These 7 reasons are why this exercise rolled onto the list;
1. They strengthen the hip complex, and shoulder girdle. This is because a typical rollout is conducted with your knees on the floor. The movement requires your hips to drop down into alignment with the knees and shoulders before the wheel moves out from under the chest. To return to the start position requires you to dig in your knees and pull through your core to reel in the wheel, back to the start position.
2. They strengthen the whole core muscle group. This is because of the way the exercise works, as described above. The knees and wheel are the two support points of the exercise, thus exposing the core, and all that between the knees and wheel to work hard in order to maintain a safe working posture.
3. They are simple, yet effective. Using a wheel to roll out ‘flat’ couldn’t sound any easier. Just take in a deep breath before you roll out, and exhale as you pull the wheel back in.
4. They require minimal equipment. One way to do this is by using a purpose built wheel, which is a narrow contact point and brings instability into the exercise. If you don’t have a wheel though, fear not. This exercise can be done with a barbell.
5. They are good to warm up with, or finish off with. Rollouts are a multi joint multi muscle compound exercise so they’re good for mobilising muscles before the workout and opening joints up. They’re also good for making sure you eek every last little bit of energy out of your muscles during the workout.
6. They are surprisingly challenging, yet fun. Rolling out with a wheel, but because of the narrow contact point the exercise is unstable. Unstable usually means challenging, and challenging can be fun!
7. They train all of your muscles to work together. This is because of the dynamics of the exercise. At some point all of the muscles have to do some work. Whether it’s actually to move, or hold something steady or assisting something moving or holding steady. The rollout captures it all and makes you work hard!