An Incline Ab Board Vs. a Power Tower

Working out with just your bodyweight for resistance does more than buff you up on the cheap -- it also launches you right into the world of compound, functional workouts that provide big returns on a small time investment. Although you can do a number of bodyweight exercises with no equipment at all, home fitness equipment like incline ab boards and power towers can introduce extra diversity and difficulty into your workouts.

  1. Versatility for Your Body

    • If you're looking for a versatile piece of bodyweight-resistance equipment, the power tower wins the day. It allows you to work most of your major muscle groups with pullups, pushups, dips and hanging leg raises. You can even use the power tower for self-assisted pullups if you crouch beneath the dip handles and use your legs to help push you up.

      Although you can do a number of bodyweight exercises on an incline ab board too, anything beyond incline/decline crunches, sit-ups and leg raises tend to be a bit of a stretch. For example, you could lie facedown on the ab board, grasp the upper edge and pull yourself up the board to do modified pullups -- but it wouldn't be very comfortable.

    What About Weights

    • Although an incline ab board is more limited than the power tower when it comes to bodyweight exercises, it can do something the power tower can't: double as an incline/decline weight bench for use with dumbbells. You shouldn't use it with barbells, however, because it lacks a means of supporting the barbell as you enter or exit the bench.

    Think About Space

    • Although it's not as bulky as most home gyms, a power tower is meant to be a permanent fixture in your home gym; it will not fold for storage, nor will it be easy to move. Between the full-height pullup handles on one side and a "captain's chair" for dips and hanging leg raises on the other, most power towers measure more than 80 inches tall and at least 40 inches -- sometimes substantially more -- wide and deep.

      Most incline ab boards, on the other hand, are roughly 12 inches wide and in the neighborhood of 50 inches long. Many of them are small enough for one person to move around easily. Most, but not all, incline ab boards are also adjustable, allowing you to alter the slant angle or even fold the board completely flat for easy storage in a closet or under the bed.

    The Bottom Line

    • If you're doing a combination of bodyweight and dumbbell workouts, an incline ab board fits nicely at the intersection between both worlds. If you're focusing on bodyweight exercises only, however, a power tower works more muscle groups and offers you a greater range of exercise difficulty overall.

      You can scale the exercises on the power tower back at first -- for example, putting a step stool beneath your feet for an extra boost as you do dips or pullups -- then remove the aid once you're ready for the greater challenge of doing the exercises on your own.