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Never Do Ab Wheel Rollouts Like This!

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

Ab wheel rollouts are one of the most commonly performed ab exercises in the gym. Given their ease of setup, they are actually a great exercise for home workouts too since you can do them on the floor with very little space and one inexpensive ab wheel. The problem is, the ab rollout is also one of the most abused and misperformed exercises which can quickly ruin your lower back if you don-t fix how you-re doing them. In this video, I-m going to show you how to perform an ab wheel rollout safely so you can train your abs without wrecking your back. The problem with the ab wheel rollout starts with the position of your lower back during the setup of the exercise. The two things you want to avoid is letting your hips drop down into a straight line with your back and getting the hands out too far from the body. Either one of these will shift too much of the focus onto the lats and turn the into the prime mover of the exercise. This is not bad if you are looking for a great bodyweight back exercise but this is certainly not our goal when performing the ab wheel rollout. The back should be pulled out of the natural anterior pelvic tilt that occurs during the setup for this exercise. While you will be flexing the spine from above, a key function of the abdominal muscles, you will likely only be flattening the lumbar spine and pulling into a more of a posterior tilt from the excessive anterior tilt. This will have an effect of actually putting the back into a safer position to perform the exercise. From here, you want to consciously make sure that you hold the abs in a contracted position as you initiate the rollout. Only go out as far as your ab strength can support you. If you are a beginner, you may only be able to go out a foot or two. That is ok, as long as your lower back is not caving in at any point because your have surpassed the strength of your abs then you can still get great benefits from the exercise. If you are stronger, you can go out further and even hold the end position for awhile to increase the challenge. The next part is where most of us will ruin the exercise, even if it has been performed properly up to this point. Instead of initiating the return of the ab wheel to the top using the hips you have to contract the abs first and be sure to move your entire torso in one piece. Your hips and the wheel should come up together, without allowing the hips to travel backwards. In fact, you can check that you are doing this right by placing a bench behind your hips and making sure not to make contact with it with your butt as you pull back to the top. The most important element of this move is that you are getting both benefits of the abs if you want to get the most from it. The anti-extension and spinal flexion components of the abs are both going to be tested if you perform this right. Both are needed in order to build the ab strength necessary not only to get great results from the ab wheel rollout but to keep it a safe exercise choice as well. If you are looking for a complete training program that will not only train you to make the best muscle gains and fat losses than at any other point in your training without compromising your joints in the process, head to and get one of our ATHLEAN-X Training Programs
Date: 2022-04-22

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Comments and reviews: 10

Rob
I just got an ab wheel. Yes, you are suppose to focus on your core abs but make no mistake you will feel moderate soreness not only deep in the abs but also under the biceps, shoulders, chest, armpits and shoulder blades especially if it's your first couple times using an ab wheel. The ab wheel is a motion that is extreme for your body since its not used to it. If you train properly it works. I already look more defined after a few days use. The proper way to do this is, clenching your fist very tight on the handles and of course tightening the stomach. If your form slips while using this, you can seriously hurt yourself so be careful. Right now, I'm not bothering with a full extension, I go about half way. I will work my way up to a full extension when comfortable.
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Matt
Thanks for showing me I was doing the first half right. But I was messing up using the hips a bit for sure! Thanks for the tips. Im already impressed with this cheap little tool that many call a scam! Obviously if your fat already its not going to flatten your stomach but ive been at this plateau point where i have a tiny rounded portion at the bottom of my stomach. It feels hard underneith but always looks fat. personally bothers the shit outta me as ive tried everything but this ab roller is actually doing the trick for me by tightening up the lower muscles im missing from sit ups and crunches ect. THANKS!
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Dante
My form must have been bad. I used my ab roller for the first time for a couple days and after 3 days of doing it, one of my arms is so messed up that I can-t even use it. I-m pretty certain I sprained some joints in multiple places, most likely torquing my arm coming back in. Has anyone else had this experience? And what-s the best position and arm placement when doing this exercise?
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tiger
Best tips ever;
1. On your feet asap
2. Negatives ONLY!
3. Upgrade to single leg
4. Negative only!
Go out quite slow until you fail. The range you fail will increase until you can go fully out. Negatives only.
You will build strength quickest and soreness the least out of all rep methods.
You could even elevate the legs. Negatives is your best friend.
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Val
Good video. I did ab rolls a week ago, tried again today, but MY ABS KILL ME! They hurt A LOT! Interesting that I do not feel any pain unless I start doing the rolls.
I realize that I overtrained them or I may have hit the never-worked-before muscle fibers. Have you ever encountered a similar situation? Any suggestion?
Thanks
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tim
Im the same as all the other commentators, using my lats 100% of the time and not using my abs. been doing the wheel for years and never saw this video. Changing my routine to Jeff's to see what i've been missing all this time.
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Tim
Something Ive not seen explained and noticed I was doing from time to time. Great video.
Focusing on doing a number of quality reps not counting reps necessarily. Heard this once before elsewhere. Again, I like that
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Nikodem
Thank you, i recently bought the wheel and i knew i was doing something wrong cause i coud do it pretty much effortlessly and i know that that isn't the point, but i just couldn't put my finger on what.
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Jon
Hey man, did ab rollouts and had an interesting pull in my upper back. May have lost form, it wanted to ask if this was a common experience that you-ve heard of or would it be due to weak thoracic spine?
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Dee
It-s looks like one of the low key indicators of the exercise being done wrong is also is when your ass is paralleled with knees (vertically. I-m just saying. Some body correct me if I-m wrong!
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