How to Progress to Full Ab Wheel Rollouts

What is the best way to progress from kneeling rollouts to full standing rollouts using the ab wheel?

Most people can’t really do full standing rollouts, but kneeling rollouts are definitely possible for vast majority with a bit of training. For example, you can make some progress with rolling against a wall, but the most effective way to progress is to create a simple apparatus. Use a thick piece of wood and attach a couple of hooks at one end so you can put it on a bar of your power rack.

Apparatus hooked on a bar

Close up on the hooks

This way, you can progress in height and basically do a full standing rollout at many different degrees.

At this height it’s pretty easy

But at this height, the intensity of the exercise becomes much harder

Even though it takes a bit of work to take a piece of thick wood and screw a couple of hooks into it, it’s definitely worth it. It’s much easier to progress gradually using this tool than anything else. In case your goal is a full standing rollout, I can’t stress enough how valuable this would be for your progression.

Speaking of ab training, I just released a new book called The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Ab Exercises which covers rollouts in great detail as well variations of hanging leg/knee raises and tons of other information on getting the abs you’ve always wanted.