and 1600 AD. Sometimes the Inuit cut the sunglasses from caribou antlers. The Inuit made them to protect their eyes from snow blindness. They’re basically strips with little slits to see out of. The slits cut back the bright light but still give a large field of view. The glasses are now in the collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, located in Gatineau, Quebec.
WOODEN UNDERWEAR
When you see acres of majestic white pines, you might not think underwear—but that’s what popped into one young French designer’s mind. Sophie Young takes harvested fibers from white pines of Canada to create Lenpur, fabric used to produce wooden underwear. The company says the fabric offers the comfort of silk, the feel of cashmere, and the coolness of linen.
The resulting pieces have surprising thermal-regulating and antistress properties. Young swears they will not give you a splinter. Her company—called g=9.8, which physicists will recognize from g = 9.81 meters/second2, the equation for gravitational acceleration—touts the eco benefits of these ethical undies. The fabric is biodegradable, and because it’s made from wood scraps, no extra water is required to produce the product. The makers claim that the underwear is more hygienic than conventional private attire because it has more microscopic holes.
Zero Energy Experimental Pile (ZEEP) in Ontario was Canada’s first nuclear reactor.