The Side Shaper Pro arrived and it works my core in a way I’m not used to.

It’s like doing hanging knee raises without the swinging and the need for grip strength.

I’m able to do reverse crunches against gravity and it also swivels to target the obliques.

Let’s check it out!

Unboxing

Table of Contents

Everything came covered in bags and styrofoam.

Once I got all the stuff out of the box this is what’s inside.

They even threw in a mat which is good in case you don’t have stall mats in your home gym.

It also came with a workout DVD, poster, and nutritional guide.

I like that they included this because it gives you a plan and the nutrition part is very important for a six pack.

Specs

Product weight: 28 lbs

Weight capacity: 250 lbs

Dimensions: 43.75″ L x 7″ W x 22.5″ H

Material: Alloy steel

Assembly

Assembly took about 30 minutes and it wasn’t bad at all.

Here’s a look at the finished product.

What Is The Side Shaper Pro?

The Side Shaper Pro is an abdominal machine that mimics a reverse crunch / hanging knee raise.

It isolates the abdominals and obliques really well.

What makes the Side Shaper different is that you don’t have to hang over a pull up bar so there’s no grip strength or swinging involved.

How Does The Side Shaper Pro Work?

The Side Shaper works by driving your legs up against gravity through a guided path.

While your legs rest on foam pads, you bring them up towards your chest.

Couple that with a swivel that turns your legs side to side and all the focus goes to your abdominals and obliques.

Adjusting Difficulty Level

The Side Shaper has three different levels of incline to change difficulty.

You adjust the incline by inserting a pin through one of the three holes shown above.

The hole at the top is the easiest and the hole at the bottom is the hardest.

Here’s the Side Shaper at the easiest position.

You can see the pin is going through the top hole so the legs are angled far from each other.

The further the legs are from each other, the less of an incline I have to fight.

And here I am bringing my knees up on the easiest level.

This is the middle level with a slight increase in the level of incline.

And here you can see the hardest level with the most incline.

I have to fight gravity to bring my knees up.

Setting Up On The Side Shaper

Once I decide the level of incline, the first thing I do is grab the handles on the top.

And rest my forearms on the foam pads.

Next I look down at the four foam pads to get my knees in between them.

This is how my knees squeeze in between the pads.

Once I’m anchored at the top and bottom, I use my abdominals to bring my knees up.

To get my obliques involved I can use the swivel which I’ll explain next.

Using The Swivel For Obliques

To get the obliques involved, the Side Shaper has a swivel that lets you rotate your legs.

This is controlled by inserting a pin through the freely movable slot (top) or the fixed position slot (bottom) in between the bottom foam pads.

Inserting the pin in the top slot lets me swivel freely to any side.

I can tilt my legs to the right and the foam pads swivel in that direction.

And do the same to the other direction.

So as I’m bring my knees up, I can also swivel to target both my abs and obliques.

This is what it looks like from the side when I’m swiveling.

If I want to keep my legs angled in one position without worrying about them swiveling then I stick the pin through one of the bottom slots.

This blocks the swivel motion but still keeps the foam pads angled so my obliques keep working every time my legs move up.

Adding Resistance Bands

The Side Shaper Pro comes with three resistance bands.

These can be attached to the bottom legs and the bottom of the foam pads to increase difficulty.

Adding one band is hard enough.

I’ve yet to get all three bands on at the same time.

Side Shaper Pro vs Side Shaper

The only difference between the Side Shaper and the Side Shaper Pro is resistance bands.

Side Shaper Pro comes with three resistance bands that can be attached to the bottom of the foam pads.

The bands add more resistance when bringing the knees up.

Storage

Folding the Side Shaper for storage is easy.

First I pull out the pins from the front legs.

Then fold the legs flat against each other.

Here’s what it looks like in the folded position.

Now insert the pins through the hole shown above on both sides.

Here’s the pin going through the hole to lock the legs.

And this is what it looks like from the top, showing both pins going through.

Now that the top part of the legs is locked, it’s time to lock the bottom.

Just wrap the velcro strap around the black and red arches and you’re set.

Using the rollers on the bottom legs, I can move the Side Shaper anywhere without having to lift it.

And it stands up against the wall without taking up too much space.

Pros & Cons

Pros

No Swinging: Unlike hanging knee raises from a pull up bar, there is no swinging of the legs so you can’t cheat

No Grip Limitations: Grip weaknesses are taken out of the exercise so you focus solely on your core

Progressions: Three levels of incline make this machine easy to use even for beginners

Comfortable: Padding on all points of contact are soft (hands, forearms, and knees)

Tracking: LCD monitor keeps track of your reps and pulse

Core Strengthening: Strengthen your abdominals and obliques with one machine

Cons

No Six Pack

Just like with ALL core exercises or machines, you won’t get abs from doing 1000 reps on this.

A six pack and definition is mostly about nutrition.

Does the Side Shaper work to get your core stronger? Absolutely!

Combine the Side Shaper with a healthy diet and you’ll have a defined and rock solid mid section.

Side Shaper Coupon Code

This ab machine is not cheap but there’s a reason for that.

It really isolates the mid section and I get an insane burn every time I do it.

And if you’ve been following me, you know I’m always looking for ways to save you money any way I can.

So here’s how to save $25 off the Side Shaper.

Click here and you’ll see a coupon code with the $25 discount automatically applied at checkout.