The Ultimate Ab Exercise?
I’ve always been a fan of the idea that if you’re going to perform an ab exercise, it should include your entire core instead of just your abs.
Unfortunately many people are caught up in the idea that crunches are going to give them strong, 6 pack abs. In my opinion, crunches are probably the worst ab exercise you can perform if you want to have great looking abs that are strong as well. The only time I’ll ever perform them is if I just want to give my ab muscles a new stimulus to work with, but even then it’s very rare.
What I’ve found to be the ultimate ab exercise is something called the “ab wheel”. This amazing device is literally a small wheel with handles on each side. You simply get down on your knees, roll out, and then roll back in. That’s it.
By utilizing this ab wheel, you’ll get a tremendous workout in your core. You will also be using your upper body for stabilization as well, to the point where you can actually become sore if your upper body isn’t in the greatest shape.
As with all exercises, it can become quite easy after awhile. When I first got mine I got up to 30 reps fairly quickly and decided I wanted a bigger challenge. I strapped 40 pounds on my back and had at it. Needless to say, it did the trick.
As with any exercise, it’s going to become fairly easy at some point. Does that mean you should eliminate that exercise from your routine? No, all it means is that you need to find a way to make that exercise harder. Most often this implies using 1 leg instead of 2, 1 arm instead of 2, de-stabilizing your body to make it harder to stay balanced while performing the exercise, adding weight, or any other change that will make it harder.
Here are a few suggestions for making the ab wheel a harder ab exercise:
- Add Weight
- Use One Arm
- Roll Out From Your Feet Instead Of Your Knees
- Pause For 2 Seconds At The Bottom
- Roll From An Inclined Position
- Roll 2 Wheels Out Sideways Simultaneously
The great thing about these wheels is the price. You can get one on Amazon for about $15 or you can get a better one with foot straps for about $50. You can also look up “how to make an ab wheel” on Google if you want to make a homemade one.
I personally bought one that’s called the “Power Wheel 2” on Amazon (the one with the straps for your feet). With those straps you can perform various types of amazing exercises that you can’t do without the straps, so I’d highly recommend it. Some of the exercises turn out to be even greater full-body exercises, such as the Pikeup.
No matter what ab exercises you’re performing now, I’d highly recommend trying the ab wheel. If it’s too easy, try the recommendations I stated earlier. If it’s too hard, simply go a fraction of the way down and slowly go down further each time you exercise with it.
This wheel has had a tremendous impact on my overall core development, and I can promise you that you’ll notice huge differences as well.
Jeremy Reeves is a fitness enthusiast who has been studying health and fitness for a large part of his life. His website, http://www.fitness-made-fun.com is designed to help people put more fun into their workouts and help them to enjoy it much more. You can sign up for his free periodic newsletter, “Fitness Made Easy” by going to http://www.fitness-made-fun.com/fitness-newsletter.html
Tags: ab exercise, ab wheel
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