Build A Solid Core With The Ab Wheel

An ab wheel is one of those pieces of home workout equipment that everyone should have. It's small, cheap, and very effective in giving you the core workout you've always wanted.

What Is An Ab Wheel?

An abdominal wheel is basically a wheel with a stick through it. There are several variations of it on the market, but the principle is still the same.

The basic one has a small wheel with a stick through it. Another one has two wheels on each end of the stick (like a dumbbell) where each hand has its own 'dumbbell'.

My favorite type is the one with pedals attached to the stick, on either side of the wheel, so you can lock your feet into it. The pedal version allows more exercises than others.

Benefits Of Using An Abdominal Wheel

The abdominal wheel trains your whole core, strengthening and solidify your abs like nothing else. Your upper and lower abs, as well as your obliques, will feel the wheel's intensity.

In addition, your lower back will get a workout as it will be holding your body up during the rollout exercises. Your lats may benefit too.

I noticed in just a few training sessions with the wheel that my core strengthened considerably.

Using The Ab Wheel

The most basic exercise for the abdominal wheel is the Rollout. Your hands grip the handle bar, your knees are close together on the floor, and you roll the wheel out in front of you.

In the beginning, you may only go part of the way, but you'll quickly adapt and be able to roll out all the way until your back is parallel with the floor. Then, just pull back, focusing more on the abs, rather than just sitting back with your butt and cheating the exercise.

Check out all the ab wheel exercises you can do.

When using the abdominal wheel for the first time, limit yourself to just one set of 10 or fewer Rollouts. This is to prevent soreness and putting you out of action for a few days.

In my personal case, I overdid it the first time. I could do sit ups and crunches well, but I was not prepared for what the abdominal wheel had in store for me. Not only did I do a set of Rollouts, but I strapped my feet on to the pedals and did alligator walks and piking. I stopped when my abs were shaking...

I was out of commission for a few days, needless to say, but that didn't stop me from using this powerful tool to strengthen my core to unknown levels.

Try it yourself and you'll see. The very first time you use it you'll know that this is something special, and deserves a place in your home workout routine.