Are fitness gadgets really any good?

I’m talking specifically about abdominal exercise gadgets. We’ve all seen them, the ab rollers and ab twisters and ab-this and ab-that. We’ve seen the endless infomercials, with the little bendy bits of steel and plastic that are somehow meant to work miracles, and sometimes, in our weaker moments, we’ve even bought the damn things. But they usually go the way of all fitness gadgets – they get used eagerly for a little while, then used occasionally and sporadically for a longer period (but with a little less enthusiasm), and then they gradually slip into virtually permanent disuse. They get stored under the bed, or in the wardrobe, or tucked behind a door or anywhere we can fit them and not have them too much on show – the last thing we want is a permanent visible reminder of a moment’s thoughtlessness when we bought into an idea that we secretly knew was doomed from the start! So are they all worthless? Not really. If you have one, and you use it, even if only occasionally, and it helps you actually get some ab work done, well that’s valuable in itself. There are better ways of doing ab work, sure, but if there’s something, some crazy little item, that helps you, then use it. And it’s a physical thing, which in itself has value – you can see it, it’s like a three-dimensional memo staring at you, reminding you to do some ab work. Even if 90% of its value is just that, that it keeps you aware of the need to do some exercise, then sure, it has some value. But in truth, not very much.

It’s all about contraction …

There are almost literally countless ab exercises and workouts, and practically none of them require any equipment (except maybe a bench, or a gym ball, or a little ab wheel). You don’t need a gadget to hold you in a particular position. Actually, you’re generally better with nothing holding you in a fixed position, because then your muscles have to achieve that all on their own. And that’s what ab work is all about, and any other exercise really – making your muscles do the work, and work hard.

You want to contract the muscles you’re working, and make that contraction as hard as you possibly can. You want to complete sets of the exercise that take you to the point where you can’t really do any more full reps. When you’re straining on the last one or two reps just to contract the muscles fully, or nearly fully, then you’ve taken it to the limit. All you can do to go one last step further is to hold the last contraction (or the last few contractions) for a brief period. It’s tough (it’s painful actually!), but it works! If the exercises you’re doing don’t feel tough to you, ask yourself, are you doing them right. If they’re relatively easy, then what are you actually achieving?

How to do it … properly

So take an exercise like this (pictured above), where you try to touch your right elbow to your left knee, and then vice versa, and let’s take a closer look at it. Let’s see how badly you need a gadget. Lie back on the floor, on a training mat of some kind, and draw your feet towards your hips so your knees are raised at right angles. Keep your hands at either side of your head. Now draw your left knee up and inward towards your right shoulder. At the same time raise your head and shoulders off the floor and angle your right elbow in and forward, twisting your body and trying to touch your elbow to your left knee.

They won’t actually touch, but that doesn’t matter. Now, keeping your head and shoulders raised slightly off the floor (and both feet raised too), twist the opposite way, trying to touch your right knee to your left elbow. This is not an easy movement! And when you do it repeatedly, for a set of five or ten reps, it doesn’t feel like it’s getting any easier, trust me! But doing this exercise, you can feel your abs working tremendously hard all the time. You’re putting them under tension, and you’re maintaining that tension for an extended period of time. That’s what works the muscle, right there! When you relax and lie back after the first set, gasping and feeling the ache in your midsection, you really feel you’ve worked those abs. And those obliques too. And all without the aid of a safety net! Or an ab roller, or an ab twister, or any other gadget. Don’t hold your breath when doing this exercise (or any exercise, generally speaking), but when you breathe out, really try to expel as much air as possible. This will help you tense your abs really hard. And focus on trying to squeeze your lower body towards your upper body as hard as you can to really emphasise the contraction. You’re using your muscles carefully and precisely, and (if you’re doing it right) you’re focusing on the movement and really feeling the muscles actually working. This is what ab work is all about. Yeah, and the same goes for practically any exercise. I know you see people in gyms these days wearing headphones, or with ear buds in, listening to music, or an audio book for all I know, or a motivational tape. Nothing wrong with any of that. But the gym’s not the place for it! You go there to work the muscles – that’s it. Anything that detracts from that, or moves your mental focus away from it, is detrimental.

Just work those muscles!

So whether you’re at the gym, or just doing a bit of ab work on your bedroom floor, remember why you’re doing it – it’s solely to work those muscles … that’s it. Nothing else. Focus on the movement – make it as complete as you can – and focus on the feel of the muscles contracting. Squeeze them for all you’re worth! You want to really feel those abs getting rock hard! Nothing else will do. Five sets of fifty sit-ups are almost certainly a waste of time and effort … because you just can’t work the abs that hard for that long, not properly – it’s physically impossible. One hundred percent better to do just two or three sets of maybe 8-10 reps, but make the exercise as tough as you can make it.

It’s not meant to be easy!

The idea isn’t to make it easy – which is what the ab gadgets trick you into trying to do. The idea is to do the exercise properly, and to make it count. And if it hurts, just be tough with yourself and get on with it – it’s meant to! When you do a few sets of real ab work, you’ll know you’ve been there and back! And you’ll know you’ve achieved something. Without a gadget!

Psst! A word …

You can’t buy fitness! It has to be won … the hard way. If you find yourself enjoying your workouts too much, and spending too much time socialising at the gym, or wondering how come you’ve become so good at the exercises that you can just coast through a workout … have a quiet word with yourself. And tell yourself the cold hard truth … you’re doing it wrong!