Abdominal Exercise Machines – Do They Work As Promised?
We’ve all seen those infomercials for abdominal exercise machines. Will 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 machines can help if your overall body fat is low. For men, body fat levels need to be around 10% for ab muscles to be visible. For women, body fat percentage needs to be 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 variation. An ab machine can challenge your muscles in a different way.
2. They can add some fun to your routine. Doing the same exercises over and over can become boring after awhile. Using new equipment can help keep things interesting.
3. Ab machines isolate your abdominal muscles. They’re usually made to train abs only. If you have a low body fat percentage and you want to define your abs, isolation is good for that.
The thing people must realize is that ab gadgets like belts and machines can’t strip fat away from your abdominal area. 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’s potentially dangerous! Your ab muscles and lower back muscles work together when you move or lift stuff.
Ab machines concentrate on your ab muscles. If your abdominal muscle strength is way superior to your lower back muscles, this imbalance can eventually lead to injury.
Now you know if it’s worth it for you to 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.