The SIXPAD AbsFit 2: false promise or fitness revolution?

Would you believe us if we told you you could get a six-pack in just 23 minutes a day?

Probably not, right? After all, there are a million ab workouts, special diets, detox teas and a hundred other things that promise washboard abs with zero effort.

But the big difference between all of those things and the SIXPAD AbsFit?

Science.

Combining literal decades of scientific research with up to date modern technology, the AbsFit 2 makes some serious promises, but actually has the data to back it up.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is the SIXPAD AbsFit 2?

The Abs Fit is SIXPAD‘s premier product; a huge and technologically advanced abdominal training system. The easiest way to explain it is to say that it’s basically like the ab trainers that you see on late-night TV infomercials; except it’s actually good.

The first thing that you notice about the AbsFit system is the size. This is a massive piece of kit. But this is mostly a good thing, and it’s absolutely by design. Most conventional ab trainers only hit a small area of your stomach, usually just a thin ‘belt’ of muscle a couple of inches above and below your navel. But the AbsFit wraps around your entire abdominal area, which lets it train not just your six-pack, but the all-important lower and side obliques.

This is big for two reasons. First, training all of your abdominal areas just looks better. Aesthetically, strong, defined obliques set off the washboard stomach look, melt away love handles, and are an instant marker for real fitness.

The second is performance. Your abs stabilise your body, and a strong core is a key to many athletic movements. Having strong obliques helps with basically every movement you make, but are specifically good for crunches and sit-ups, L sits, anything that requires stabilising a weight above your head, plus just day to day walking and running.

Overall build quality is exceptional. Everything feels chunky and solid, with simple to understand controls that are well laid out. Despite being surprisingly large, the AbsFit is deceptively light, coming in at just under a kilo, which feels like almost nothing once it’s securely wrapped around your stomach.

The AbsFit 2 is also covered by a 2-year warranty against technical issues, just in case, something goes wrong.

How does AbsFit 2 work?

Your first time using the AbsFit is surprisingly simple. You take it out of the box, (or out of storage, if it’s not your first time using it, more on this later,) make sure that the gel pads are flat and clean, then place it on your stomach and turn it on.

Switching it on takes a single button press, and you can let the system handle literally everything else from there. The gel pads feel cold against the skin for the first few seconds, but quickly warm up, and you’ll quickly forget that once the exercise plan kicks in.

The AbsFit 2 works by using electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to cause the muscles in your abdominal area to rhythmically tense. When we exercise, we supposedly only use around 30% of our muscle fibres at a time, but by directly stimulating them, the AbsFit is supposedly able to engage every muscle fibre at once. Again, it’s worth pointing out that the AbsFit is much larger than other ab trainers, so it hits muscles that most just can’t reach, a big difference between this and basically any other commercial training system.

The second big difference is the training protocol. The AbsFit uses patented 20Hz electrical stimulation, which is proven to be the most effective electrical frequency that matches natural exercise and offers the quickest, most effective results for you.

The AbsFit exercise protocol

The AbsFit 2 only has one exercise plan, but it’s the only one you need.

The 23-minute workout is specifically designed for fast, effective results. Built around the fitness protocols of Toshio Moritani, who has a 40-year career in sports science focused on electrical muscle stimulation, and tons of research from athletes and personal trainers.

Designed to be used daily, the AbsFit workout takes you through 4 different training plans that hit every area of your abs, hard, as well as conditioning the muscles, burning fat, and warming up and warming down.

Once you’ve switched the system on, you can select the intensity of the workout (with 20 options available, 5 more than the original AbsFit,) then let it handle the rest. The intensity options are great; with a big variation in power. Lower levels are reasonably gentle, but you’ll still feel the results by the end of the 23 minutes. The highest levels are … not comfortable, but definitely effective, and overall the exercise plan feels good and should leave you feeling like you’ve hit an intense ab workout for days after.

The AbsFit plan is designed for day to day use without rest breaks, with the best results found if you can stick to a consistent schedule. Using it more than once per day, per area, is not recommended. If you feel like you want to train harder, you should be increasing the intensity, not the time.

Like all exercise plans, you should start off on a low intensity and build upwards over time. Also be aware that the AbsFit, because it uses electrical pulses on your muscles, isn’t suitable for anyone who is pregnant, or suffers from a heart condition.

The AbsFit app

Every AbsFit workout can be tracked through the app, which is available for free on most devices and links to your smartphone or tablet using Bluetooth.

The biggest thing the app does is let you monitor your exercise sessions in real-time; so you can see which areas are being targeted by each phase, see what phase you’re in, and how long there is remaining.

Another big benefit is the ability to sync multiple SIXPAD devices. SIXPAD offers a comprehensive range of fitness products, including arm and leg trainers and full bodysuits. The app links all of these together and combines all of their exercise plans so you can hit your whole body in one major session.

The app also records every session, letting you see at a glance when and how you’re training, as well as saving all of your results, and gratifying workouts by handing out badges to your profile as you hit your goals and stay on daily and weekly streaks, a cute touch that can make using it a little more fun.

We were impressed by the AbsFit 2, but unlike the system itself, the app could use some work. First off, it takes up a surprising amount of space (350mb+) which, for the services on offer, seems way too big. Realistically, it’s not going to hog any major space on your phone, but it would have been nice to see this optimised, especially considering how high tech the rest of the gear is here.

Second, pairing the belt and the app can be an issue, regularly taking multiple attempts, which is irritating if you just want to get on with your training.

On the upside, once you’re in and linked, everything is sleek and well designed, and as another bonus, you don’t need to register to use anything, so there’s no handing out personal details or tracking data through SIXPAD’s app.

Hopefully, future updates will fix the connection issue, and if they do, we’d be happy to put a stamp of approval on the app, because right now that’s the only thing holding it back.

Storing and caring for your AbsFit

SIXPAD have made sure that long term care for your AbsFit is simple and easy to understand. First, it should be stored flat on a non-porous surface, inside its box, to prolong the life of the gel transmission pads and keep them clean and functional.

The gel sheets are adhesive and residue-free, so they don’t stick to your body or leave gross sticky patches, which makes cleaning up much simpler. Over time, the sheets will break down and pick up small dust and skin particles, so they will need replacement.

Expect the gel pads to last around a month of continuous use, on average, with replacements available from SIXPAD’s website and Amazon. The replacement process is as simple as peeling off the old sheets and sticking the new ones in place.

The battery life is excellent. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the AbsFit will last about that same month on average, on a single overnight charge.

Pricing

Compared to other ab trainers, the AbsFit 2 isn’t cheap. But it isn’t supposed to be. As of writing, the AbsFit 2 costs £180, with bundle discounts of up to 40% available if you want multiple SIXPAD systems.

The AbsFit shouldn’t be an impulse purchase, to be used twice and tossed away into a drawer to languish and die. If you’re buying this, it’s because you want to see results, and on that end, the AbsFit, and other SIXPAD products, deliver.

Results

So is the AbsFit 2 a magic bullet?

Well, no. There are no magic bullets for a flat, toned stomach. The old adage is that ‘abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen and that still holds.

But what AbsFit can promise is results.

According to AbsFit’s own research, an 8-week program can increase abdominal muscle mass by as much as 29%. That’s huge, and if you’re already on the way to abs, then it’s going to make a massive difference in visibility and definition.

That’s the main takeaway here, and the biggest reason in our opinion to buy an AbsFit 2.

Should you buy a SIXPAD abs trainer?

So should everyone rush out and buy the AbsFit 2, so that we can all waltz around with rippling fitness model abs?

Well, no. Sadly, there’s nothing out there that’s going to be able to do this for you (yet.)

But if you’re already training and eating right, then the AbsFit 2 is fantastic to fit in just a little bit more training.

You’re still going to have to put in some work yourself, but being able to put in another 23-minute ab blasting workout during your downtime is going to get you that much closer to the abs you want. And that’s definitely worth the effort.

Sixpad AbsFit 2 Full Specs