What Exercise Equipment Tones Your Stomach Best

Fitness equipment gives you the option of switching up your workout to keep things from growing staid. Although fitness equipment can help work the abs, they are not a necessity. Many floor exercises, including reverse crunches and bicycles, work the abs just as well as abdominal exercisers. Keep in mind that core training will not give you a flat stomach. You need to also watch your diet and make time for cardio exercise.

Captain's Chair

During a 2001 study at the University of Wisconsin and commissioned by the American Council on Exercise, several pieces of abdominal equipment were evaluated for effectiveness. The Captain's Chair was one of the most effective for working the muscles in the rectus abdominus and the obliques. To use the Captain's Chair, you grip the handles and push your back against the rear pad. Your legs dangle below you as you support your upper body. To complete a rep, bring your knees toward your chest and release.

Exercise Ball

An exercise ball is a must-have to work the abs, according to "Fitness" Magazine. Part of using an exercise ball is to rest your body on it while remaining in a stable position. This forces you to contract your ab muscles. Crunches performed on an exercise ball will target the obliques and the rectus abdominus muscles.

Balance Board

Balance boards are devices that require you to constantly engage the abdominal muscles to complete any of the exercises. The balance board creates an uneven surface that requires you to move your body to remain stable. Exercises you can perform on a balance board include planks, squats and lunges.

Considerations

Many infomercial gadgets will not live up to their promises of giving you amazing abs. Avoid products that make outrageous claims with little evidence to back it up. For instance, the Ab Rocker and Ab Roller are ineffective abdominal exercisers. According to the study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise commissioned, the Ab Roller was as effective as a traditional crunch and the Ab Rocker 80 percent less effective than crunches.