do these ab wheels work?

[kingkhai]

will they just give you a flat stomach or will they give you a 6pack or do they evn work at all?

[ZachG_85]

Depends. Do you mean one with resistance? If so it might work. The ones that are just wheels with handles hurt my back somethin terrible.

[Machine]

they won't give you a flat stomach, CARDIO gives you a flat stomach.. And crunches, reverse crunches, leg raises, helps define your abs.. very simple.

[Caleb]

I do these sometimes. You don`t need anything special, just put some plates on a curl bar and use that.

I can`t really say weither or not they devolp abs any better than other ab exercises because I`ve never just done them. They do however increase core strength.

[masshole]

I believe they work. It is the only exercise that has EVER made my abs sore. I have done leg lifts, crunches, weighted crunches, etc. and the ab wheel is the only thing I feel. I just do the one with the handle and wheel from Wal-Mart. I have back problems, but this has never given me problems. I don't think it is the best thing for the sixpack, but I think it is effective for all of the muscles around the midsection. I don't think it really isolates the sixpack part of the abs, but it definitely adds core strength. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, I never really feel it while I'm doing it, but I always feel it the next day. Btw, I go down until my nose touches the ground with my arms straight out.

[CBGOKC]

The ab wheel is a very high level exercise if done correctly it really stretches your abdominals and works them thru ranges not possbile with the standard gym excercises. Don't anchor your feet, it really cheats your abs if you do.


The ab wheel is a great additon to give your AB's"Tone" Tone is basically the hardeness/fullness of muscle while it is extednded not flexed contracted. It is also a great excercise for anyone involved sports where over head arm movement are used ...baseball, softball, tennis etc...

[BigWilly]

Those wheels (or curl bar with weights on it) are also good for working the serratus (sp?) muscles....

[Caleb]

I need to add something here. Abs are probably the hardest muscle group to work properly.

If you`re not feeling a burn with crunches, you`re doing them wrong. I first started doing ab exercises over 6 years ago. I still don`t have proper tension on some of my ab exercises. I do:

Cable crunches
Crunches
Body ball crunches
declined bench crunches(do this with weight too)
Leg raises
Hanging leg raises
captin bench crunches
reverse leg raises
ab wheel work
Cable Wood chops (great if you play sports)

And those are just the ones I use most often.

Anyway. On a declined bench I can grab a 45lb plate, stick it on my chin and start doing reps with that for 5x 25... I can do 1,000 body ball crunches... But I can also do 5 sets of 30 bodyball crunches and have my abs burning... The point? The point is ab exercises are often as hard as you make them. If you`re hitting several hundred crunches, you`re not squeezing your abs hard enough. Unless you`re trying to add muscle size you don`t really need to add weight to your ab exercises.

[CBGOKC]

Ab's are also the most overtrained area of the body. While they are postural muscles and will recover more quicky, you shoudn't get carried away. If your intensity is right 2 x a week is good.

Many people confuse hip flexor strength for ab strength too. When your feet are anchored the abs only do some of the work and Hip flexors do the majority with most exercises

IMHO: A good Ab routine requires synergy too: Work harder movements and longer ranges to shorter ones.

Start with leg movements require moving your pelvis: hanging legs raises etc, go to combo movements, like bicycles, then long range excercise that involve obliques like twisting ball crunches, finsh with short range isolation excercises like crunches then bent leg crunches all with very little rest A good Ab routine shoud not take more than 10 Min from start to finish.


An example routine is here, this is not a begginers routine....

I have made some of the most fit people in the world beg for mercy with this one.


2 sets Hanging leg rasies to failure:

Keep your knees slightly bent, raise your feet as high as you can while rolling your pelvis underneath you as you come up. GO SLOW and Make your abs do the work.... not your hip flexors or momentum and gravity. Makes all of the difference in the world.

1st set arch your back and start with your hips extended and your feet slightly behind you

Rest for 30 secs

2nd set keeping your hips slightly flexed and your feet a little in front (shorter range but much harder)

No Rest

One set of bicycle crunches, opposite knee to shoulder with slow strict form eblobos out wide turn from the shoulder at first, then speed up at the end and really burn it to failure. Emphasize the the knee pull part of this crunch

10 sec rest


Crunches with a twist: One set to failure

I reccomend and gym ball for these but using a bench with your upper back over the edge alllowing your back to really arch and stretch your abs works too. The point here is to really arch your back and stretch your abs to end range before coming up with a slow deliberate twist.


20-30 sec rest


Regular crucnhes on gym ball or over end of bench to failure.

**Roman Chair works here too.. I usually alternate the Roman chair or the Ball by workout, sometimes,if I am feeling really spunky I do both with the Chair always first

Doing the ball work with a Tricep rope and adjustable pulleys so that you incorporate overhead arm movement with the cruches and really extend the trunk to put leverage on the abs is a progression here that really gets fun. I use it with athletes alot.**

A little Ab roller here is nice here also..........

No rest

Regular flat crunches to failure

short rest maybe 10 secs

Regular crunches with hips and knees bent at 90 90

Really force this last set out with speed and momentum and make it burn.

[sfetaz]

Nothing you do with the wheel or any other exercise will work unless you are eating a proper diet and working out your entire body and doing cardio.

[TomGS]

Yes they work to build your ab muscles, but they won't make you ripped.

[Tanyatorres1]

I may give this curl bar thing a try. I am trying to rip up my mid but having medical issues makes it limited to frequent twisting.

[marquespizarro]

I have been using ab wheels for awhile at my house, and they work very wheel, however, you must use them correctly. most people just roll out and contract, but that actually works the lats, and not so much of the abs. It is equivalent to a static plank, but our abdominal is meant to contract and help use move our body. So what I do to enhance the tension on my abs is to round my back, and this allows you to attack the abs. Try it, it is much harder to perform.

Website: Secrets2muscles.com

[SilvanaWilliams]

A friend of mine's older brother trained with or worked for (second hand story so the details are a little sketchy) Jacques LaLanne and swore by the abs roller. Some models are fancier than others. And they can cause back pain if you already have issues, so be careful when using them.