Ab Machines – Do They Work?
There have been countless infomercials for ab 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.
Machines can help if your body fat is already low. For ab muscles to show, men need to have a body fat percentage around 10%. If you’re a woman, your body fat needs to be around 14 to 18%.
If you have fat covering your abs, you need to lose the fat with a sound exercise and nutrition program before you buy 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 challenge your muscles a little differently than what they’re used to.
2. They can add some interest to your routine. Doing the same rotation of exercises can become a drag. Using some new equipment can help keep things interesting.
3. Ab exercise machines isolate your ab muscles. They’re usually engineered to train only your abs. If you have low body fat and you want more definition, isolation is the way to go.
The ‘drawback’ about abdominal gadgets such as belts and machines is that they can’t melt fat off your stomach. You can harden and strengthen your abs by using machines and equipment, but you can’t lose fat from your abs by using them.
Also, abusing ab machines can cause muscular imbalance, and that can be potentially dangerous! Your abs and lower back muscles work together whenever you move or pick up things.
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 now you know whether or not you should buy one of those ab exercise machines!
Terrence Banks has a site about building muscle fast. You can read more about ab exercise machines and the fastest way to build muscle.
