The ab wheel rolls you out from your knees until your body is nearly flat, then back. It is the hardest common ab exercise, because the abs have to stop your hips dropping through the entire range rather than just at one point, and the further you roll the worse the leverage gets.
How to do it
- Start from the knees and roll out only as far as you can keep the back flat.
- Squeeze the glutes throughout — that is what stops the hips sagging.
Common mistakes
- Rolling out until the lower back arches, which is the injury this exercise causes.
What it trains
- Abs
- resist the spine extending as you roll out — the prime mover, working hardest at full extension
- Lats
- pull the wheel back towards you and control how fast it goes out
- Obliques
- keep the wheel travelling straight rather than drifting to one side
- Shoulders
- hold the arm position overhead at the stretched end of the roll
Variations and alternatives
Common questions
How do I start with an ab wheel if I cannot do a full rollout?
Roll out only as far as you can keep your lower back flat, and stop there. Doing it facing a wall with the wheel set a foot away gives you a hard stop, and moving the wheel back a few centimetres each week is the progression.
Why does my lower back hurt during rollouts?
Almost always because you are rolling past the point where your abs can hold the position, so the spine extends and your back takes the load. Shorten the range until the hips stay tucked under, and keep the glutes squeezed throughout.
Knees or standing rollouts?
Knees, for a long time. A standing rollout is a genuinely advanced movement and there is no shame in never getting there — adding range and slowing the tempo on the kneeling version keeps it hard for years.
In StackUp. Logged as weight and reps per set, and your heaviest working set decides whether the weight goes up next time. Get the app.
Core
