What are ab rollouts?
What are ab rollouts? You've heard the term being banded around in the gym and you've probably seen ab rollouts being performed. But, what are ab rollouts, how are they performed and what do they do?
Ab rollouts are an exercise performed with an ab roller that activates the abdominal and core muscles. Incorporating ab rollouts and variations of it into your routine will increase strength and stability in your core.
Having a strong core will improve your compound lifts such as deadlifts and squats as well as improve posture.
Which muscles are worked by ab rollouts?
Ab rollouts do not just target the abdominal muscles. The back, shoulders, arms and legs all have muscles that are activated making it a great compound exercise.
The upper legs, lats and rear deltoids stabilise the movement, the abs and pecs bring the wheel in and muscles in the arm stabilise the wrists. Not only are ab rollouts great for developing strength in all of these muscles, but they also work the joints helping with flexibility and back pain.
If you are not already incorporating ab rollouts into your ab routine, give them a try for a few weeks and feel the benefits.
How do I do ab rollouts?
There are a few different ways of performing ab rollouts. We are going to look at the most popular method which can be performed by beginner, intermediate or advanced trainers.
- Place a mat on the floor, kneel down with the balls of your feet touching the mat.
- Pick up the roller, place it on the floor in front of you, lean over it and grip the handles with an overhand grip. Keep your arms straight so that they are supporting your upper body.
- Roll the wheel forward keeping your arms straight and feel let your core control the movement.
- Keep the wheel rolling forward until your arms are out in front of you and you feel like you can not pull it back in.
- Hold this position for a few seconds before slowly retracting the wheel to the starting position.
- Keep your arms and back straight throughout the movement. Feel the connection with your abdominals and make sure it is the core taking the majority of the strain.
There are various other uses of an ab roller. You can push the wheel out at an angle to put more tension on the obliques, or perform the partial movement.
Beginners may like to use a stopper to make sure they do not over-extend the movement and lose control and advanced trainers may choose to perform this movement from a standing position.
There are also variations of planks, push-ups and leg rollouts that can be incorporated into an ab roller circuit.
Take time to get used to the ab roller, find your limitations and try to find ways to improve your range of motion or time under tension. Advanced trainers know the benefits of using an ab roller and will usually always add them to their ab routine.
