Smart abs or Ab Swing?

[Smiles81]

Hi, I really want to tone up my abs. Has anyone heard of the ab swing or smart abs. These are like portable manual machines. Are these any good, or should I not bother? Does anyone have other suggestions?
Thanks so much,
Reena
Mom to Dovi 3/16/04

[psophia17]

I've heard of both of these, and a friend of mine has one of them, although I'm not sure which one. I believe she keeps hers in a corner behind the TV, and it never comes out to play.

Personally, I think that these kind of ab thingies are pretty useless. They make doing the motion of the exercise easier, but they also tend to make the exercise not accomplish much.

My abs came back after a c-section and appendectomy, and I think it all had to do with activating my transverse abdominus muscles - I took a class on back and abs, which was really helpful in general, but the part where every time you thought about it you should imagine pulling your bellybutton in toward your spine is what did the trick. You can do it all the time, and once you start, it gets to be habit, which causes your abs to flatten out. I never before had flat abs, and although at the moment there is still a layer of flab to lose, the muscles below are flat - when wearing a bathing suit, I feel like I look pretty good, which was NOT the case a few short months ago.

HTH!