When you’re picking equipment for your home gym you need to select at least one item to train each body part. While it’s possible to work multiple muscle groups with some equipment, or to work some without any equipment at all; having several will allow you to train different areas at different ‘stations’ and this way you can also train in a ‘circuits’ style. At the same time, machines that are targeted at a specific muscle group often do a much better job of ‘isolating’ that area and forcing you to train there without ‘cheating’ and using momentum or other muscles to generate force. Abs are no different, and there are a multitude of different exercise machines that will target the mid section specifically. Sure you can train your abs with simple sit ups, but why do that when for a little extra money you can use a machine that will train the abs far more intensely. Likewise why be confined to the exercise mats while you’re in the gym when there’s so many other things on offer? Read below then and decide which is the best ab machine for you and your goals.

Ab Roller – These are interesting devices that despite their name actually offer a great full-body workout. The downside however is that you require a large empty uncarpeted space in order to use it and a good base level of strength before you can start. These look like strange mice – with a handle situated either side of a single wheel. The idea then is to grab each handle with it by your feet while either standing or kneeling so that you’re doubled over, then roll it out in front of you so that your feet don’t move but your body stretched out flat in front of you – then you roll back. While doing it while balancing on your knees is fairly simple and easy, doing it from standing requires an incredible amount of core strength, balance and fine muscle control. This will work everything, but most crucially the transverse abdominus (the band around the middle). The only mark against the ab roller is that you could quite easily achieve the same effect with a barbell, skateboard or a roller skate and save yourself some cash.

Ab Belts and Toners – Ab belts or ab toners, which Bruce Lee himself used, work by stimulating the nerves in your muscles via short electric shocks. As all our nerves work by sending electrical impulses, running electricity through them can stimulate them as though the brain was telling them to fire. In the case of muscle fibres this results in an involuntary contraction of the muscles where the abs believe they are being instructed to squeeze. An ab belt is then worn beneath the usual clothing and forces the wearer to tense their core muscles several times a minute for around half an hour. In theory then the user should be able to go about their regular tasks while training their abs on the quiet.

This does in fact work and tension is all that’s actually required to train a muscle group as is shown by static contraction. However without moving the abs at the same time they won’t be trained through their full range of motion. This is fine if you just want to look toned, but won’t give you that core stability that’ll lend extra strength and support to every movement. Furthermore the same thing could be achieved by simply tensing your muscles without an expensive ab belt. These are really only recommended then for those who are injured or who want to try something different.

Balance Board – The balance board is an interesting tool which has many great benefits with ab development being one of the main highlights. The idea of the balance board is that it provides an unstable surface on which you must balance while performing other tasks or exercises, or simply for the sake of balancing in itself. Balance, as you may be aware, requires core stability which will utilise the abs muscles, lower back and obliques to keep you upright. Simply rocking or twisting on the balance board then makes for a fantastic ab workout, but if you stand on it while doing other exercises such as bicep curls you’ll target both muscle groups at the same time as well as training your mind body connection and multitasking. Balance boards are even said to improve mental dexterity. And these offer an exercise you can do while watching TV.

Ab Rocker – The ab rocker is a machine that you can use with your own body weight that will isolate the abs by preventing you from using other muscles or moment to generate force. When you do normal sit ups or crunches you are taught to cross your arms across your chest – this is so that you can’t ‘swing’ your arms in order to help your abs. Even then though you can still bend and use you weight or your elbows to help you slightly, or move outside of the perfect arc of movement. With an ab rocker however, you are resting your hands and head inside a frame that will force you through the correct crunch movement while not allowing you to use your hands or head even slightly. This means that the abs are trained far harder, but also prevents risk of injury and makes the workout feel more effective and so worthwhile.

Ab Resistance Machines – Ab resistance machines allow you to add extra resistance to the crunching motion. These work essentially like the ab rockers but while sitting in an upright position and dragging extra weight. For those eating large amounts of protein and who are serious about gaining muscle mass but want to maintain a lean mid section, this is a great way to achieve both and is highly recommended. It is not for those with back problems however, and would also represent a significant investment for anyone wanting to use one at home.

Stick – Okay so a stick is not a ‘machine’ as such, but it can be used to great effect as a way to isolate the abs during sit ups and crunches. Simply put the stick behind your head and hold either end with your hand and from here do the sit up. One thing to note however is that you must NOT push against the back of your head when you sit up which can cause serious neck injury – only perform this movement if you are able to use correct technique. This will be a great way to isolate the abs however and is useful as the ab rocker does not allow for a ‘sit up’ motion, only a ‘crunch’. Similarly this stick can be used to train the obliques if you hold it in the same position then hold yourself at an angle and twist either way at the hips.

Incline Bench – An incline bench has many uses for incline bench presses and flies etc, but can be also be used to devastating effect on the abs. Most incline benches will come with a of pads at the end which allow you to hook your legs around them and so ‘hang’ upside down on the bench at the same gradient. From here you can then do incline sit ups which makes the movement far more difficult due to the additional gravitational pull against you. You can also train your obliques this way by adding a twisting motion, or combine it with the stick or broom in order to make it an isolation-incline sit up. Alternatively you can also use this bench at an upright angle and hang from the pads by your hands and then use it for leg raises which will train the top two abs.

Pull Up Bar – Leg raises can also be performed from a pull up bar – simply by hanging from the bar then raising your legs directly in front of you. This is a fairly advanced move and requires a lot of strength and muscle control. In order to make the movement a bit simpler you can perform ‘frog kicks’, which simply involve raising your knees up to your chest and offers a great exercise to develop your strength in order to perform the full leg raises. Additionally, normal pull ups will significantly train the abs, or you can install the pull up bar lower down and use it to hold your feet in place during normal sit ups. If you’re really advanced and not adverse to the risk, you can use pads and hang by your legs from the pull up bar for ‘upside down’ sit ups.

Medicine Ball – The medicine ball offers another way to add weight to the basic sit up. Medicine balls are essentially ‘heavy basket balls’ and if you sit up while holding one to your chest it will force the abs to lift more weight (this can alternatively be achieved with a single weight plate, or with two light dumbbells). Other uses include having a friend throw it at your stomach to increase the firmness of your abs, or sitting back to back and passing it round to each other in order to train the oblique muscles once again through the twisting motion.

Roman Chair – The Roman Chair is designed for exercises involving the lower back, but can also be used to train the abs. They consist of a chair with no back, that hold the legs firmly in place. You can then use this to do sit ups from an almost hanging position which will really force the abs muscles to curl all the way up and will also target those hard to reach lower abs.

Exercise Ball – The exercise ball however probably wins the prize for most diverse ab machine and is also one of the cheapest and most practical. Essentially these are large balls filled with air (which can be deflated for storage) that again force the abs to work extra hard during an exercise in order to balance the body. This can be the case with press ups if you put your feet up on the ball, or even with sit ups themselves if you sit on the ball and then ‘roll’ it under you as you perform the movement.

Mack LeMouse

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