The Best Abdominal Exercise: Ab Wheel

January 21, 2009 | 2 Comments

Cut, wash board abs is the foundation of a toned sexy body. Even though the classic exercises like bent-knee sit-ups are great for maximizing abdominal activation, they put a lot of stress on the spine that can lead to life time of back pain.

Mayo Clinic researchers, led by James Youdas, found that among the most popular abdominal exercises, Ab Wheel activated the abdominal muscles better than the crunch, double-leg thrust and the bridge exercises.

Avoid Double-Leg Thrust

Researchers found that double-leg thrust placed a lot of stress on the lower back because it worked more of the Psoas muscle (muscle that connects from upper thigh to lower spine) rather than your abdominal muscles.

Top 3 Abdominal Exercise

Another research done by Dr. Stuart McGill from Canada showed that the three best exercises for abdominal muscles are Curl-Ups, Bird-Dogs and the Ab-Wheel. Out of these three exercises, Ab-Wheel activated the abdominal muscles the most with minimal or no spine movement.

How to Perform:

Curl-Ups

Photo by Jillian

Just your average crunch without supporting your head with your hands. I recommend interlocking your fingers and placing them under your chin. Try to keep your chin away from your chest by looking at the ceiling during the exercise.
Repeat this exercise to complete 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Bird-Dogs

Photo by Larry

Kneel on your hands and knees, placing hands below your shoulders and knees directly beneath your hips.

EXHALE: Raise right knee off the floor, extending leg behind you, parallel to the floor as you also extend your left arm in front. Hold for 1-3 counts.
INHALE: Lower your arm and leg back to the starting position.
Repeat this exercise alternating sides to complete 1-2 sets of 10-15 reps for each side.

Ab-Wheel

Photo by Everlast

Kneel on your Knees with Ab-Wheel in front of you. Start by straighting out your hips and your knees first followed by your shoulders.
For beginners, Ab-wheel might be too much to handle, if that’s the case try Ab-Slider. Ab-Slider is spring loaded Ab-Wheel .

Source: Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 22:1939-1946, 2008