Hey Jim, thanks for designing 5/3/1 for us mere mortals. I’m 2 days into it and loving it so far. It’s tough, humbling, but always enjoyable.
I am struggling with the ab wheel though. For one thing, my gym doesn’t own any, so I have to improvise by doing forward barbell roll outs. However, I simply suck at doing them and end up irritating my lower back and not really getting the ab engagement, they aren’t too enjoyable and I’m hoping you have a more effective solution!
I have numerous friends and fellow lifters saying that all you really need is planks and weighted planks, and that they are far superior to rolling out. I am somewhat confused though, considering that the ab wheel stuff is dynamic and therefore probably more effective overall?
Is there anything more doable that I could be doing that will have the same or similar effect as performing the ab wheel?
PS: I think the hanging leg raises should be fine, (I’ve never really trained abs until this point, so it’s a completely new world for me!) provided I begin by performing the knee raise variant and move onto the full raise and much harder movements along the line as I get stronger.
The ab Wheel basically is a plank. The arms going forward just increases the length of the lever arm making it a more difficult plank at the end range. You can substitue with anthing really. Pulldown abs, incline weighted situps, normal situps, windmills, some sort of weighted crunch machine. Dont sweat something like that, just get some solid volume in and you’re golden.
It might be worth dialling back how far you extend yourself on the ab wheel. I find most beginners don’t really need to extend that far to produce results. Start easy and gradually increase the distance as your strength improves.
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
All weighted sit-ups should be done with weight held behind head. [/quote]
x 2
Do not be one of those guys that holds 100 pounds at the belly button. 10 pounds behind the head is much more impressive. It’s all about leverage, and it this case to better train the abs you should put yourself at a disadvantage.
[quote]Mattyb83 wrote:
I was sick of using the EZ curl bar with 25s for rollouts so this thread prompted me to order a 25 dollar ab wheel off of Amazon. Thanks fellas. [/quote]
I’ve decided I might as well just bite the bullet and get one. Even if I can’t do ab rollouts properly to begin with, it doesn’t mean I can’t practice them and get good at doing them!
Best, or most sturdiest and good for value ab wheel available to buy from Amazon?
Massive, unashamed fan of rollouts here. I’m hardly the world’s strongest, but I’d credit lots of rollouts prior to really getting into barbell stuff as the reason my deadlift is so far ahead of my other lifts. IMO the carryover from standing rollouts is unbeatable for torso rigidity. It hits everything, and teaches you how to lock everything properly.
Any ab wheel will do really, don’t worry about it. I’ve had the cheaparse York one for 4-5 years and it’s fine. Work up to 30 reps kneeling, then move on to standing rollouts limited by a wall, moving back over time until you can do full standing rollouts. You can also use a ramp to make them easier and get used to extending fully.
Most important is to breathe right down to your arsehole, tuck the pelvis forward to flatten the low back, lock it HARD and go.
No discussion of rollouts is complete without mentioning Ross Enamait… rollout king.