Joining a gym may not be convenient for all of us due to our busy schedules. It’s much more practical for us to work out at home. But you don’t seem to get as much out of a workout at home because you don’t have the proper equipment.
Buying heavy gym equipment can be really expensive and most of us don’t have that sort of space in our houses. This is why we need to invest wisely.
Smaller, multifunction equipment can help improve our workouts at home without being too heavy on our pockets.
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Here is a list of 3 affordable, multi-functional exercise equipment that can enhance your workout at home and help you better to tone your abs.
Table of Contents
Medicine ball
Medicine balls are great for training because it allows you to move and balance your body more easily compared to a dumbbell.
You have the option of choosing from a variety of weights, based on how much weight you can carry and the intensity of the workout you want.
Medicine Ball Crunches
Medicine ball crunches are the easiest way to work out your abs. Simply lie down on your back, place the ball behind your head, lift the ball with your hand and bring it up to your knees as you do a crunch. The weight of the ball helps you tone your abs as well as your arms.
Med Ball Woodchoppers
Med Ball Woodchoppers workout your hamstrings and your arms. To do a med ball woodchopper, stand up straight with your feet apart. Hold the medicine ball up in the air on your right side with both hands, and then swing it over towards your left knee. Stiffen your abs as you do it to feel the strain as you swing from side to the other. Do this 8 to 10 times on each side.
Med Ball Mountain-Climbers
Med Ball Mountain-climbers are similar to regular mountain climbers. To do them, get yourself into a mountain climber position and instead of balancing on your arms, place both arms on the ball, holding it down and preventing it from moving.
Med Ball Float Balance
Sit on the floor with your knees bent in front of you, hold your legs close together and raise them up, placing the medicine ball between your shins. Spread your arms out in the air and try and balance your body on your buttocks. Bring your legs up higher to further feel the strain on your abs.
Exercise ball
An exercise ball is one of the most underrated exercise equipment when it comes to toning abs. The exercise ball lends itself to abs workouts in so many ways.
Balance on the ball
Balancing on an exercise ball is the most basic way of working out your abs. Sit on the exercise ball, stretch your legs, point your toes and hold out your arm. Raise your feet off the ground and turn by turn bring your knee into your chest.
Take it a step further by sitting on the ball, keep your feet off the ground and do pelvic circles.
Sit yourself on the ball and do crunches by leaning back. To make it harder on yourself, extend your back further down the ball and bring it back up. You add dome variety to your crunches by pairing them with leg lifts.
Floor crunches
Lie down on the floor like you would when you do crunches. Place your heels on the ball and roll it in and out as you do your crunches.
Make things harder for yourself by holding the ball between your heels and bring it towards your chest using your legs as you do your crunches.
Side crunches
When you feel like you have the strength to balance your entire body on the side of your waist then you can use your ball to do side crunches. Lean against your exercise ball on the side of your waist. Place your feet on the wall for balance and side open twist crunches. Side crunches on an exercise ball are key to getting a slimmer waist.
Check out the many other ways you can use an exercise ball to work out your abs and other muscles here:
Abs wheel
Abs wheels are simple and multifunctional.
To use an ab wheel to tone your abs. Lay out your yoga mat, get down on both knees and hold them against each other. Hold the abs wheel in front of your knees and extend your body to push the wheel outwards. Your body should flatten against the mat as you roll out and rise as you roll in.
Plank knees in
Place the ab-wheel on under your feet and get into the plank position (face down, balancing your body and your arms). Then roll the wheel in and out. Again, as you roll out, your body should flatten, as you roll in, your body should curl up.
Once this becomes too easy, make it harder for yourself by balancing yourself on just your hands instead of your forearms.
Pike Pushup
As you get stronger, you should be able to balance on your arms and get into a pyramid position as you roll in with your feet. When you roll out, do a quick push up and roll back in to get to the pyramid position.
Pushup
Pushups are hard as it is for most people but using an abs wheel makes them that much more difficult. Get into the pushup position, instead of balancing your body on your arms, hold the abs wheel with your hands and balance your body on the wheel. You’re going to need all the strength to keep the wheel stagnant so you can do your pushups while keeping your body balanced on the wheel and your feet.
The bottom line
There you have it! 3 simple, small, affordable equipment that allow your workouts to be so much more effective, in the comfort of your homes.
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