FitFlops

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FitFlops are engineered with a multi-density midsole that stimulates your muscles more while you're wearing them. In independent University testing, FitFlops have been shown to trigger increased gluteal muscle response, increased hamstring response, increased rectus femoris (thigh) response and increased calf muscle response.

Imagine the scene: Marcia Kilgore, beauty expert, entrepreneur, former personal trainer and fully paid-up member of the live-wire club, is sitting in a meeting about cellulite (which affects more than 90 per cent of women).

She's "very very bored...someone was droning on about the problem - inaccurately! - so I started daydreaming about what might really work."

The revolutionary result, which took two years to research and develop with leading scientists, isn't a costly salon treatment, a sticky lotion, or even a stringent diet - it's a pair of flip-flops.

Fitflops, as they're called, may be one of the greatest, most cost-effective boons ever for cellulite sufferers (and other problems, more below).

They have what Marcia describes as a "built-in gym" encased in their (leg-flattering) platform soles, which makes you exercise the different muscles from your bottom to your feet while you walk.

"When muscle mass increases, it fights fat mass; then your metabolic rate increases so you burn off more calories and reduce cellulite, which is essentially tiny pockets of fat," says Marcia.

At the same time, your "slow twitch" muscles - the ones used in long-distance running - get stronger and longer.

(Marathon runners' legs tend to be long and lean, whereas sprinters' are shorter and bulkier.)

So the result is a trimmer bum, sleeker legs and a general tone-up from top to toe.

One friend who's been trialling them round the house for 30 minutes a day - the recommended starting time - invites everyone to feel her noticeably firmer thighs. (There are many more testimonials on the Fitflops website, thefitflop.com)

The secret is what's technically called "a multi-density, micro-wobbleboard midsole".

Explains Marcia: "The Fitflop uses three different densities of foam - hard, middling and soft.

"The thickest is on the heel, which you hit first when you walk. You're forced very quickly into the soft mid-section where your foot wobbles a tiny bit - though you don't feel it as such. Because this destabilises you, the muscles have to work harder as they push you on to the toe.

"Here, the middling foam makes your calf muscles work to push you into the next step."

For an independent evaluation of Fitflops, Marcia recruited Dr Philip Graham-Smith, director of sport at the University of Salford and consultant biomechanist for UK athletics jump squads.

Using gait analysis equipment and electromyography (which tests muscle activity), Dr Graham-Smith found the Fitflops performed effectively.

"They're really good. I was sceptical but after testing them, we could see the calf, hamstring and gluteal muscles were activated for significantly longer than usual, giving your legs a workout."

They're comfortable too, he adds: "My wife loves them and can feel the little burn in the back of her legs."

Fitflops can also help some foot and ankle problems. Long-jumper Jade Johnson tried them when she suffered from plantar fasciitis, the painful foot condition which affects the muscles of the arches.

"I was impressed," she says. "The physio gave me foot exercises to do in the sand to strengthen the bottom of my feet, but I found I got the same effect from wearing Fitflops for 20 minutes daily.

"They were really helpful in getting my feet working and painfree quickly." (I'm wearing mine now for a twisted ankle and they're helping that, too.)