Abdominal strength is important to improve posture, keep your tummy held in, and maintain a strong core to support strength and wellness for your whole body. There is a wide range of equipment developed to help strengthen and tone your core abdominal muscles. Consult your doctor before beginning a new exercise routine and ask for assistance from a personal trainer or gym assistant for any equipment you are not familiar with.
Pilates Chair
Pilates equipment works on subtle principles to help develop overall core strength. According to Pilates Insight, you can do 75 different exercises on the Pilates chair. In most of the Pilates chair exercises, your limbs will raise or lower different parts of the equipment, while your abdominal muscles gradually increase in strength and stability.
Medicine Ball
A medicine ball is a weighted ball, about the width of your chest. Use the medicine ball to add resistance for abdominal exercises. For example, hold the ball against your chest while performing sit-ups to add to the weight your abdominal muscles need to sit up. Or throw the ball back and forth with a partner or trainer as you come up.
Roman Chair
The roman chair consists of a raised chair back and arm rests with no chair seat. To use the roman chair suspend your body by resting your arms against the pads of the arm rests and holding the handles. Then let your back press into the back of the chair while lifting your legs up straight in front of you or bending your knees and lifting your legs to your waist or towards your chest.
Stability Ball
MayoClinic.com recommends a stability ball -- also known as an exercise ball or fitness ball -- to help augment abdominal exercises. There are a wide variety of abdominal exercises you can do with a stability ball. They range from sitting on the ball and performing hip rotations, to strengthen deep abdominal muscles and hip flexors, to classic abdominal exercises -- like crunches or pelvic tilts -- while supporting yourself on the ball.
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