Ab Rocker: Does it Work?

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The ab rocker, sometimes also called an ab roller, is one of those things I’m sure you’ve seen during a late night infomercial at least once. And while it looks like it will magically trim off belly fat, there’s a few things that are important to know if you’ve ever considered buying or using one.

For starters, there is a huge difference in quality and price between models of various ab rockers. Nearly all of them are flimsy (marketed as “lightweight”) and require assembly.They range in price anywhere from $25.95 for the super cheap, uncomfortable and flimsy to $199 for slightly less flimsy and uncomfortable.

Here is the one that is priced at $25.95 from Amazon:

And here is the one at $199:

If you read the reviews of these two machines you’ll notice that quite a few people are dissatisfied with both.

Why would so many people be dissatisfied with these products? Well, it comes down to two things: 1. You can’t spot treat fat and 2. Not all exercise equipment works for everyone. Because many people don’t realize these two important things, there’s a lot of room for people to feel like they’ve been ripped off.

First, let’s talk about spot treating fat. Repeat After Me: You Cannot Spot Treat Fat. Spot treating refers to when you just want to work out one part of your body.  Maybe you just want to lose belly fat, or arm fat, or whatever area of your body is bothering you. But it doesn’t work. Because no matter what you do to build muscle strength, it’s not going to burn fat in just your problem areas. The manufacturers of workout equipment should certainly know this – but they don’t want you to know this. They want you to think that if you buy their equipment its going to magically transform your body and help you get the results you want. But sadly this just simply isn’t the case.

If you want nice looking abs, then you need a healthy diet and you need to do aerobic exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes. And after that aerobic exercise, then you need to do those ab strengthening exercises. With an ab rocker, you’ll likely need to do about 50 reps every single day before you start seeing any gradual improvement – and so a lot of people are going to give up after a week or two.

The other important thing to consider is that everybody has a different and unique body shape. So while any exercise machine will claim that it’s so easy to use that anyone can do it – that doesn’t always mean anybody should use it. Someone who is 5 feet and 3 inches tall is going to have a much more different experience than someone who is 5 feet and 9 inches tall. And what can happen from this could result in you accidentally hurting your neck and back muscles. And if you’re hurt, guess what? You’re not going to be able to exercise, and you’re going to have even more trouble losing weight.

This isn’t to say that the Ab Rocker doesn’t work at all or would be a complete waste of money. But you’ve got to also eat right and do aerobics and then make sure that the ab rocker you use is the right one for your body size/shape. And you’ll also need to do this pretty consistently for about three to six weeks before you even start to think you might see a difference.

Belly fat is stubborn, and it’s hard to get rid of for most people. If you’re like me and have three kids, you may never actually get rid of it all, no matter how much you weigh. But if you continue to eat healthy and exercise the right way (aerobics plus muscle strength building) then you have a much better chance of success than hoping a piece of exercise equipment like an ab rocker that you see on a late night infomercial is going to magically transform your body.