Ab Exercise Machines
Monday, October 12th, 2009We’ve all seen those informercials for abdominal exercise machines. Do they work as promised?
If you’re considering buying one, you want to read this first…
Infomercials advertising abdominal machines are made to make you believe that a gadget can give you lean, hard abs.
The truth is that yes, a machine can help - if you already have low body fat. For men, body fat levels need to be around 10% for ab muscles to be visible. For women, the magic number is around 14 – 18%.
If fat is covering your abs, you need to lose the fat with a sound exercise and nutrition program before you think of buying any equipment.
Ab Exercise Machines Pros and Cons
Some of the benefits of ab machines are…
1. They add variety. Using an ab machine can stress your muscles differently.
2. They can add some interest to your routine. Doing the same rotation of exercises over and over can become a drag. Using new equipment can keep workouts interesting.
3. Ab exercise machines isolate your ab muscles. They’re usually made to target just your abs. If you have a low body fat percentage and you want to define your abs, isolation is good for that.
The thing you should know about ab gadgets like belts and machines is that they can’t melt fat off your stomach. You can strengthen your abs by using machines, but you won’t drop fat from your abs by using them.
Also, abusing ab machines can cause muscular imbalance, and that can be potentially dangerous! The muscles of your abs and lower back work together whenever you move or pick things up.
Abdominal machines focus exclusively on your ab muscles. If your abdominal muscle strength is way superior to your lower back muscles, this imbalance can eventually lead to injury.
Hopefully you now have an idea about whether or not you should buy an ab exercise machine!
Terrence Banks has a site about building muscle fast. You can read more about ab exercise machines and the fastest way to build muscle.