Those electric ab things.....

Stinky

Stinky

Stinky

Soldato
Joined
28 Mar 2005
Posts
9,250
Someone has just asked why im doing all the hard work of running etc why not just use one of those electric things.

i laughed.... but why dont they work? lol
 
because they arent actually doing anything.
to see your abs you need low body fat. these things will not lower your body fat.
 
Why use a machine to electrically simulate your abs when everyone has one fitted as standard between their ears :confused:
 
If for some reason you can't do situps due to a bad back but let's say you could still use a bike. Then it might still be worth using an ab machine for what little it could do. But like mentioned above, you need low bodyfat for it to be shown as observably useful.

Edit: I neglected to mention the contraversy surrounding their alleged effectivness anyway and I am still itching for someone to tell me that they work?
 
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Well I'm sure that they do make the muscle contract ethan so I guess in that sense they do work. do they give you abs of steel and a six pack to make the ladies moist? I doubt it.

I did several years ago use an electric muscle stimulator to help with a knee problem I had due to weakness in the vastus medialis muscle. For that it was very effective and much better than the specific exercises I got from physios. It was a royal pita to use though to isolate the muscle. Certainly exercises were easier to do at any one time, just not as effective.
 
I've not gone into this in any detail but I believe the contraversy arose in the States over the types of claims being made about the machines: "six pack in six months etc". Saying that and I haven't had chance to confirm it yet, there was one scientist saying that the electrical stimulation being produced by the machine was not exactly the same as the stimulation produced by the brain when doing situps. Therefore the gains would not be the same etc. I have heard stories from other people that they are effective-assuming your body fat is low. I have yet to see the proof and the only way to do that is try one?
 
marscay said:
if they worked gyms would be out of business and every guy on the street would have abs.

lol @ this thread :p
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Why? Do you think people only use a gym for abs or are you actually assuming people are dumb enough to use an abb machine instead of a gym?
Its the extent to which they are supposed to work which is the contention here and not the fact that they don't.
 
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my contribution to this thread:

There have been some discussions on some bodybuilding forums before about using a tazer 'like' device to shock you muscle into contraction while lifting in order to maximise effort.. However there are major worries would be of it over contracting causing over training and possibly injury.

:p
 
gareth.e said:
my contribution to this thread:

There have been some discussions on some bodybuilding forums before about using a tazer 'like' device to shock you muscle into contraction while lifting in order to maximise effort.. However there are major worries would be of it over contracting causing over training and possibly injury.

:p
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Hmm: thinks youtube for a possible example :D
 
ethan said:
Why? Do you think people only use a gym for abs or are you actually assuming people are dumb enough to use an abb machine instead of a gym?
Its the extent to which they are supposed to work which is the contention here and not the fact that they don't.
Click to expand...

the fact there's a market for these devices prove ppl are dumb enough.
 
the fact there's a market for these devices prove ppl are dumb enough.
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Well I'm sure there is a lot of people who are lean and are unable to do situps due to a lower back injury who would benefit from one of those machines and I wouldn't necessarily class them as dumb-rather the opposite tbh :)
 
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