The Ab Lounge Sport -- as with all Ab Lounges -- is distributed through Fitness Quest and also sold directly through Tony Little's online store and retailers like Wal-Mart and Dick's Sporting Goods. The Ab Lounge Sport is inexpensive compared to other exercise equipment, with a price tag of about $100 as of December 2010. Before you buy this machine based on price alone, you should weigh the pros and cons and know what it actually delivers versus what the commercials promise.
Muscles Worked
The biggest problem with the Ab Lounge Sport is that it's marketed as an ab exerciser but actually works the hip flexors instead. Watch Ab Lounge infomercials carefully and you'll see the fitness models' spines aren't moving -- the models are only piking at the hips. Your abs do work constantly to counteract the hip flexors' pull on your lower back, but they're not responsible for the primary movement.
Misleading Infomercials
Exercise-advertising buzzwords like "fat burning" crop up in Ab Lounge infomercials. You burn fat only when you use more calories than you take in. The larger the muscles you're working -- and the more of them you work -- the more calories and fat you burn. Although your hip flexors are a large muscle group and working them does burn calories, they don't burn as many calories on their own as multiple large muscle groups working together. For example, a full-body elliptical trainer workout activates not just your hip flexors but every other major lower-body and upper-body muscle as well.
Spot Reducing
Although the infomercials don't come right out and say it, they seem to promote the myth of spot reduction by touting an ab machine as a way to trim your waist. Doing ab exercises will tone your waist muscles, but the best way to actually trim your waist -- that is, lose fat -- is by doing aerobic exercise that gets, and keeps, large muscle groups moving rhythmically. The fat then comes off everywhere it's stored in your body, not only on your waist.
Ease of Assembly
The Ab Lounge Sport requires much less assembly than a full home gym or many cardio machines. The relatively simple mechanism and very few moving parts make it less likely the equipment will malfunction. The steel frame makes it more durable than many other infomercial products, and the Ab Lounge Sport has a respectable user weight capacity of 250 lb. On the other hand, the Ab Lounge Sport comes with only a 90-day warranty, which is fairly typical of Fitness Quest equipment.
Size
Whether or not the Ab Lounge is the best all-around piece of exercise equipment, the bottom line is whether or not you like it enough to use it as part of a regular workout program. The Ab Lounge Sport is worth the cost if it motivates you to work out regularly. Its small size might appeal too if you've got limited space to work with. The Sport model measures 39.5 inches by 30 inches by 44.5 inches and folds for storage under the bed or in a closet when not in use.
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