Working your abs can improve your balance and coordination. You will likely find that you can perform everyday tasks and your exercise routine better and more efficiently. You can even help to prevent back pain by having a strong core, explains the Spine-Health website. A common barrier to exercising is boredom. Using ab exercise equipment can add variety to your workouts and make your workouts more effective, helping you achieve noticeable results sooner.
Affordability
When deciding which ab exercise equipment is right for you, affordability can play a major role. Many types of equipment are relatively inexpensive, so you can easily add them to your home gym. Exercise balls, medicine balls and ab rollers are widely available and can fit into most budgets. More elaborate and expensive equipment exists if you have the budget and space.
Effectiveness
You may choose to buy ab exercise equipment to increase the effectiveness of traditional workouts. An exercise ball, for example, will make your crunches more effective by increasing your range of motion when you lie back over the ball. Ab exercise equipment, including exercise benches, offer the advantage of helping to keep you in place for proper technique. The important thing to remember when using ab exercise equipment is to not let the equipment take away from your effort. Strong abdominal muscles require regular exercise, which can be difficult for beginners.
Types of Exercises
For strong abs, you will need to work all six of your abdominal muscles. The best ab exercise equipment will work your entire abdominal region. Crunches will target the lower abs or rectus abdominis muscle. Twists are good for the internal and external oblique muscles. Your equipment therefore, should accommodate different exercises to isolate each of the abdominal muscles.
Storage
Storage may be an issue if you are short on space. In addition to the other factors, size may decide which is the best ab exercise equipment. Part of your decision may rest with portability. Some types of equipment may fold up, allowing you to store them away from household traffic areas. Other equipment, such as an exercise ball, can do double duty as a desk chair. A 2008 study by the State University of New York at Buffalo found that using an exercise ball instead of an office chair increased calorie burn by 4 calories an hour. This figure translates into 160 calories a week, which can build up to some serious calorie burn over time. The best ab exercise equipment will help you reach your exercise goals more quickly.
References
- Spine-Health: Back Strengthening Exercises
- "Lean, Long and Strong: The 6-Week Strength-Training, Fat-Burning Program for Women"; W. Linguvic; 2004
- "Principles of Anatomy and Physiology"; G. Tortora et al; 2005
- "The Abs Diet"; D. Zinczenko; 2004
- "European Journal of Applied Physiology"; Increasing Passive Energy Expenditure During Clerical Work;E. Beers et al; June 2008
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