This $17 infomercial gimmick is one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy for training your abs. The ab wheel beats crunches because it keeps your abs under constant tension, it scales from total beginner to advanced, and it works every ab muscle at once.
Listen: most people don’t take the ab wheel seriously because it was sold on an infomercial, and most things sold on infomercials are scams. This one is different. Here’s why it works, and exactly how to use it.
Why the ab wheel beats crunches
It keeps constant tension
When you’re using the ab wheel, you’re working the entire time. A crunch has a spot at the top and a spot at the bottom where you’re resting. More time under tension means more work for your abs on every rep, and that’s why the ab wheel wins.
It has a built-in progression
A beginner can get real benefit from the ab wheel with a shorter rollout, and a ripped bodybuilder can still get a lot out of it by going all the way out. Same wheel, different distance. I show every level below.
It hits all your ab muscles at once
The rollout works your rectus abdominis (the six pack), your transverse abdominis (the sleeve of muscle you use to suck your stomach in or stay stable in a squat) and your obliques. Crunches mostly hit the rectus abdominis. Training all of them at once is better, and if you want to know what each one does, here’s why you have 4 ab muscles, not just a six pack.
It works more than your abs
You’re also working your chest, your shoulders and, to some extent, your arms. It’s a great total body exercise and a great total ab exercise.
It’s cheap and it’s small
It costs about $17, it’ll last you a lifetime, and it fits in a drawer. No complicated equipment. It’s also a great backup for the days you can’t make it to the gym and need an ab workout at home.
How to do an ab wheel rollout with good form
- Kneel on a yoga mat. It isn’t required, but it makes your knees a lot more comfortable.
- Start with a flat back. The biggest mistake I see is a back that’s too arched. If you can’t hold that flat shape, you’re not getting as much out of the wheel as you could.
- Lock your arms straight, knuckles facing the ground. If your arms bend, you end up pulling the wheel back with your chest instead of your abs. Lock them out and it gets a lot harder, and you’ll feel your abs working a lot more.
- Roll out slowly and with control, then come back the same way. Time under tension is what matters. Rush the rep and you get half as much out of it.
Locked arms, flat back, slow pace. Those three details are the whole exercise.
Beginner, intermediate and advanced rollouts
- Beginner: keep your arms locked out, roll just a short way forward, then come back. Still slow.
- Intermediate: same form, roll out farther.
- Advanced: roll out until your nose is at the ground, or as close as you can get, then come all the way back.
If you can’t get nose to the ground yet, don’t worry about it. Go as far as you can with good form, and add an inch or two each workout until you’re at full extension.
You may have seen bodybuilders do a standing rollout with their feet against a wall. I’m not strong enough to do that one, and most people aren’t, so I left it out on purpose.
How many sets and reps
Do as many reps as you can at a slow, controlled pace. You don’t have to go to failure. In the video I do three sets live, with a short break between each one. My first set got pretty close to failure, and by the end I could feel it all over my shoulders and my abs. One tip: take your glasses off before you start.
The three mistakes to avoid
- An arched back. Keep it flat from the first inch of the rollout.
- Bent arms. They turn the rollout into a chest exercise. Lock them out.
- Rolling fast. Speed kills the tension, and the tension is the point. Slow out, slow back.
Want to do it with me? Here’s the ab wheel workout: 3 sets, start to finish.
Want to see what you’d look like with six pack abs? Generate your free AI transformation and get a plan to make it happen, including ab exercises like this one.
This is general fitness information, not medical advice. Some images in the video are AI-generated visualizations, and they’re labeled.
