How To Do Ab Wheel Rollouts
What Are Ab Wheel Rollouts?
The ab wheel rollout is a challenging core exercise that involves maintaining a neutral spine while rolling the ab wheel forward and back. This exercise challenges the rectus abdominis, obliques, spinae erector, and glutes, and can also help to improve flexibility in the shoulders and hips.
Unlike exercises like sit-ups where the core muscles are recruited to move the torso, ab wheel rollouts are a type of anti-core exercise where the core muscles have to work to keep the torso stable. There are multiple types of anti-core exercises – ab wheel rollouts are an anti-extension exercise as the core muscles have to work hard to keep the spine from extending, similar to a plank.
Benefits of including ab wheel rollouts in your training include increased core strength, improved posture, improved shoulder and hip mobility, reduced back pain, and increased ability to engage the core.
Most Commonly Asked Questions About Ab Wheel Rollouts
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Ab wheel rollouts are effective for strengthening all the muscles in the core, particularly the rectus abdominis which makes it a useful tool for building ab muscle. Maintaining correct form in an ab wheel rollout also builds the ability to correctly engage the core to maintain a neutral spine, which can help to protect the lower back in compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
Over time, ab wheel rollouts can improve posture, reduce back pain, and increase mobility.
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Having visible abs requires both increased ab muscle and low body fat to allow ab definition to be seen. To increase ab definition, you’ll want to train the abdominals close to failure at least twice per week, making sure to increase the difficulty of your ab workouts each week. Ab wheel rollouts are an effective ab exercise and can be made more challenging by increasing the range of motion and holding the end position for longer, which makes it a useful exercise for ab hypertrophy. However, you may also need to lose weight to see your abdominals.
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Ab rollouts are a good exercise that offers multiple benefits including increased overall core strength, ab definition, shoulder and hip flexibility, and reduced back pain.
Tips for Ab Wheel Rollouts
You need to engage the core to keep the spine from arching in ab wheel rollouts. To do this, think about tensing the stomach while bringing the belly button towards the spine. If you struggle to maintain this throughout the exercise or feel your back extending, reduce the range of motion and do smaller rollouts. You can also build core strength and engagement through exercises like planks and deadbugs.
How To Do Ab Wheel Rollouts
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Kneel on the floor both hands on the ab wheel with hands, elbows and shoulders stacked in a line, and knees under hips.
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Engage the core by pulling your bellow button in towards the spine.
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Slowly push the ab wheel forward while keeping your back and arms straight, so your arms come in front of your shoulders.
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Stop when you feel a stretch in the abdominals or when you reach parallel to the floor with arms fully extended overhead. If you are unable to maintain a neutral spine, stop at this point instead.
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Pause for a second before rolling the wheel back towards the starting position, keeping the core engaged throughout.
If you’re not sure if any of the above exercises are suitable for you, please consult your doctor before you start it. Need guidance on how to perform the exercise? Ask a personal trainer at your gym.