Anyone out there tried the Ab lounger?

I received an ab lounger for Christmas and love it!  My question is, does it work as well as doing crunches on a floor or mat?  It sure is easier in the back!!

Has anyone else tried one and had success?

Nope and would never try one. If it's that easy, you are not working hard enough! They have had horrible reviews and tests have shown their inability to stimulate abdominal muscles. I would stick to good ole' standards or an exercise ball for crunches.

It's not that it is that easy-just easier on the back.  I can sure feel it the next day and have lost 7 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks by adding it to walking on the treadmill.  Could be that it is just more fun and so therefore I use it more than regular crunches!

Well then, I will say "If it works for you, keep using it".

Congrats on your weight loss to date.

I have been using one since the first of december and I love it. It kills my back to do sit-ups or crunches on the floor. I started out easy and now I am doing at least 200 every day. It has helped my looks a bunch!

Glad to hear it's working since I'm waiting for mine to arrive.  My husband and I have set goals for ourselves and plan on being each other's motivation to get fit and lose weight!  Thanks for the info!  I'll let you know if it works for us!

i love it.... like everyone says..it keeps the strain off my back..which means i can do more..with less pain..not less work mind you.. and i dont  use it exclusively.. i do LOTS of ab work at the gym with all sorts of gizmos (balls and what not) and machines.. and a few sets on the floor with a trainer (to watch my form and my back)...... but if i am at home and i dont have the benefit of a trainer etc etc..i use the ab lounger...
that sure was alot of words..to say..
yeah..i like it!
xoxo

 Hi All,

Here's a little bit from a newsletter that i receive weekly. Maybe it will help. 

 I was at a poker party up in North Jersey over the weekend at a friend's house. My friend had moved into this beautiful new home about a year ago, but I had never made it up for a visit until this weekend.

Well, as they were giving us a tour of the house, we took a peek into one of their spare rooms which wasn't being used for anything. The only thing they had in this room was one of those infomercial "ab loungers" covered in dust... you know, the ab-chair looking thingy that they hawk on the infomercials as being the end-all solution to a flabby stomach... telling you that you can get a flat stomach and perfect abs just by sitting on this thing and rocking a little bit while you lazily watch tv.

The cleverly marketed infomercials for these products lure you in by showing you the ripped sexy midsections of the male and female fitness models that they hired for the show (who have never actually used these gadgets themselves...they actually got their toned near-perfection bodies through following REAL workouts and strict nutrition!)

Well, since this "ab lounger" was sitting in this vacant room getting dusty, obviously it wasn't actually being used, so it was really a waste of their money that they spent on it.

Regardless, even if it was being used regularly, it would never have given my friends the results they were looking for, because these infomercial ab gadgets (and all ab exercises for that matter), don't accomplish the most important aspect of truly achieving flat six pack abs...

THEY DON'T STIMULATE ANY FAT LOSS AT ALL!

And worse yet, just for kicks, I jumped on this "ab lounger" and gave it a try... I have to say, I've never done any abs exercise where I felt it LESS in my abs... As a matter of fact, this piece of crap lounger didn't even feel like it was making my abs work at all!

It felt more like a lounge chair I should be using to relax with a beer at a barbeque.

My point of this story is that there are still thousands of people every day that fall for these gimmicks and waste their hard-earned money on every ab-gimmick that comes out next.

So what does it REALLY take to get flat sexy six pack abs?

1. It takes some commitment to doing REAL workouts... full-body multi-joint workouts using strategic combinations of the most effective exercises for stimulating the release of fat burning hormones in your body and increasing your metabolic rate to new levels.

2. It takes introducing yourself to REAL nutrition... not fad diets, not restrictive starvation, not overly processed "diet"

foods, not bogus "extreme fat loss" pills... but a truly nutrient-dense natural balanced diet that FEEDS your body with what it needs instead of starving it.

3. It takes the right success mindset to achieve these goals so that you can put everything into action and make it a part of your daily life for good.

If you don't already have a copy, all of these techniques are detailed in my internationally best-selling program - The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

Tens of thousands of users in 143 countries worldwide have already used the program to change their outlook on true fitness for good. Check out more info here to see if this program is a good fit for you...

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/abdominal-fat-lo ss-program-questions.html

Also, you can see some of the results that other readers are experiencing here...

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/testimonials.htm l

Alright, my stomach is growling for my lunch, so I've gotta go.

My "abs-approved" lunch of the day is:

-A grass-fed bison burger topped with mushrooms and grass-fed cheddar cheese on an Ezekial sprouted grain bun.

-A side salad of baby lettuce, carrot shreds, olive oil & balsamic dressing and avocado slices -A glass of lightly raw honey-sweetened iced green tea

Til next newsletter,

Don't be lazy... be lean.

Mike Geary

Certified Nutrition Specialist

Certified Personal Trainer

Founder - http://TruthAboutAbs.com & http://BusyManFitness.com

PS - if you liked todays article, feel free to fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy it.

 

I have been using the ab lounger since Jan and I have had incredible results!  I have been walking for years and decided to try the ab lounger and my abs are as firm as I could ever expect them to be at the age of 49.  I wouldn't say that I have a 6 pack, but you can definitely see definition.  Maybe it is not the most efficient way to get your abs in shape, but unless you have given the ab lounger a REAL try for yourself I don't think you have the authority to call it a "piece of crap".

It is the only change I made in my exercise routine and it has worked for me!

Mike Geary does have that authority. So does the FTC - Fitness Quest, the makers of the ab lounger and similar junk machinery have been in trouble with them before.

 The only reason you're still seeing the Ab lounger advertised is that Fitness Quest now includes a diet and exercise program with their machinery and their ads now claim that following the diet and the program will work better than just doing crunches on the floor. Which is barely enough to squeak by the FTC regulations on false and deceptive advertising, even if the "follow the diet" part gets glossed over in most of the ads.

 It's still a piece of crap though, just like all the other "abdominal exercise" equipment out there - none of them work as advertised.

Well, obviously a few people have had success with it, but I'm wondering what else the people who are complaining about back strain have tried.  The one website that melkor linked has another link to "the best ab machine on the market", and it's an exercise ball.  I personally agree with this.  Not only are they cheap, but they give you a wide variety of ab workouts (not just the uni-directional king), and give your back a lot of support.  Actually, by using a balance ball, you can strengthen up both ab and lower back muscles so that lower back strain won't be so much of an issue.

If it works for someone, more power to them, but informercial equipment is notorious for not living up to stated claims.  Buyer beware, and all that....

I use a generic $20.00 version of the ab roller.  I've never tried the ab lounger myself but have a friend who has one...but I'm not sure they use it.

My generic little ab roller I only use to keep my form.  I don't rely on it for anything else and I'm personally getting remarkable results.  It keeps me from pulling up on my back or neck with my hands and if you change positions (sides) you can get a wide variety of chrunches, but really that's all I'd use it for, I'd never make it a sole workout within itself.  So...if you were thinking about getting one, I'd just suggest the $20.00 generic ab roller (got mine at Target).  

Well if those in the know say it absolutely doesn't work then I must be the luckiest person!  At the age of 49 my abs lost 4 inches and they are flat and tight.  The only change I made was using the ab lounger regularly.

We're not saying it doesn't work - we're saying that it's ineffective compared to other modes of exercise. If you've had decent results from using the ab lounger, you'd have had a lot better ones from using a swiss ball - and absolutely fantastic ones from lifting weights.

 Pay special attention to Melanie on that page - she's about your age and went from 215 to 122 pounds doing strength training.

 It's not that it doesn't work. It's that you could have so much better and faster results from a more effective and appropriate approach involving resistance training.

I do understand that, it's just that it irritates me when people so strongly discount something that they haven't personally tried.  I do strength training and have been for years.  I was also doing crunches, but was havng trouble with my back.  That is when I tried the ab lounger and for me it has been great.  I enjoy using it and therefore have been consistant in my use and it has worked.  Maybe others things work better, but not if I don't keep it up because I don't enjoy it.  For some, the ab lounger might just be what gets the job done.

Well, yes, for special cases such as injuries the ab lounger or other ab gear may be the best option - over not doing anything, at least.

 It just irritates me when people discount actual research on account of anecdotal evidence from a pool of one.

I know, it's an easy mistake to make - I do it myself. I hate doing bicycle crunches and I've had fabulous results from doing hanging leg raises on the dip bars. But according to the American Association of Exercise physiologists, bicycle crunches is the more effective abdominal exercise - no matter how much I hate doing them.

 But generalising from your particular situation with your back injury that makes the other, better exercise options impractical, to saying that the ab lounger is a decent piece of equiment would be like me saying that the bicycle crunches are ineffective compared to hanging leg raises because "everyone hates doing them".

 That's why it's important to qualify your statements about your personal training experience to take into account other pertinent factors, such as back problems, age, training age, training goals, overall activity level and so on. Then we avoid discussions like this one where the general case for how to do ab work may in fact be inappropriate for your specific situation, but people keep giving you wrong advice because they don't know about the injury constraints on your situation.

 And yes, the ineffective workout you do is much better for you than the theoretically perfect workout you don't, so in that sense whatever piece of equipment that gets you off the couch is valuable. I'll give you that one - in your case it's been an ok tool.

 But - the ab lounger has no redeeming features as an exercise modality for people without injury constraints. As the FTC case against Fitness Quest shows, there's flat-out no basis for any of the claims they've made for the equipment itself.

 Therefore, while it's probably a decent piece of gear for your specific rehab needs, it's still ineffective compared to a proper workout modality for anyone who doesn't have your constraints.

 So, does that strike you as a reasonable summation of the situation? If not, how would you adress the issue?