When I started seeing commercials for the Ab Lounge I was immediately intrigued. I have given birth to seven children. Even though I was blessed with genes that have kept me thin despite seven pregnancies, my belly muscles have really taken a beating. My back was having fits, as well.

At first, I was not sure why the Ab Lounge looked like my kind of workout machine. There are so many workout machines on the market, why did the Ab Lounge look so perfect to me? I found a site that did reviews on exercise equipment and I found my answer. It gets you off the floor! I never realized that my main reason for hating crunches is that they involve laying on the floor. I never realized I hated that part so much. I had been having trouble explaining why I hate exercising with videos, but now it all made sense. They all make you get on the floor. I never sit on the floor for anything else. It's just not my thing at all.

So, armed with this new knowledge about my preferences, we decided the Ab Lounge was a good idea. My husband picked up the Ab Lounge "Sport" at Walmart about 3 months ago. I believe it's the same as the Ab Lounge 2.

My 13 year old son decided he wanted to be the one to put it together. The instructions were simple and he sailed along with only one problem along the way. One of the pipes had been drilled incorrectly and there was a blob of metal hanging on the inside of the pipe. This blob prevented another pipe from sliding into it as it was supposed to. It took my son about an hour to file that blob away with a metal rattail file. Had we noticed this problem before he had put so much work into it, we might have exchanged it for another machine. But we didn't want to have to undo everything he'd already put together.

In the beginning, I thought the exercising was going to be relatively easy. It LOOKED easy on tv, lol. Don't be fooled. It's still hard work if you are doing it right. Sure, you could take the lazy way out and use it like a recliner, but that won't get you results. If you use your hands and feet to make the motions, your belly muscles will remain flabby. You are supposed to use your abdominal muscles to cause the machine to go up and down.

It is not easy and it shouldn't be! I have found that if I hold my belly muscles in while doing the exercises I get much faster results. Focus on those muscles as you are doing the exercises and you'll see results too. You also need to avoid the mistake of doing the exercises too fast. No bouncing up and down. It's a slow move up and a slow move down.

When I first started using the Ab Lounge Sport, my lower back hurt while I did the exercises. I put a small throw pillow behind my back during the first few weeks and that helped get those muscles in gear. I now feel a big difference in the strength of my lower back muscles. I no longer need the pillow. My back has not hurt at all in about two months.

I also love how this machine takes the pressure off your neck. Normally, I have a hard time doing crunches without pulling up on my neck. With this machine, you are not touching your head with you hands so you can't inadvertently put pressure on your neck. Your head and neck remain relaxed, as they should be while doing crunches.

I am seeing a big difference in the tone of my abdominal muscles. After seven babies, it's going to take longer than this to get totally tone, but the difference is really clear already. I'm finding it interesting that the fronts of my upper thighs seem to be toning up a bit too. Hmmmm

One trick I learned was that you need to center your body so that you fold in the same place the machine folds. I hope that makes sense. If I position my body too low in the machine, the machine folds above where my body naturally wants to fold. Not good. So I find myself having to focus on getting lined up properly before beginning. If it gets uncomfortable, it's usually because I have shifted down and need to realign myself.

Negatives? It takes a pretty sizable amount of space. You need enough space for a grown adult to lay down with his/her arms fully extended over his/her head. That's a long bit of space for many homes to have available. We just so happened to have just reorganized our bedroom and ended up with a big corner that was vacant. It's still a bit of a tight fit as my finger often bump up against a mirror and my toes sometimes hit a dresser, but it's workable.

I also imagine that it won't hold up for an extremely long time due the the use of bungee cords and an all-fabric seating area. Eventually those are going to give out.

It's a bit on the squeaky side, but not annoyingly so.

I would recommend this machine for anyone who is serious about working on those ab muscles. If you are willing to put the work into it and hate getting down on the floor, this machine is for you.

Recommended: Yes