How to use an ab roller

How to use an ab roller - main image


Using an ab wheel technique for an ab roller to help reduce strain on your entire body

If you work hard in any training area, it’s going to take its toll. With about 700 hundred muscles across the body, that’s a lot of potential injuries. And given the sensitivity for each and everyone, with something as simple as a slight misbalance potentially changing your life, it’s important to look after them all.

Our core muscles, however, do a lot of the main work. They’re required for most major movements, putting a lot of strain on abdominal muscles. Running, sprinting, compound exercises… you name it, your upper body solid core stability is most probably required.

Ab roller exercises are, therefore, a great way to keep them healthy and optimised. All you need is a fairly priced ab roller, a product that differs in great variety yet all perform largely the same, and a bit of discipline.

Very soon, you’ll be mastering core exercises and keeping your muscles ready and resistant.

Top Performance

Performing the ab roll is, of course, vital here. We all need to do this movement right, or it may just be a waste of time. Ab rollers are generally speaking quite straightforward, but as usual, it benefits to know a step-by-step process.

Check out the full routine here, but here’s a little low down anyway.

  1. Start on your hands and knees – make sure you have room to extend and contract. Get an exercise mat too, an ab wheel rollout can be harsh on the knees.
  2. Make sure to roll forward while contracting your abs – Use the bars and roll the wheel forward without going too far (if you can’t roll back, then you’ve gone too far).
  3. Hold the plank position for 2-3 seconds.
  4. Then return to the original position, rolling the wheel backwards, keeping your arms straight.

This is a simple rundown of the classic ab wheel rollouts. This should seriously support your core muscle growth and can help with recovery, too, if done with less severity.

One more tip… take it slow.

This isn’t a high-intensity, high-speed workout. An ab roller/ab wheel is meant to be used in a measured and calculated way, taking it slow to ensure your core muscles are targeted with precision. Your entire core wants to be worked, and if you perform it too fast, you could be using other muscles unintentionally to help support the faster-paced motion. Proper form is integral to all workouts, be it a full body workout, trying to keep your core tight like today’s lesson, or… well, any exercise routine going.

Read more on taking it slow here.

Conclusion

Ab roller workouts are great for a reason – they let you target your whole core in a measured and dynamic way, and they challenge your support muscles too, which can be great for gym workouts and make an easy at-home exercise routine even more possible.

Try it out today.

FAQs

What if my starting position feels off?

Make sure to keep trying, referencing and honing the form – you’ll get there with enough practice.


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