You’ve probably seen a fitness enthusiast or two knocking out a couple of ab wheel exercises at your local gym and wondered why they purposely add the equipment into their workout routine.
We’re here to detail the ab roller benefits, which are many. They include enhanced physical performance, upgraded functional strength, and better posture and stability.
These components all connect with one significant advantage of using the ab roller–improved core strength.
In the following content, let’s dive into the ab roller benefits and why you should add one to your routine!
Table of Contents
The Top 6 Ab Roller Benefits
Compared to traditional ab exercises, ab rollers are a fun, new way to engage and strengthen the core. There are spectacular ab wheel benefits that can change the game in your exercise routine and overall health and fitness. Find out what the ab roller benefits are below!
1. Improves Posture
Incorporating ab roller workouts into your workout routine to strengthen the entire core, which also engages other muscle groups, is a productive way to improve posture and a neutral spine.
The abdominal muscles are responsible for keeping the body in neutral alignment. This is important for preventing bodily misalignments that can cause potential injury, such as low back pain, tight hip flexors, and ankle dysfunction.
Adding ab wheel exercises into your routine can be productive for strengthening the core and, therefore, promoting core stability and better posture to prevent injury. It is easier to maintain good posture when the trunk (another term for core) can withstand fluctuations that come with different movements, like walking, twisting, and carrying things.
2. Develops Upper Body Strength
Depending on the exercise selected for ab wheel workouts, this tool can be a great way to strengthen the entire upper body, not just the core. It can hit the lower and upper back muscles for a powerful addition to your exercise routine.
Different exercises work different muscles in the body, so the focus areas can vary depending on the exercise in question. Still, ab roller workouts can target muscles in the upper body–biceps, chest, triceps, lats, and delts–to improve strength.
3. Boosts Core Strength
The ab wheel is designed to help you develop a strong core. Some people mistakenly believe this tool can be used to eliminate belly fat.
A combination of a caloric deficit and increased energy expenditure to promote fat loss ultimately leads to a reduction of belly fat. A protein-rich diet to retain muscle and promote recovery is also crucial. Targeting fat, whether belly fat or on the entire body, with specific exercises, is not a productive maneuver.
What the ab roller is effective in doing is improving core strength. A strong core is vital for reducing imbalances in the body, whether muscular or skeletal, that can lead to possible injury. This is crucial for everyday life and for athletes to reduce the risk of back pain, poor posture, and other preventable risks.
4. Enhanced Performance In Athletes
Another one of the excellent ab roller benefits is enhanced performance in athletes. A strong core stabilizes the body during movement, important for injury risk prevention.
Athletes looking to upgrade their performance in their respective sports or the gym can use ab roller exercises to improve core stability and strength. The core plays a significant role in exercise to maximize athletic performance, leg balance, and stability in the trunk and spine.
Incorporating core training into your regimen as an athlete is crucial for avoiding unnecessary energy expenditure, increasing stability and protective stiffness in the spine, and optimizing control of motion and force in athletic movements. So whether you’re a runner, a basketball player, or your average Joe in the gym, adding the ab roller into your workout sessions can be a beneficial move for improving core strength for enhanced athletic performance.
5. Better Balance & Stability
Core strength is heavily correlated with core stability. Using an ab roller to activate the core muscles to increase strength in the abdominal muscles is an excellent way to improve balance and stability in everyday movements and activities.
The core muscles provide balance and stability in the body by stabilizing the spine so you can stay upright and centered whether you’re standing, running, jumping, or walking. When the core muscles work in harmony, established through training, this produces overall improved balance and stability.
6. Convenient, Affordable, & Versatile
One of the top ab roller benefits is its convenience, affordability, and versatility as a piece of exercise equipment. The compactness of an ab wheel makes it easy to fit in your gym bag or luggage to bring to the gym or as you travel–the perfect-sized workout equipment to improve abdominal strength after strength training at the gym or in your hotel room.
The ab wheel is also convenient and versatile, incorporating all the muscles in a session. Plenty of high-quality ab wheels are affordable, so you don’t have to break the bank for this convenient gym tool to receive its generous benefits!
Example Ab Roller Exercises
Want to start your first ab wheel workout to experience the outstanding benefits of this tool? Then, you must check out these recommended ab exercises to see how it can upgrade your core strength. Get ready for the ultimate core-engaging exercises with the ab roller below!
Roller Tucks
Ab roller tucks, or ab roller knee tucks, are a fantastic exercise to incorporate your ab wheel into your workouts. This exercise activates different muscles in the body in addition to the core, including the shoulders, biceps, and triceps, to hold the plank position through the movement pattern.
How To:
- The starting position for this exercise will begin on your hands and knees.
- Lift your feet to place them on the handlebars of the ab roller.
- Move into a high plank position on your hands, keeping the core tight and distributing your weight evenly so the roller doesn’t tilt.
- From here, engage your core and tuck your knees into your chest.
- Return to the starting position. This is one rep.
Kneeling Ab Wheel Rollouts
The kneeling ab wheel rollout is a beginner-friendly alternative that thoroughly engages multiple muscle groups other than the core muscles. It incorporates the upper and lower body muscles for an overall intense, muscle-activating movement pattern.
How To:
- The starting position for this ab roller exercise begins on hands and knees in a tabletop position.
- Your knees will remain on the ground in this beginner-friendly option. For better balance to ease into the movement, move your knees and feet slightly wider for better balance.
- Place both hands on the handles of the ab roller.
- Keep the glutes squeezed, core braced, and arms straight as you slowly roll out as far as possible.
- Return to the starting position. That is one repetition.
Ab Wheel Roller Plank
The ab wheel roller plank is an excellent exercise to engage the abdominal muscles. It also works other muscle groups, including the glutes, shoulders, and back.
This exercise can be made beginner-friendly by moving onto your knees instead of your feet to practice the movement and work up to the more intense version on your feet.
How To:
- Start on hands and knees in a tabletop position.
- Grab the ab wheel with your hands and enter a solid plank position with both arms extended.
- Ensure you maintain a tight core to keep the ab muscles engaged.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds to one minute or another predetermined goal time.
- Lower back down to the starting position to complete this exercise.
Our Ab Wheel Recommendations
Now that you know the outstanding ab wheel benefits and some example exercises to try, it’s time to purchase your first ab wheel. We’ve included some of our favorite ab wheel recommendations below for you to pick from to get started!
VINSGUIR Abdominal Roller
Price
$21.99
The VINSGUIR Abdominal Roller is an affordable, high-quality ab wheel we recommend purchasing and incorporating into your gym routine. It offers a beginner-friendly installation and smooth operations thanks to its optimal design.
Highlights:
- Easy to install
- High-strength stainless steel shaft that holds a maximum of 440lbs
- 3.2-inch ultra-wide ab roller design prevents tilting or loss of balance
- Promotes smooth operation thanks to the soft TPR rubber surface design of the wheel
- A purchase of the ab roller comes with a bonus of one knee matt
ROGUE Ab Wheel
Price
$75
The ROGUE Ab Wheel is a tad pricier than other affordable options, but if you don’t mind spending the money, this equipment is worth every penny. It is made with high-quality materials that guarantee a longer life than ab wheels made with cheaper materials.
Highlights:
- 1.25” diameter rubber handles designed for comfort and firm grip
- Compact, lightweight, and portable
- Designed with a nickel-plated steel shaft and durable rubber tire tread for secure grip on most surfaces
- Boasts sealed bearings for precise and smooth rotations during movements
- It has slightly rounded edges on the wheel for a purposeful challenge to users to maintain straightness during each rollout
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does The Ab Roller Really Work?
The ab roller can be a beneficial tool to add to your routine to improve posture, upper body strength, and develop core strength. Exercises using an ab wheel often incorporate more muscles than solely the core, which can function to engage muscles in the lower and upper body to improve posture, stability, and strength.
Is The Ab Roller Effective For Belly Fat?
Losing belly fat is strictly correlated with a caloric deficit, typically created through a combination of increased energy output and decreased energy consumption (food). An ab roller can be effective for increasing core strength but will not eliminate belly fat.
Is It OK To Use Ab Roller Everyday?
Using an ab roller daily is fine, but the core muscles need time to recover and heal. Exercising the core muscles using the ab roller daily can hinder progress in developing core strength and other benefits achieved from a strong core.
Summary
The ab roller is an addition everyone should add to their workout routine if you’re looking to upgrade your core strength.
This gym tool is connected with empowering stronger core muscles and engaging other muscles such as the back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. Core strength is vital for injury prevention, good posture, and support for daily tasks such as sitting and walking. And by incorporating the ab roller into your workout routine, you can reap the benefits of a strong core!
If you want any tips or advice on how to use an ab roller or any other piece of equipment, feel free to reach out to a qualified fitness professional at Everflex Fitness.
