Roll-Out Tutorial

Learn how to properly Perform the roll-out

watch the video and read the description below to learn helpful cues and avoid common mistakes of performing the roll-out exercise.

Description:

The roll-out is an anti extension exercise for the ab muscles.  It challenges you to maintain tightness in your abs and basically hold a plank position as the wheel rolls away from you. 

A roll-out can be performed with a wheel, a physio ball, a barbell, or a glute ham glider.

Set-up in order to perform a roll-out, kneel on the ground and place your hands on the wheel (or other rolling object). 

Brace your abs and begin pushing the wheel forward with your hips while keeping the wheel under your face until your hips are fully extended and you have a straight line between your knees and your shoulders. 

From this position, you can either return to the start position or you can continue pushing the wheel forward out in front of your face for an extra challenge.

Advanced exercisers can perform this exercise from a standing position rather than from the knees.

Helpful Cues:

• Move the wheel with your hips, not with your arms.  Move the entire body as a unit, don’t simply push the wheel forward while keeping the rest of your body back.  

• Squeeze your butt before each rep.  This will help maintain a neutral spine during the movement.

Common Mistakes:

• Allowing your back to arch during the movement.  This is a flaw because it takes the tension off of the abs and places it more on the spine.  We’re doing this exercise to make your abs strong, so keep those abs squeezed tight throughout the set! Maintain that straight line between the knees and shoulders and don’t allow yourself to sag down in the middle.  

• Reaching too far out while not moving the body.  This is pointless, as none of the tension will be placed on the abs unless you are moving the entire body as a unit.  If you’re just rolling the wheel with your arms, you aren’t accomplishing much of anything.

  Other names for the Roll-out:

• Ab Wheel

• Ab Roll-out

• Barbell Roll-out

  Common Roll-out Variations:

• Standing Roll-Out