Ab Lounger Review

By Rod Ferris, B.A. CPT (YMCA, ACE), CFC, CPAFLA

The ab lounger is a abdominal workout machine used to train your abdominal muscles while lying or 'lounging' around in a comfy chair. The premise of this machine is to work your entire abdominals (upper and lower) while having your feet underneath a bar for resistance. This review of the ab lounger will discuss the benefits, cons, price conclusions and alternatives to the ab lounger.

What are the benefits of the Ab Lounger?

Think about the machine itself, it resembles many other abdominal exercises that you can perform during a regular weight training workout. It can improve overall abdominal muscular strength and ab hypertrophy (increasing the muscle size in the abdominals).

What are the cons of the Ab Lounger?

While the advertising and benefits are that the ab lounger can give you abs, it will only do so if you have a very low body fat percentage. The advertising will have you think that if you just lie down on the ab lounger for a little while you'll get abs in no time. This is not the case. To get ripped abs you need to follow a strict nutrition plan, increase your weight training workout time in the gym and focus on HIIT: high intensity inverval training to decrease overall bodyfat.

Let's breakdown the ab lounger claims:

• More effective than standard bent knee crunches
  
  Standard knee crunches are completely effective and their is no basis for this claim. Both exercises actively work the abdominals in different ways. One is no better than the other.
  
  
• Supports your body, head, neck and back through the entire exercise
  
  Yes, the ab lounger does support your body, head, neck and back which is probably one of the only advantages to an unsupported system. Keep in mind that you still need to develop strength in your head, neck and back and if it's not aching it may be a good idea to start training with an unsupported ab exercise. Example: Ball Crunches
  
  
• Floor-based position helps you experience total range of motion
  

Yes, the ab lounger also helps you experience a total range of motion for the abdominal exercise. Range of motion (ROM) is extremely important for a stronger muscle. Keep in mind that this is NOT the only exercise that has a full ROM. Some of the best exercises you can do for your abdominals are listed below:

1. Ab Ball Crunches: Forces your stablizer muscles to keep your body stable while your abdominals are doing the effort.

2. Ab Cable Crunches: Cable crunches put weight on your abdominals to create resistance. One of the biggest mistakes about people working their abdominals is a lack of resistance and a lack of rest inbetween workouts. You should train your abdominals just like any other muscle group in your body.

3. Leg Raises: Leg raises are a great way to increase the overall strength of your hip flexors and lower abdominals. You can also try a 'leg throwdown' technique to increase resistance.

Conclusion

The ab lounger is a good machine but you can do many other types of abdominal exercises to give you ripped abs quickly. Remember that most people forget that you can't get abs unless you can see definition in other muscles. This is because of a layer of fat above your ripped muscles.

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