The abs, which consist of the rectus abdominis and obliques, make up part of the body's core musculature. According to MayoClinic.com, strong core muscles help you perform daily physical tasks with more efficiency. When you are strolling the gym floor, looking for the best ab machine, you need to take anatomy into consideration. The best machine recruits a maximal amount of muscle fiber.
Captain's Chair Recommended
The rectus abdominis runs from the sternum to the pelvis, and the obliques run diagonally along the sides of the stomach. The captain's chair is an ab machine that targets all these areas. According to a study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise, the captain's chair causes a mean activity percentage of 212 in the rectus abdominis and a mean percentage of 310 in the obliques.
Design of the Machine
Although it is called the captain's chair, it is not actually a chair at all. The machine has a padded backrest and foot rests underneath, arm rests on the top and small pegs to grasp for support. A newer version of the captain's chair exists with a BOSU or "both sides up" balance trainer attached to the backrest. This is an inflated dome-shaped tool that looks like a stability ball cut in half. The purpose of the BOSU is to give you better back support as the dome follows the curvature of your spine.
Reverse Crunch
The reverse crunch is the main exercise performed on the captain's chair. Although this exercise recruits a high amount of muscle fiber, be aware that it does little about stomach fat. To do the exercise, stand on the machine with your back tight to the backrest, forearms across the top supports and hands grasping the pegs. Carefully remove your feet from the supports and let your legs hang down. Keeping your upper body still, raise your legs and bend your knees. The goal here is to get your thighs at least parallel to the floor. Squeeze your abs forcibly for a second, and then slowly lower your legs, and repeat.
Variations
Since you have to brace your upper body throughout the captain's chair exercise, you get an arm and shoulder workout by default. In addition, you can do variations on the regular reverse crunch to target different muscles. For example, by keeping your legs straight when you raise them, you make the reverse crunch more challenging. By turning your legs to your side as you raise them, you increase the focus on your obliques.
Additional Resistance
Unlike other ab machines, the captain's chair does not come equipped with a weight stack or support bar for attaching weight plates. To increase your resistance, you need to wear ankle weights or pinch a medicine ball between your lower legs.
Member Comments