Hello all, just read an article by Mike Boyle about anterior core training which pretty much centers around the ab wheel. I have been using one for a few weeks and I’m interested in whether or not anyone here uses them, how you use them (sets, reps, progression) and whether or not you like them or have seen results that you could contribute to the ab wheel.
I am pretty light and lean so I do them in sets of 20 (roll slightly to the left and back = 1, to the center and back = 2, slightly to the right and back = 3 and repeat until I hit 20).
My last set i do ten reps but i pause for a few seconds when I am fully outstretched.
Also, this is the only direct ab work that I do. If anybody has any exercises they prefer, lets hear it!
I don’t personally have a whole lot of experience with them, a friend of mine, however, swore by it. His abs were well defined so I’m guessing it did him some good. Not too sure about the rep ranges he used or the ROM.
Yea before these last couple weeks I hadn’t used one in over a year (friend took it to the gym and lost it), but I bought another one because you can hammer your abs in 5 minutes with it and I HATE ab training. Besides the ab wheel I have never consistently (directly) trained abs.
What I’ve always done is used a decline bench and hold a plate centered on my chest, doing smaller sets of reps. Worked pretty good.
I don’t see using the ab wheel as being progressive after a certain amount of time. Sustainment- perhaps. But there’s no load-bearing so the resistance stays the same.
i have one… but i’m not ready for it. i has the anterior pelvic tilt and my spinal erectors take over from my abs on planks and roll outs and… squats and deads and basically everything.
so… uh… back to dead bugs and shit like that for me
want to build up to barbell rollouts and dragon flags and hanging leg raises.
Yo Cronus i use an ab wheel too and i really like it. In my opinion it makes sense to train the abs with this since it uses the core muscles in unison to prevent the pelvis from tilting, which is exactly what i want.
right now i just do 3-5 sets of 25 (sometimes i alternate the angles every rep) from the knees. im also looking for a weighted vest to add to myself. the only other direct ab training i do a decline weighted crunch, but lower the 45lb plate behind my head kinda like a pullover and resist the lumbar arch it creates by pressing the small of my back into the bench and keeping my abs tight, then i pull it over my head again with it pressed infront of my chest and do a small ROM crunch
I don’t have an ab wheel. So I use a 4’ bar with some 10kg on it to get it off the ground. From my knees I generally do what ever I can manage which usually comes out to be ~12/10/10. Smashes my abs. I stop when I can feel my lower back taking a beating. Hurts like a bitch.
That Ross bloke, the boxer, he is incredible with his ab roll outs. Makes me feel like a limp dick when I saw him do them.
You feel the rollouts in the abs & lats primarily. I love it, as it truly hits my core like nothing else. I want to get to the standing rollouts at some point, but my big ass would probably break my wheel!
I tend to do my Ab workouts for a 2 week burst and then lay off for a few weeks, it’s kind of like if you haven’t done pullups for a few months - the next day your abs hurt much more than you lats do but after a while you get used to them so by only doing them for a few weeks you keep your body in shock mode.
In terms of exercises Ab Wheel, Hanging Leg Raises, Turkish get ups, Pallof Press, Ab bridges in a circuit, I focus on trying to get the hardest possible ab contraction and try to minimise any momentum
