If you’re a novice to the gym or simply out of shape, you might have thought ab roller exercises seem prohibitively challenging. In reality, ab wheel exercises for beginners are incredible for building up cohesive core strength, improving your posture, and strengthening the muscles around your spine.
The key with ab rollers is that they don’t just target a single area of your abs. A full rollout will engage not only your front abdominals, but your glutes, obliques, lower back, and shoulders. If you use an ab roller regularly, you’re guaranteed to challenge your entire core.
Ab roller exercises for beginners are intense because they’re effective. That doesn’t mean they have to be so difficult they prevent you from getting started! Read these tips for how to make ab roller exercises simple and accessible for all fitness levels.
Engage the Correct Muscles
Form is everything! Ab rollers work an impressive amount of muscles, but there are some areas where you should not feel undue strain.
If your abdominals are too weak, you may find your leg or back muscles are feeling a burn when they shouldn’t. If this is the case, stop and reevaluate your form!
- Your legs and back should not be your primary source of strain.
- Make sure your butt isn’t sagging and your hips are level.
- Your head should always be parallel to the ground so your spine remains straight.
- You should avoid hyperextending your legs or arms—it’s not how low you can go that’s important, it’s how controlled you remain during the exercise.
Use a Guided Mat
It’s easy to stick to the correct form when you have the guidelines right beneath your wheel!
If you’re not sure the exact angle or length you should take when you’re trying out ab wheel exercises for beginners, this mat is the perfect solution.
Use Correct Breathing Techniques
Breathing correctly ensures you’re putting emphasis on the right area of your workout.
We always recommend this technique:
- Exhale slowly through your mouth while you’re rolling forwards.
- Inhale through your nose while you’re rolling back.
Stick to this, and you shouldn’t have any difficulty with air supply throughout the duration of your ab roller exercises at a beginner or pro level.
Start Out Slowly
There are several variations of ab roller exercises that gradually increase in difficulty. Even if you’re an experienced bodybuilder, you should start out at the very beginning to ensure you have the correct form.
Here’s our recommended progression:
- Use a bench. This is the easiest—but not easy—ab roller exercise for beginners. Start off in a standing position facing an inclined exercise bench and get into a standing plank position .Engage your abs and hold the wheel on the bench. Roll as far up as you can, and avoid straightening your arms completely.
- Go on your knees. Just like push-ups, a lighter variation of the ab wheel exercise for beginners has you rolling out from a kneeling position rather than your toes. Do not cross your ankles: keep your toes on the ground. Make sure you’re focusing on form and position while on your knees—this is critical if you want to progress. Concentrate on contracting and engaging your core muscles for the full duration of the exercise.
- Full plank. This is for advanced users only. Balancing on your toes and holding the handles securely, fully roll out and extend your body until you’re in a plank, then roll back with control.
- Side to side. This is an alternative ab roller exercise for both beginners and experts that focuses specifically on the obliques. It works by changing the angle of your rollout so that you focus on one side at a time.
Eliminate Wrist Strain—Use the Right Ab Roller
If you’re struggling to balance on the wheel so much that it’s taking pressure away from your core, you need to change your core workout routine. Beginners, especially, might not have the core strength to maintain a full rollout into a plank when the wheel is wobbly and the handles are small.
The solution lies in forearm supports. High-quality ab wheels come equipped with an ergonomic forearm rest so you don’t risk wrist injury. Additionally, a wide, rubber, non-skid wheel is ideal for maintaining your balance.
