Expert Review About the Ab Exercise Infomercial Gadgets

October 26th, 2009 by admin

If you’ve ever watched an abdominal exercise gadget infomercial and
wondered if those products worked, fitness expert Craig Ballantyne,
author of Turbulence Training, recently reviewed a research study on
ab exercise gadgets to help you get the truth about abs.

According to Craig, one of his favorite ab exercises includes one of
those cheap infomercial gadgets, “the ab wheel”. You can pick one
up at Walmart for under 20 bucks, and it works your abs hard
without crunches.

But do other ab gadgets hold up?

Researchers (from the Mayo Clinic, of all places) tested the
“Ab-Slide” device and compared it to the ab crunch, the supine
double leg thrust (seated knee tuck-in), and side plank.

Reference:
J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Nov;22(6):1939-46.

Ten young men and twelve young women did all the exercises.

Tests showed that the Ab-Slide, a contraption fairly similar to the
Ab Wheel, worked the abs the hardest.

On the other hand, the seated knee tuck-in required a lot of hip
flexion, and the doctors believed it could cause BACK PROBLEMS in
people prone to low back injury.

Craig recommends sticking with the Ab Wheel, and of course, keeping
crunches out of your program. He also suggests adding the Seated Knee
Tuck-in to your list of ab exercises to avoid.

For best results, stick to the exercises in the Turbulence Training
workout program.

Click here for more ab exercises and workouts:

NO to crunches.

Not only are crunches hard on your low back, they are also useless
for helping you get a flat stomach.

Instead, stick to interval training, the ab exercises in Turbulence
Training, and the TT nutrition guidelines if you want to transform
your body.