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Abdominal
Exercise Equipment
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There
are many different types of abdominal exercise equipment
available
today. They range from simple exercise mats to complete home
gym exercise equipment. But don’t worry as you do not need to
spend this kind of money to do effective abdominal exercises.
In
fact, in one study, the number 1 rated and best abdominal exercise is
simply done with an exercise mat. The bicycle maneuver, also
known as the bicycle crunch, was shown to be the most effective abs
exercise and does not require any fancy exercise equipment.
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However, some abdominal exercises do require ab exercise
equipment. For
instance, the captain’s chair, which was rated the second most
effective abs exercise, does require abdominal exercise
equipment. For this exercise, you need a vertical knee raise
machine. Most gyms will have this piece of abdominal exercise
equipment and more.
The third most effective abs exercise is an exercise ball
crunch. Again, the only exercise equipment needed
for this is a simple exercise ball. There are many different
exercises that can be done with an exercise ball, including a variety
of abs exercises as well as core exercises, upper and lower body
exercises. This small investment is well worth the money for
the variety of exercises that can be done with an exercise ball.
Types
of Abdominal
Exercise Equipment
Ab Machines
Ab
machines are a bit pricier than
some of these other abdominal exercise equipment, but they offer more
of a complete abdominal workout. These machines give you Serious Ab results!
These machines are for anyone who is seriously interested in hitting
their abs. You can find a good ab machine for around $300 U.S
with some machines being priced a bit lower and others some what higher
in price.
Ab
Straps, Hanging Ab Straps and Hanging Ab Slings
These
types of abdominal exercise equipment use gravity and your own body
weight to provide maximum resistance to train and strengthen your
abdominal muscles. These straps fit over most bars and
exercise
gyms and equipment. Using an abdominal strap you can perform
many
different abdominal exercises targeting all your ab muscles.
Prices range from $40 to $100 USD.
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Abdominal
Benches/Boards
There
are a variety of ab benches and boards to select from. They
range
from sit up boards for about $100 to recumbent dual ab bench for about
$400 USD. These types of abdominal exercise equipment allow
you
to adjust the resistance by either increasing or decreasing the incline
of the bench and/or adding or removing weight from the bench.
Ab
Wheel
The
ab wheel helps to train and strengthen your abdominal muscles plus many
upper body muscles like triceps, shoulders, chest and more.
These
are fairly inexpensive, about $30 USD, and are small and easy to store.
Ab
Support Pillows and Mats
There
are a variety of abdominal exercise mats available today.
These
inflatable mats allow you to support your back and provide an incline
to provided added challenge and resistance. You can find an
inflatable ab mat for about $50 USD. Abdominal pillows also
offer
support for your back and help you perform the abdominal exercise
correctly by ensuring you are in the right position.
Other Equipment
I
could go on and on with a list of various ab exercise equipment as
there is a lot to choose from. As stated earlier in this
article
you can be very effective in your ab exercises with a simple exercise
mat and an exercise ball. |
Least
Effective
Abs Exercise Equipment
Before spending any money on any exercise equipment, you want to make
sure that it will be well worth the dollars spent. So, when
watching that next infomercial about the latest and greatest abdominal
machine, you may want to know what a recent study showed about some of
these different ab machines.
The worst abdominal exercise equipment as far as effectiveness goes was
the Ab Rocker. The study reported that the Ab Roller was
approximately 80% less effective than a traditional crunch performed
with just an exercise mat. The crunch itself did not rate
very well, making the bottom 3 of the list.
The Ab Roller faired only slightly better than a traditional crunch,
coming in at number 9 of the 13 abdominal exercises studied.
The Torso Track did come in at number five, however, subjects reported
lower back discomfort while using this piece of abdominal exercise
equipment.
Bottom line is, you don’t have to spend lots of money on fancy
equipment to strengthen and tone your abdominal muscles. If
you are just starting out, start with a simple exercise mat and perhaps
an exercise ball. You will be able to do a variety of
exercises for your entire body with just these two pieces of exercise
equipment. I would also recommend investing in resistance
bands. These too can help you tighten and tone all areas of
your body.
Be sure
to read this article on the best ab exercises and what abdominal exercise
equipment was used.
Back to Abdominal
Exercises
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