Of all the ab workout machines on the market, one of the more popular types is the ab bench. Several companies produce their own unique version of the same basic concept—a bench that is built specifically to do abdominal muscle building type workouts on.
Getting down on your floor to do some traditional ab crunches, even if you’re getting fancy with a nice cushy mat used as a buffer between you and your nice—yet not so cushy—carpet, is simply becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays, it is a generally accepted truth that doing ab workouts on ab benches is much less problematic, and much more beneficial than commencing with the back injury-causing ab crunches.
Ab benches are built with a flat surface with a comfortably soft material stretched over it. These suckers won’t replace your king-size bed, but it’s safe to say ab benches are the Sleep Comfort of abdominal toning. Often times there are lateral supports built into the bench to provide more support to certain areas of your body. These supports are specific to the product, so do your homework on what you end up buying.
There are many types of ab benches, including the decline ab bench, ab incline bench, and you can even find folding benches. The “right” type for you is entirely dependent on your body and workout style. Make sure you check the product or manufacturer page to confirm you are buying the best type of bench for your needs.
If an ab bench sounds like the right piece of equipment for your home gym, you should probably take a look at the Stamina Ab/Hyper Bench. It’s one of the most popular make and models out there, and you really can’t go with the results it produces. Some may look at it as a simple ab crunch bench, but truthfully, this is one of the more dynamic pieces of ab equipment out there.
If that doesn’t suit your fancy, then fear not! You have a plethora of other options. The Powerline ab bench is a more than competent alternative. Many people swear by it. You also have the Proform Core Master Ab Bench—a soft, cushy little workout dynamo. As far as our recommendations go, the three workout benches we’ve mentioned so far are the only ones we confidently endorse.
Other makers out there include Powertec, Icarian, and Cybex. We lack first-hand knowledge on these machines, and would only recommend you give these a shot so you can tell us about them. You can be our guinea pigs!