Sole E25 Elliptical Trainer Review

Another day, another elliptical trainer – this time it is the entry level Sole E25 model. Now, we’re very fond of Sole equipment here at bestabdominalexercises.com, so let’s see how this model shapes up against the others in the the Sole range.

Currently selling at just under $1000, this is an affordable elliptical trainer. Yes, there are cheaper brands, but none that can match the reputation, reliability and smart build quality that you get with a Sole. Let’s examine the Sole E25 more closely.

Sole E25 Features

The E25 features the same vibrant LCD display found on most other models in the Sole range. While the display options are fairly basic, it will keep you informed about what’s going on, and sometimes that’s all you need. Here is a quick list of the most noteworthy features on this machine:

• 19 pound flywheel ensures smooth motion
• incline feature helps you target different muscle groups
• LCD tracking calories, distance, time spent and current resistance
• Built-in speakers and connection for your MP3 player
• Cooling fans
• Telemetry belt
• 20 Inch stride length
• 16 resistance levels
• Water bottle holder
• Weighs 189 pounds, can handle up to 325 pounds

The Sole E25 is backed up by a great warranty: lifetime on the frame, 3 years on parts and electronics and 1 year on labor.

Assembly

As with all Sole machines, the assembly instructions are very clear, but assembly takes a good deal of time and at least 2 people is recommended. Expect to spend around 2 – 3 hours on the assembly.

Sole E25 Performance

On first use, we always look for creaks and shakes in the machine. The E25 handled everything we could throw at it smoothly and effortlessly. The decent 19-pound flywheel makes for a smooth ride all the way. When a change of incline or resistance settings are required, you can do these right on the handlebar controls without pausing your workout.

What will strike you as well is how quiet the machine is. Some lubrication of the rails are required, and appropriate grease for this is included in the package. You may need to do this sporadically over the first few weeks as new noises show up, but the grease takes care of them.

As we found on other Sole machines, the built-in speakers are barely adequate, and you’d be better off using headphones. Not a major gripe though.

The Sole E25 feels sturdy, has a solid construction and smooth, quiet operation. For under $1000, you’d be hard pressed to find a better elliptical trainer.

Verdict and Summary

The Sole E25 Elliptical Trainer is one of the better entry level trainers around. Construction is solid, operation is smooth and quiet and assembly not too difficult, although it takes some time.

What does come into play here is the next model in line, the Sole E35, which costs about $300 more. For that, you get the following:

• An extended warranty: 5 years parts, 2 years labor vs the 3 year/1 year of the E25
• Angle adjustable pedals
• 25 pound flywheel (vs 19 pounds on the E25)
• maximum weight of 375 pound vs the 325 pounds of the E25

If you are a heavy person who likes a strenuous workout, we will definitely recommend the E35 over the E25. The angle adjustable pedals won’t be a big factor for everyone, but the extra flywheel weight, the extra warranty options and the stronger construction of the Sole E35 are worth considering. It is not the most popular model in the Sole series for no reason.

At the time of this writing the Sole E25 has received 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com, of which 7 were 5 star reviews.

Sole E25 Pros & Cons:

Pros:

+ Fairly easy assembly, although it takes some time
+ Smooth and quiet even under stress
+ Solid construction
+ Decent flywheel weight
+ Good warranty
+ Telemetry belt

Cons:

- Tinny speakers
- Average fan
- Some squeaks and noises, fixed by applying the included grease

Sale Price:

Using one of these balls is a great way to add variety to your ab exercises.

This is as cheap as ab exercise equipment gets, and medicine ball ab exercises can really target the core abdominal muscles.

I’m going to give you a few medicine ball abdominal exercises you can start doing as soon as you have one of these globes in your possession. Some of these exercises require a normal exercise ball as well.

Medicine Ball Ab Exercises

Standard Leg Raises

You want to lie flat on the floor with your arms straight up into the air and your legs straight but flat on the ground, holding the medicine ball in your hands. Next, lift your head and shoulders, making sure to contract your abs while you do this so that they’re doing the bulk of the work. At the same time, raise your legs straight into the air. Focus on your abs while doing this.

Now, stick the ball between your feet and go back to the starting position, but don’t allow your feet to rest on the floor. Keep them slightly elevated.

You can probably guess the next step…yep, repeat the leg raising, and this time grab the ball again from between your feet. Repeat as necessary.

Medicine Ball Crunches

For this you’ll need the large exercise ball. You need to lie on your back on the exercise ball, with your lower back providing the center of gravity. To stabilize yourself, make sure your knees are bent and your feet flat on the floor. Your arms should be extended straight back past your head, with the medicine ball in your hands.

The exercise is simply to lift the ball while keeping your arms straight, in a normal crunch movement. Be sure to contract your abdominals and focus your mind on them to make sure they’re doing the work. If you find it difficult at first, try not to lock your elbows.

Simple Twists

This time round, sit on the floor, bend your knees and keep your feet planted flat on the floor. As you’ll come to realize by now, it’s important to keep your arms straight while holding the ball for maximum benefit to your abs. No exception here.

Extend your arms in front of you, and then very importantly, recline back about 30 – 45 degrees. Start with what you can manage and increase later. Now, twist first to the left until the ball touches the ground, then go the other way.

This medicine ball ab workout should get you started, and you’ll certainly feel the benefit after a few repetitions.

The lower abs are the toughest part of the abdominal muscles to target. Hopefully these kick-butt lower abs exercises will help you firm and tone this problem area.

Use any or all of these exercises in your lower ab workout.

With all exercises, exhale when contracting the abs, inhale when you relax them.

The Lower Abs Exercises

Lying leg scissors

With this exercise you lie on your back and position your hands by your sides, palms flat on the ground. Lift your legs off the ground about 5 or 6 inches. Keep them straight if you can, otherwise slightly bent is fine too. Keep your legs in the air, then open them wide, and close them, crossing your legs at the ankles. Alternate by first crossing your left leg over your right, then opening them wide and crossing the right over the left, etc.

Do as many repetitions as you can.

Suspended leg lifts - variation 1

Grab onto a pull-up bar and hang, hands about shoulder width apart. Keep your arms straight and lift your legs until they’re at about a 90 degree angle to your body. You should keep your knees slightly bent.

Focus on your abs here – they should do most of the work getting your legs up. Keep your legs there for a count of two and then slowly lower them. Remember to focus on your abs throughout these lower abs exercises – make sure you crunch them as much as possible.

Suspended leg lifts – variation 2

Instead of using a pull-up bar, you can use the parallel bars here. If you don’t have parallel bars, you can use any two objects of equal height that will allow you to suspend your weight on them. Just make sure they’re sturdy and solid so you don’t hurt yourself. Now you lift your legs the same way as in the first variation. This exercise will of course also give your arms and shoulders a nice workout.

Abdominal vacuum

This is not only a great exercise for your abs, but also for your massaging your inner organs. Basically all you do is stand with your knees slightly bent and your hands on you knees. Exhale and clear your lungs of air. Now suck in your gut and hold for 5 seconds while slowly raising your body until you’re standing almost upright. Then release your gut and breathe deeply before going down again with hands on knees, exhaling as you descend.

If you have difficulty sucking your gut in for 5 seconds on empty lungs, do it for a shorter period until your body gets used to it. At first do this exercise in front of your bed or on a padded floor with no obstacles. Some people have been known to get dizzy or pass out from this exercise. If you feel any sort of dizziness, start breathing immediately. After a few repetitions you’ll find the going easier already as your body adapts.

Jack knives (also known as V-ups, one of the kings of lower abs exercises)

This part of our lower ab workout targets the upper abs at the same time.

Lie flat on your back with your arms stretched out over your head. Now lift your upper body and legs at the same time and touch your legs with your hands in the air above your abdominals. Do not jerk – never jerk when doing any exercise that requires you to bend your back.

This should be a fluent movement and legs should be almost straight with knees only slightly bent. If you can’t touch your legs without jerking at first, go as far as you can go. It will come in time. At first you may find you can only do one or two jack knives. That’s normal, and with a little persistence you will soon be able to do more.

Be sure to check out the other lower abs exercises elsewhere on this site.

Ready for more lower abdominal exercises? You’ll start to realize by now that training those lower abs is hard work.

While most traditional ab workouts like the good old crunch targets the upper abs, the really sticky area is the lower abs. So, let’s continue with these exercises.

Also pay attention to the bit at the bottom of this article about combining exercises. It’s a great way to keep your workout fun and challenging.

Continued: trim your gut with these lower abdominal exercises

The sitting bicycle

No, you’re not going to get on a bicycle (although that’s good exercise too, provided you can stay on it and not drive into things like I do). In a sitting position with your legs stretched out in front of you, lock your hands behind your head (don’t drag yourself upright by your neck, let your abs do the work) and lean back at about a 45 degree angle. Lift your legs about 5 or 6 inches off the ground. Now pretend you are on a bicycle and start pedalling with those legs. You’ll soon feel the burn where you need it most. Also see the traditional bicycles exercise on the best ab exercises page.

Little jack knives

On the previous page we covered the full jack knife. The little jack knife works on the same principle, but is executed differently. Lie on your back, hands next to your body. Now sit up, pulling your knees up and into your abdomen as you do so. Your chest and thighs meet halfway. Stretch your arms forward if you have trouble balancing at first. Not the easiest of the lower abdominal exercises, but it targets the lower abs and upper abs in one go, just like full jack knives.

Rollback legups

Lie on your back, hands at your sides, palms flat on the ground. Now roll backward, lifting your legs and lower back off the ground. Pull your knees towards your chin (gently now, you don’t want to bust your own lip!). Give those abs a nice squeeze as you bring your knees up, then go back to the starting position. Repeat as many times as you can.

The plank

Lie face down on the floor with your elbows supporting you, palms flat. Push yourself off the floor with your elbows and onto your toes. Keep going until your back is in a flat line angling up from your toes to your shoulders.

Contract your abdominals and hold for about 30 seconds (you can increase this once you get used to the exercise). Feel the burn! Don’t push your butt into the air, keep the straight line.

Remember, let your abs do all the work. As you can see here, lower abdominal exercises aren’t just about crunching and letting go. Holding a position for a while is also effective and something you have to bring into your routine. You can apply the “contract and hold” technique to almost all ab exercises.

Combining exercises

You don’t have to stick to a script when exercising – you can write your own. Combining two or more exercises into one can present all sorts of new challenges.

For example, combine the bicycle and the leg scissors from the previous page. Pedal for 5 seconds, then lie down and do 5 scissors, sit back up and pedal again. Throw in a crunch while you’re at it.

Magic! Personally I love combining exercises this way. Not just lower abdominal exercises, but also pushups, pullups, burpees, etc. It gives you a workout like you won’t believe.

Another powerful abdominal and core exercise weapon you can add to your arsenal is the Power Wheel.

Which infomercial ab machine can really produce results?

Quite shockingly, the answer may actually be “none of them”. I know you really want that ab machine on TV to be the answer to your prayers, but it probably isn’t. Never, ever put your faith in an ab fitness machine like the ones you see being advertised on TV every day.

I’ll tell you why.

It’s not that these are necessarily poor products. It’s just that they’re selling a dream instead of a real solution for reaching that dream. It’s the perfect setup for any desperate or even mildly interested customer.

Think about it…you have:

The perfectly toned models strutting their stuff

Everyone using the informercial ab machine in the background seems to be having a wonderful time

The classic sales technique of amplifying a problem, then amplifying the ease of the solution at hand

Only 10 minutes a day, or some similar ridiculous claim just to let all resistance crumble

No wonder people gets pulled in, and no wonder many will buy more than one informercial ab machine in their lifetime.

Here’s the problem:

Sculpting great abs is not easy. You’re not going to do it in 10 minutes a day on any kind of ab machine on TV.

First of all, you need a proper diet. Diet is one of the major obstacles in the path towards six pack abs. It’s also one of the things the informercials on TV conveniently leave out. Without a healthy, controlled diet, you’re going to struggle to get a flat stomach or good looking abdominals.

Secondly, discipline. This is where the 10 minutes a day trick does no one any favors. No informercial ab machine is going to give you a flat stomach in 10 minutes a day. A good diet and targeted exercise program will take you much further along that road, and give you a much greater chance of success.

But, it will require discipline, and this is where most people miss the boat. Instead of realizing that it’s going to take hard work and effort, they just jump from one ab fitness machine to the next. None of these things, however, will give you a magic solution.

The Solution

If there’s one man that does have a solution, it’s Mike Geary. It’s one that will take effort and discipline, but if you really want great abs, it’s time to stop kidding yourself and realize that’s what is involved in the process.

Forget about that ab machine on TV and go learn the truth about 6 pack abs from Mike Geary.

OK, we all know the promises and hype generated by these “machines” developed by these leading “fitness experts” and “scientists” which presume to show you how to get six pack abs. You see them daily on TV.

So by the way, how many of those are in your garage gathering dust? What makes you think the next one you buy will be any better.

You don’t need machines to get 6 pack abs. It’s all about common sense, balanced living and a bit of hard work. The only way your ab muscles can be visible is if there’s no chunk of flab covering them up. Without a flat stomach, abs won’t be visible. The only way to get rid of that chunk of flab is a balanced diet and a six pack abs workout routine – consisting of both aerobic and strength training.

The Truth Revealed – How to Get 6 Pack Abs

Let’s put it into bullets:

• Balanced diet – stop chowing down on junk food all day. Take an apple and a banana to work to help kill those hunger pains. I don’t think I need to elaborate too much on healthy diets. There’s enough info to go around about food that burn fat online.
• Aerobic exercise - melt that flab away with not only aerobic exercises, but also strength training. You don’t need to go buy weights or equipment. Pump out some pushups, squats, pullups, burpees, lunges, sprints. Those exercises combine aerobic and strength training in a sizzling combo.
• Abdominal resistance training – Here’s where you really start pumping those ab muscles. Of course, you only start adding resistance once you’ve been doing ab exercises without resistance for a while. I know you’re hungry for results, but always start slowly and build up gradually to avoid injury. Injured people don’t get to work on their 6 pack abs.

I’m going to give you some exercises here that burns fat like you wouldn’t believe.

6 Pack Abs Workout – Fat Burning Exercises

Rope jumping

Yep, good old rope jumping. Not an option if you have bad knees or are severely overweight, but what an exercise. No wonder boxers do it all the time. This is almost a total body workout and, in my opinion, more effective in burning fat than jogging can ever hope to be.

Uphill walking, jogging and sprinting

You want to easily add difficulty to your current walking/jogging/running routine? Find a hill! Again, if you’re out of shape, start by walking up hills and inclines. If you live in Texas and can’t find a hill, stairs at, for example, a stadium makes for a good workout too. Thick sand is another alternative, although it’s not quite as effective a good uphill battle.

Once you get to sprinting, three 70m – 100m uphill sprints is all you need to wake your body up. Don’t do these every day, 3 times a week is fine.

Squats

Yes, we’re into the classics, but it’s because they work. Pump out 50 squats (bet you can’t) and your legs will thank you for it…eventually. A great exercise for building leg strength and lowering your heart rate.

Pushups

There are so many variations on the pushup that you can do that it will almost take another website to list and explain them all. Just use your imagination.

The easiest way to see the different effects a slight variation in pushup technique can have is to simply change the distance that you keep your arms apart. Arms wider than shoulder width will target your shoulders more, while arms close together will target your chess more. Try it.

Also adjust the angles of your hands while doing pushpups. Point your hands back towards your feet instead of forward for a bicep/tricep pushup workout, or point them away from your body to the side for yet another variation.

Pushups remain a great muscle building and fat burning exercise – no weights required. Once you’ve built some strength with regular two handed pushups, hit the one handed version. You may struggle to do one at first, but keep at it and you’ve just found a prolific strength burning exercise.

How to Get 6 Pack Abs – Resistance Exercises

Now we’re going to look at three resistance exercises you can do to really build those ab muscles.

Incline situps

You may need an exercise bench for this that can adjust to an incline. The alternative is to find some other form of incline, like a strong plank placed at an angle, to do this. Basically lie against the incline (start with about a 20 degree incline) and do situps and crunches. The added resistance of the incline will really give your abs a workout.

Leg raises with weight

You can do either the suspended or lying down leg raises this way. Strap some weight to your feet to increase the resistance when doing these exercises.

Weighted crunches

Hold a weight on your chest while doing different types of crunches (knees bent, legs straight, legs apart, soles of feet together, etc.). You can use anything as a weight here. All it’s about is creating a little resistance. It’s easy to get drift about how to get 6 pack abs.

Incorporate these exercises into your six pack abs workout routine.

It would be really hard to pin down the single best lower abdominal exercise.

Basically, most crunches target the upper abs. The same goes for many traditional ab exercises. Due to their position on the body, lower abs are really hard to get to and isolate.

The exercises that hit the sweet spot for the lower abs are, not exclusively, but in particular, leg lift type exercises.

When you dig into some of the exercises on this site that require lifting of the legs, like the Sitting Bicycle and the Leg Scissors, you’ll see what I mean pretty quickly. You can feel these moves target the lower abdominal muscles. Each of these can count among the best lower abdominal exercises.

Combine these to turn them into a nice abdominal exercise workout.

Best Lower Ab Exercises

On my personal list for best lower ab exercise you’ll find the Static Jump, which does a great job of hitting the lower ab area. Again, your legs go at a stretch here and to pull them in, you engage your abs to a large extent.

So, keep those legs straight (or just slightly bent) and lift them. There are many variations you can do here. Remember the suspended leg lifts?

Next up we have the Plank. You do this from a modified pushup position and it really gets hold of the lower abs when done correctly.

To up the difficulty for this exercise and turn it into a monster, move your feet further back and your arms further forward from the classic plank position. The lower you get and the more stretched you are, the harder it’s going to be for you to lift your midriff up and the harder your lower abs will work.

Finally, I’m not a fan of ab machines, but as I mention briefly elsewhere on this site, there is one piece of equipment that really lets you hit the lower abs. It’s called the Power Wheel and is made by LifelineUSA.com, and recommended by respected fitness experts like Matt Furey.

You use the power wheel to extend your body, then you have to roll back again. You’ll see what I mean in the image below. You can attach it to either your feet or your hands.

If you’re too broke to buy the Power Wheel, or simply feel that the only wheels you want to ride on are attached to your car, you can still mimic this effect by using a towel on a surface which will allow it to slide easily. Kneel down, place the folded towel in front of you and grab it with your hands. Stay on your knees to start with until your body get stronger and used to this type of exercise because it is not as easy as it sounds, but makes for a great lower ab exercise.

Now, slide your hands and upper body forward on the towel, then slide back again, using your ab muscles to pull you back without any help from your legs. Your arms are also just for balance, so keep them still and let your abs do the work. You’ll find this is close to the best lower ab exercise you can do.

So, to summarize, hit those lower abs with:

• Leg lifts (various types)
• The Plank and its variations
• The Power Wheel (or the power towel, if you’re broke or spiteful)

That’s your core group of lower abs exercises right there.

Ok, hopefully that takes care of the mystery of making those lower abdominals burn like old Lucifer’s barbeque. Indeed, trying to pin down the best lower ab exercise is like trying to pin down the best song ever written. Pointless. Get busy on these.

This is one of the best ab workout routines you can do. It is also one of my favorite type of abs workouts.

It combines strength training with fat burning aerobic type exercises and abs exercises. Best of all, no gym equipment or other gimmicks are required (apart from a pull-up bar, but you can skip that part of you don’t have one handy), so you have no excuse not to give this a go.

Get ready to burn fat, build ab muscle and get stronger. Let’s roll!

Here you go: one of the best ab workouts

Some exercises discussed on other pages on this site will be repeated here. The number of reps are just for reference as I have no idea what your physical condition is. Half them if you need to, or do one of each if you’re really out of shape. Hey, you need to start somewhere.

With all exercises, remember to exhale when contracting your abs, inhale when you relax.

1. Abdominal vacuum – 10 reps

Stand with your knees slightly bent and your hands on your knees. Exhale and clear your lungs of air. Now suck in your gut and hold for 5 seconds while slowly raising your body until you’re standing almost upright. Then release your gut and breathe deeply before going down again with hands on knees, exhaling as you descend.

2. Jack knives – 10 reps

Lie flat on your back with your arms stretched out over your head. Now lift your upper body and legs at the same time and touch your legs with your hands in the air above your abdominals. This will get your heart racing and you’re off to a running start.

3. Lying leg scissors – 15 reps

With this exercise you lie on your back and position your hands by your sides, palms flat on the ground. Lift your legs off the ground about 5 or 6 inches. Keep them straight if you can, otherwise slightly bent is fine too. Keep your legs in the air, then open them wide, and close them, crossing your legs at the ankles. Alternate by first crossing your left leg over your right, then opening them wide and crossing the right over the left, etc.

Nice! Another great ab exercise that gets your lungs and legs pumping too.

4. Rope jumping – 1 minute

Let’s get up off the ground and jump over that rope. You can do more than one minute here if you’re in shape. An important part of the best ab workouts.

5. Rollback legups – 10 reps

Lie on your back, hands at your sides, palms flat on the ground. Now roll backward, lifting your legs and lower back off the ground. Pull your knees towards your chin. Give those abs a nice squeeze as you bring your knees up, then go back to the starting position.

6. Static jumps – 20 reps

Static jumps is a must in the best ab workout! Go down into the pushup position, arms about shoulder width apart. Now jump both your feet forward so that they land between your hands. Kick back again into the pushup position and repeat. Exhale when you jump your feet, inhale when you go back. Do as many reps as you can.

Huffin and puffin yet? This next one will get you there – all part of the best ab workout!

We are now going to combine four exercises into one routine – the pull-up, the burpee, the squat and the pushup.

Sound scary? Not so. It’s going to be one fluent routine but it will seriously kick your butt. Pay close attention to the sequence of events, although you can adjust it any way you please. That’s the best part of this exercise routine – you can adjust it.

7. The pullupburpeesquatpushup – 10 reps

Start below your pull-up bar. Do as follows:

• One pull-up
• Drop down and do two squats
• Go down on your haunches, place your palms on the ground and kick your legs back into a pushup position
• Do two pushups
• Pull your legs back in, get up, grab the pull-up bar and do another one.

Rinse and repeat the routine 10 times – it’s easy to up the difficulty here. Just do more squats, pull-ups and pushups with every rep.

8. Bicycle crunches

Lie down on your back. Put your hands behind your ears (don’t lock your hands behind your neck!). Push your lower back into the ground so it doesn’t arch (you’ll have to lift your shoulders off the ground to do this), then hold that position.

Bring your legs in to your chest, then extend the right leg at about a 45 degree angle.

Now touch your right elbow to your bent left knee.Now extend the left leg and bring the right in, and touch your left elbow to your bent right knee. Keep doing this for about 15-20 reps, or however many you can do.

We’re almost at the end of our six pack ab workout – just two more exercises.

9. Rope jumping – 1 minute

Another short rope session.

10. Crunches with 5 second hold – 10 reps

Do 10 normal crunches, but hold each one for 5 seconds.

And there you go. Feel free to add more of the best abdominal exercises on this website to this routine, or adjust the reps here to turn it into one of your best ab workouts.