Usefullness of Ab Wheel?

Have a $5 ab wheel that is pretty challenging to use. I see that some people use them in their conditioning.

I could see that it allows some pretty challenging core work espeically when rings aren't available.

I'm wondering what cross training benefit can they empart to the rings, if any?

The video at http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/wheel.html has some pretty good progressions ...

I like the pushups especially though probably can't do them (requires special wheels as well).

Thus far I'm able to get a partial but not complete motion from standing using the standard wheel.

it's a good anti-extension exercise

I don't see it being particularly helpful for ring development though

You can actually do a similar exercise with the rings, just to minimize equipment. Set them low to the ground and then extend the arms overhead while leaning forward. This is actually pretty decent for training the hollow

Yes, I've done those extensions with the rings. It''s a bit different in that the rings arc upwards, but it's still very dificult.

It seems to me that this would have some carry over to a front lever as you are working your core pretty well when you start from a standing position and when you pull back from the bottom position you are using what feels to me like the same muscles as a front lever/ first part of a 360 pull.

Yes I was thinking that it could translate to a front level as well. My front level is not very advanced so I will see if there's any improvement as my wheel improves.

Is a bit of a leg and glute workout perhaps, or do you think it's mainly just hip flexors?

Go ahead and do lots of ab wheel, see if your front lever improves. It's possible, but unlikely.

For most people it's not the abs that are the weak point in a front lever. Chances are your core will not be the first thing that gives out in a full front lever hold attempt. Yes, front lever involves anti extension, but in a very specific position.

I am not knocking the ab wheel, I think it's a great device and I think an athlete should be able to bang out a few reps of ab wheel from their feet. I just don't think it has much carryover to rings.

Front lever is a skill. In the time spent doing ab wheel to improve front levers, you could have been doing something like front pulls which directly improves the front lever.

My opinion anyway

True. There's probably not a lot of carry over. Sometimes just doing something different for a while gives the other muscles a chance to recoup. So it might help indirectly. If the stabilizers are weak though, it could make a bigger difference perhaps.

Agree that's pretty cool looking and impressive. Would not mind being able to do a few full reps for sure

Would it follow that someone who never used the wheel but could do a full front lever or multiple 360 pulls could whip out a few reps no problem? Probably eh?

I would bet on that.

I've been able to do ab wheel for quite some time(though it has been a while) and I am still struggling with full lay front lever

My abs have never been so sore as the couple days after doing a few sets of the wheel though

I don't know how much being good at it carries over to FL and ring work, but Ross Enamait uses it quite a bit (as well as l-sits) and can do a full roll out with 40-80lbs+ of weight vest and with only one arm. That's pretty insane if you ask me. Technically, Ross is a very strong boxer (IMO). He's very fast and strong. It seems like being good at that roll out movement helps him..

Great, thanks. Originally just was doing it as part of a circut with L-sit and handstands, part of warmup from the kneees before doing rings. Gives a good active stretch. Thought it might help with the rings but it's its own animal perhaps.

Regarding FL, I do think my core tends to drop more when I attempt a full FL. Most of the time I'm just doing advanced tuck, straddle or 1 foot forward. Probably the core/hips drop first, though the lats shortly follow!

FutureisNow said:

Great, thanks. Originally just was doing it as part of a circut with L-sit and handstands, part of warmup from the kneees before doing rings. Gives a good active stretch. Thought it might help with the rings but it's its own animal perhaps.

Regarding FL, I do think my core tends to drop more when I attempt a full FL. Most of the time I'm just doing advanced tuck, straddle or 1 foot forward. Probably the core/hips drop first, though the lats shortly follow!

I use the ab wheel in my workout and am progressing to being able to do an "Evil wheel" or "Standing Roll-Out".

I do this for (2) reasons:

1.  Because It's a freakin cool party trick (and is one my my personal goals).

2.  It works my chest / shoulder in a pull over fashion from full extension.  In fact, this is actually my current weak point.

It is rather independent of my ring work.

I do have a question.  What about the carryover from a front lever to a "Standing Roll-Out"?  If you can do a front lever can you easily perform a "Standing Roll-Out"?

I cannot do a front lever.

Beldor said:

I do have a question.  What about the carryover from a front lever to a "Standing Roll-Out"?  If you can do a front lever can you easily perform a "Standing Roll-Out"?

I cannot do a front lever.

Yes, you can easily do it if you have a front lever.

I considered buying an ab wheel for additional core work and thinking that it would help for the full lay FL. However, I decided to try out superman pushups first and found those challenging enough, especially starting from a lying down position. So, no ab wheel. Superman push ups give me very good feed back about being hollow instead of arched. I am still in an exploratory phase finding out about doing them from lying down, because in that position my back is arched (by nature).  I like the fact that you have to tense your core (by briefly holding your breath) so you can lift your body between hands and feet from the floor; it definitely adds something to L-sits and other core work on rings. If you decide to do these, be very careful not to hurt your lower back; it is a real danger. I put something (a pillow or book) under my hips to have less of an arch in the lower back  to start from when I tense my body in the initial psh up. 

done properly it's a good exercise. even if you have a 1 hour front lever hold, training the muscles and training the movement are different. Throw a couple reps in there for that movement variety if you feel like it. 

Joey Frad said:

done properly it's a good exercise. even if you have a 1 hour front lever hold, training the muscles and training the movement are different. Throw a couple reps in there for that movement variety if you feel like it. 

For sure the ab wheel roll-outs are a good exercise, but I think these two exercises are similar enough to have a lot of carryover between each other and the FL is harder of the two in this case which means it has more carryover to the standing ab wheel roll-out then the reverse. You can add in front pulls which would make it even more similar to roll-outs and I'm pretty sure standing ab-wheel roll-outs would be easy for you if you can do full-lay front pulls.

I don't really agree with that. With FL you only need to keep the static contraction to keep your body straight. With wheel you need to move to and out of that about same static position. Especially moving out of it with wheel is very hard thing to do, especially if you try it with a little slope downwards. I don't think front pulls really enter the equation at all since the movement is done with lats and shoulders. 

Now I'm not saying the wheel is harder or anything like that, but mainly that comparing FL to wheel is somewhat comparing apples to oranges.

Flameous said:

I don't really agree with that. With FL you only need to keep the static contraction to keep your body straight. With wheel you need to move to and out of that about same static position. Especially moving out of it with wheel is very hard thing to do, especially if you try it with a little slope downwards. I don't think front pulls really enter the equation at all since the movement is done with lats and shoulders. 

Now I'm not saying the wheel is harder or anything like that, but mainly that comparing FL to wheel is somewhat comparing apples to oranges.

I feel that they are pretty similar though and the ab wheel roll-outs do use the lats and shoulders too. So front pulls should be a good comparison. As for the static FL, isometrics can build strength a few degrees off its angle and that it can transfer strength throughout the whole range of movement too if it is at the hardest angle. For reference, I was already able to do standing ab wheel roll-outs (although with a bit of arching) when I was at half lay FL.