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Is an Ab Bench More Beneficial than Standard Crunches?

Published in October 23rd, 2008
Posted in Fitness

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One of the most popular types of workouts is abdominal workouts. People go to great lengths to try to get their stomach tighter and their muscles more defined. In fact, people are more likely to do abdominal workouts than any other workout type – especially when it comes to exercises that individuals are willing to do in their own home.

At the same time, however, abdominal workouts are some of the most pain filled exercises you can do, because of improper crunching, awkward movements and hard floors create a great deal of extra pressure. Since so many people exercise for the sole purpose of improving their physical appearance, when people, quit their ab workouts it is very likely they will quit working out altogether.

To remove some of this pressure and discomfort, many companies have created machines to help make these abdominal workouts more comfortable. The theory is that by making more comfortable workouts people will actually stick with them and get the results that they want.

The Ab Bench

One of those machines is called the ab bench. Unlike a lot of more complicated machines, the design of the ab bench is very easy to understand.

If you remember back when you were in gym class and they had someone hold your feet in order to make the crunches easier. Ab benches negate the need for the other individual – they have padding near the foot so that you do not need any extra help.

In addition to that padding, however, they are also created on an incline. The slight incline is designed to help you lean a bit which is expected to make the crunches easier.

Ab Bench Benefits

The ab bench is able to do what it advertises. It makes crunches much easier and significantly less painful. Anyone worried that they may quit their abdominal workout again due to the extreme inconvenience of crunches have very little to worry about.

Ab Bench Weaknesses

One of the most popular sayings when it comes to ab workouts is that you sacrifice comfort for effectiveness. That still holds true, in general, with the ab bench.

However, that does not mean that the ab bench is ineffective. Quite the contrary, it does what it is advertised to do. What that means, however, is that it takes more crunches in order to produce the same results.

For many, however, the idea of more crunches is not that big an issue. That does not mean you have to add another 100 crunches to your workout, only that you have to add another 10 repetitions or so that probably takes about 5 extra minutes per day total. For anyone that does their workout in a big hurry that can be a problem, but for most that is only a minor time inconvenience.

Ab workouts are never going to be completely pain and ache free simply because they are physical workouts. There are no exercises that, when effective, are not going to cause something to ache. But if you are worried that the aches are going to be so inconvenient that you will quit the workout, you may want to consider the ab bench as a way to make the workout easier.

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