Customer Reviews

Powerline PAB21X Ab Bench

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am very pleased with the Powerline Ab bench and would give it 5 stars if the steel was slightly heavier (not needed, but I guess I'm picky). The item was fairly easy to assemble and very intuitive to use. The back rest is adjustable and quickly slides up and down the rear support after loosening a thumbscrew. The back pad is VERY firm, yet comfortable. My 4 year-old son who weighs 45 lbs was jumping up and down on it before it was assembled and didn't even dent it. The curve felt quite natural and even comfortable on my back.
The handholds on the strap seem very sturdy and the strap itself seems to support the back of the head when doing the exercises. The pully is very strong and rolls quite smoothly.
I've loaded it up with 100 lbs for this workout using 25 lb plates (it holds both standard and olympic quite well) and felt no strain or give in the device (in me, well that's another story). One rep on the ab bench felt like 25 on the floor. I am a competitive powerlifter and am very happy to see that the ab bench can take some weight.
I am extremely happy with my purchase and wish I had made it earlier. I definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for greater core strength or has back problems that hinder their attempts at doing other abdominal exercises.

The reason I bought this was to make it easier to do ab exercises with weight at home. It works very well for this purpose. The main thing is to make sure to set the backrest to the proper height so your back bends back slightly and it stretches the abs and gives a longer range of motion.

There are a few downsides I have found..
First this is not really a sturdy feeling bench, its very light and it almost feels like it could fall over while your exercising. Second, the triceps exercise gives me mixed feelings. Getting a full range of motion, especially the "stretch", is impossible for me. Then during the exercise the cable seems to rub on the back of my head which is more annoying than anything. Despite the ROM issue I was sort of surprised that I felt more soreness in the tris than I feel from other tri exercises, probably due to the newness of the motion. Like other Body Solid equipment I have bought the directions aren't step-by-step its the exploded view diagram. There isnt a lot to putting this together but I wish Body Solid would spend a few cents to put real directions in all their products.

Overall I'm happy with the bench as it allows me to go with weight-lower reps on abs with a better range of motion than other ab exercises. If you want to add weight to your ab workouts this will make life easier if you want to do high reps or something I'm not sure it would be worth the money, you might be better off using an exercise ball or something and save your $ and space in your gym.

I enjoy this ab bench. It does what I thought it should do. I use this 3 times a week and I love it.

I just purchased this Ab bench...and it's great. It was not hard at all to put together and once assembled...it was easy to use. I was looking for a new Ab workout and this is great. I am still playing around with the amount of weights to add...but with the weight I've been using....I can really feel the burn when doing the crunches. As for the tricep workout...another great machine for that too. I guess if my triceps hurt today...I must have had a great workout yesterday. I would recommend this to anyone and the price was not bad either.

The ab bench is great once you go to the hardware store to acquire all of the screws you need. It took me a day in a half to construct the bench because I had to get more than one size screw and didn't realize that until after I was half the way finish putting it together.

This is not just a he-man machine.
As a woman over 60, this bench is one of the few ab machines that can use and find toleratble. The problem I have is that I cannot do situps due to the "grunt" effect on my heart rhythm. But with this bench, I can adjust the weight to a level that I can tolerate, and increase the reps to make up for less weight.
It's nice to sit and do this while you watch TV, also...you can knock off 30 mins on this thing without even noticing it.
I would note that I found the straps going across my shoulders to be somewhat uncomfortable. So I put a padded broomstick through the handholds and lay my arms on top of the stick, which makes it quite comfortable.
The pulley is very smooth, and the backrest has a nice lumbar curve in it that I find very restful for stretching my back--really helps the stiffness in my spine and gets me straightened out again.

The powerline PAB21X Ab Bench is great if you use light weights for your crunches but if you want to use heavier weights with the machine it is impossible since the gadget to place the weights on allows only one plate at a time. If you wanted to place multiple weights, the weight retainer isn't long enough to allow more then one weight plate at a time. The only way to get around this problem is to buy a heavier weight which for me would have to be at least 40 pounds or get a custom made weight retainer holder to allow more then one plate on it. This is the only draw back I have with this product.

I purchased the Powerline Ab bench about a month ago and love it!. It gives me a great Ab workout. I hated doing crunches on the floor with weights held to my chest. I dreaded that part of my workout, but did it anyway. Since getting the Ab bench, I actually look forward to doing my ab workout. Gives me a great pump. Reasonably priced as well and easy to put together. I highly recommend it for it's simplicity as well as the quality workout. Learned by reading other reviewers it can also be used to work the triceps. Didn't know that so will give it a try. As for the abdominal workout, I give it 5 stars. I love it..

Product info was accurate, delivery was on time, price was reasonable, assembly was easy, seems to be a good workout in a limited space.

Installation was easy but the single screw holding the wheel to roll the weight up and down is too big. The lumbar padding is too thick that it causes back pain. The little end piece to hold your weights is TOO short.

Luckily I had a bench from an old home gym I had lying around which I rigged to attach. I also found a screw that fitted the wheel so the machine is now usable. If it weren't for those modifications, I would return it in an instance.

Do not buy it unless you're willing to fix it to make it usable!