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If, on your quest for 'ab workouts' or 'exercises to lose belly fat', you're yet to come across ab rollers, now is the time to get to know. It's one of the most effective pieces of fit kit money can buy, guaranteed to work every muscle group at once, while also keeping your workouts fun. Read on for everything you need to know, including the best to ab rollers to buy for 2024. Pepin Dumbbells
In a hurry? No sweat. Here's our pick of the very best ab wheels and rollers available to shop now. Keep scrolling for the full list, plus our tips on how to get the most out of them.
An ab roller, or ab wheel, is an effective and efficient way to strengthen your core and tone the abdominal muscles by rolling yourself out into a plank and back.
'The ab roller is a small yet robust piece of equipment that fully activates the core muscles and the upper body,' explains Sarah Campus, a personal trainer, nutrition coach and founder of LDN MUMS FITNESS. 'It features a wheel, attached with a handle on each side, that smoothly glides along most surfaces.'
Queen of the core Jennifer Aniston is reportedly a fan of her ab wheel, while Rita Ora was spotted working out with what her trainer calls 'the hamster wheel,' and others have described as 'an ab roller on steroids' - check it out on her trainer's IG here.
An ab roller looks simple enough, but it's far more than just half planking while you grasp a wheel. To use an ab roller effectively you have to extend your arms beyond your shoulders, targeting your lower and transverse abs (the core muscles that wrap around your stomach). Basically, get ready for that core to shake.
To help you nail your ab roller form, follow Campus' guide below. 'It is important to note that you should only do as many reps per set as you comfortably can while maintaining excellent control and without letting your lower back arch,' she says. 'Technique is very important, as with any exercise we perform.'
From sustainable options to dual wheel and spring-loaded rollers, we've rounded up our pick of the best ab wheels, available to shop now.
Wondering what type of ab roller is best, what to look for when shopping, or for a roundup of the benefits of ab rollers? Keep scrolling — we've answered all your questions below.
We love everything about this ab roller, right down to the teal colour. It's easy to assemble and comes with a comfy knee pad plus an elastic band connecting the wheel to the mat, which can be used either to provide stability or add resistance, depending on length (it's adjustable). Or you can simply remove the band completely if you’d rather go without.
This flexibility means you shouldn't need to upgrade as you progress, and you can really amp things up if you want to feel the burn. A great all-rounder.
Pick up the ab wheel on its own for just £7.99!
This ab wheel from Myprotein comes with a comfy knee pad to make those punishing ab rollouts somewhat more bearable. It's lightweight and easy to re- and disassemble, so great for travel, plus the handles are moulded for a secure grip.
This ab roller from adidas has a durable rubber wheel to ensure you can keep rolling for years to come. It's a single, 18cm diameter disc with a textured finish for traction, and padded, soft-grip foam handles to keep even the most punishing workouts comfortable.
While not particularly thick, the wheel isn't so thin that beginners won't get on with it.
Gymshark is known for its quality kit at affordable prices, and this no-frills ab roller is no exception. It's a standard size (18cm diameter) but a single wheel, upping the instability and switching on extra muscles for a killer core workout.
Padded handles make for a comfortable experience and the wheel features a deep tread so won't slip when you're pushing your weight down on the wheel. It's also super portable, being lightweight and really easy to set up and dismantle.
One of the wider wheels on this list, at 8cm this ab roller offers great stability while still switching on every fibre of your core. It comes with a knee pad and the non-slip rubber handles are super comfy, but they are quite narrow so will work your shoulders harder.
Thanks to a steel shaft, it's durable and feels premium, although it's worth noting the stickers can start to look a little naff over time.
Despite the double wheels this ab roller is super lightweight (just 400g) so ideal for taking to and from the gym, or if you travel a lot. The wheels are a whopping 27cm in width, and two wheels equals a more wobble-free workout, which is a plus in our book.
The handles are spaced far apart enough to not put a strain on your shoulders and the grip on both tread and handles is excellent too. A great all-rounder, particularly for beginners.
This affordable ab roller from 66fit is larger and wider than most, so ideal for beginners — but don't assume that spells an easy workout!
The double wheels measure in at 22cm in diameter and 6cm wide, plus they're fitted with durable non-slip grips for greater control as you move through exercises. Ergonomic foam handles and a 70mm thick foam knee pad keep things comfy.
This ab roller has the widest wheel base of all the products on this list, but it's also spring-loaded, so not for the faint hearted! The spring mechanism provides resistance rolling forward (ouch), but also offers assistance when rolling back (aah).
Plus, thanks to the barrel shape, this roller can pivot to the sides, helping to target the obliques. Extra features include padded ergonomic handles, knee pads and an exercise guide.
As you'd expect from John Lewis, this is a quality piece of kit that delivers. Constructed from steel, plastic and foam, it's well made and feels reassuringly durable.
The wheel is extra wide for greater stability while still providing a touch of the signature wobble you expect with ab rolling, plus the handles are non-slip. It's a thumbs up from us.
This dual wheel ab roller from Primal Strength has foam-coated handles and textured tread to aid stability. It is plastic, so feels a little cheaper than some of the other ab wheels on this list, but performs well, making it a solid budget option
This narrow-based ab roller performs like a normal ab wheel, but the foot stands also allow you to strap your feet in and move your legs while in plank, working deeper into other areas of your core. The handles are padded and the foot straps are detachable, while the wheel has a reassuring tread for good traction.
Mix things up with double the rollers! Akin to two dumbbells with wheels on the ends instead of weights, the SKLZ Core Wheels are a twist on the traditional ab roller, offering a more challenging workout as you move your arms independently.
They're lightweight, with foam handles and minimal tread on the plastic wheels — so great for use indoors.
Don't let the simplicity of ab rollers fool you — they pack a real punch. You have to employ more muscles than your typical abs exercise to ensure control and good technique, squeezing the glutes, engaging the core and stabilising the shoulders. And trust us, you can really feel it working.
According to Campus, ab wheel exercises come with a whole host of benefits:
Despite appearances, you're not just looking for a wheel with handles when you shop for an ab roller. You'll want to consider stability, grip, resistance and difficulty level, as well as comfort. Look out for:
The best ab roller for you will depend on your fitness level. 'Beginners will want a wider wheel with good grip that helps with stabilisation, while more advanced people may want something narrower and with a smaller wheel that challenges their core significantly,' says Campus.
After that choosing the best ab roller comes down to which extras you want — some ab rollers may have double wheels or spring-loaded resistance to boost stability, and some comes with useful accessories like knee pads to keep things comfortable.
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Abdominal Roller Hattie Parish is the Health and Fitness Ecommerce Editor for Women’s Health, Men’s Health and Runner’s World, covering the best gym wear, latest fitness tech and wellness launches worth investing in, plus the best deals during Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. As well as clocking up the miles in myriad running socks, pummelling her muscles with massage guns, testing out fitness mirrors and donning dry robes every other weekend, Hattie consults leading experts in the health and fitness industry to help readers make informed decisions when shopping online. Brought up by two medics, Hattie worked in health clinics before completing a BA in English at King’s College London. She qualified as a journalist in 2015 and has since written for titles such as Healthy magazine, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Red, as well as worked commercially with health and wellness clients such as Holland & Barrett, Lloyds Pharmacy and Superdrug. Hattie is passionate about arming readers with honest, unbiased product reviews and has a particular interest in the role of technology in our wellbeing, as well as gender-based inequalities in healthcare. When she’s not putting gym wear through its paces on the Pilates reformer or kitting out her home gym (garage) with the latest equipment, she’s attempting to make progress on her teetering pile of bedside books