How to Do an Ab Wheel Rollout the Right Way

Ab wheel rollouts are awesome for building core strength and stability and learning how to create and maintain the total-body tension that will take your pullups, deadlifts, and squats to the next level. The only problem is that many guys butcher the move when they try to add it to their workout, says Jeff Cavaliere, C.S.C.S., a physical therapist and strength coach who you might follow on social media for his Athlean-X training program.

The most common error Cavaliere sees is when guys bend at the hips as they finish off each rep. After all, your hips and glutes are part of your core. When you bend, you break your total-body tension. You also take some of the onus off of your rectus abdominis (six-pack) muscles, meaning you get far fewer core-strengthening benefits from each rep.

Check out Cavaliere’s smart demo series to help you nail your form. His first three reps are the way you want to perform the rollout—his hips are stable and controlled. He sets up on his knees, and then he maintains that strong position throughout the entire exercise. He doesn’t bend or sink his butt back toward his heels at all.

If his instruction doesn’t make sense, keep watching the next three reps. Here, we see Cavaliere showing what you should avoid at all costs. See his hips bend and his butt almost touching his heels at the end of each rep? That’s how most guys get it wrong—and it’s exactly what you won’t do any more.

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The ab rollout is one of the most overlooked (and best) ab exercises you can do…IF you do them correctly! It’s all in the hips. Once you set them don’t flex them!! Watch the demo video here. The first three reps show how it’s done. The knees don’t flex past 90 degrees. The butt doesn’t go back towards the heels. The hips don’t flex past where they started. The next three reps show you what NOT to do! Everything that went right in the first three reps is now wrong. The best part about this exercise is once you feel it done right you’ll know immediately because it’s much harder! I always say, if you do this properly you won’t be cranking out tons of reps. 10-20 high quality contractions will likely be all you need. Give this a try and let me know if this helps. ?? #abs #6pack #abroller #abrollout #getripped #trainsmart #trainhard #doitright #teamathlean #athleanx #jeffcavaliere

A post shared by ATHLEAN-X™ | Jeff Cavaliere (@athleanx) on Sep 24, 2019 at 7:34pm PDT

Try it out, and you’ll immediately know if you’re using the proper form. “The best part about this exercise is once you feel it done right you’ll know immediately because it’s much harder,” Cavaliere says.

Since you’re using much more effective movements, you might only be able to do a few reps with proper form, compared to high volume using the old, incorrect method. Don’t worry; Cavaliere says that you’ll only need 10 to 20 reps to really get a good workout when you’re rolling out properly.

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