The Ab Rocket and Pilates
Using the Ab Rocket for Pilates is a great way to strengthen your core and other deep muscles in order to get defined abs, a neat waist and beautifully toned arms and legs. With mat-based Pilates, you usually perform several sets of exercises in different positions, such as lying on your back, or front, or seated or lying on your side.
Exercising with precise movements in these positions isolates deep muscle groups within your body and makes them work in a way that they normally wouldn’t. This is concentrated exercise, and must be done slowly and carefully; there is no point rushing through your repetitions with poor form just to get them over with!
This piece of equipment is great for performing Pilates on as it gets you up off the floor and into a position that helps you perform your exercises both effectively and with good form. Because you are seated on the Ab Rocket, your abdominals are already in a shortened position, making the abdominal exercises more effective.
Lying on the floor to do Pilates is challenging, and it is easy to strain your back muscles, whereas the Ab Rocket supports your back while providing just enough resistance to make your workout challenging. As you get stronger and more proficient, this resistance can be increased.
With your basic Ab Rocket crunch, if you lift your knees at the same time, you are targeting your abdominals from two directions, making your crunches twice as effective. Lengthen your legs in this position and you will also sculpt and tone the muscles on the front and back of the thigh, resulting in shapely legs that have the appearance of being longer, as Pilates tones muscles without bulking them up. Bulky leg muscles will make your legs look short! With the Ab Rocket that will not happen, because you are reaching your legs away from you, thus lengthening the thigh muscles.
The more I look at the Ab Rocket, the more exercises I think of to perform with it! But even if you’re not a fitness professional, you will still get plenty of ideas from the accompanying DVDs, so if you add regular use of the Ab Rocket to your exercise routine, you will see great results and tone your abdominals fast. Your waist will shrink, your tummy bulges will melt away, and you will fit beautifully into those clothes that you thought you’d never fit into again.
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