Ab Roller Information

Overview

The Ab Roller has been marketed on late-night infomercials and direct sales marketing advertisements since the 1990s. A fixture in many fitness enthusiast's homes the Ab Roller seeks to help you get the lean, built abdominal muscles you want by assisting you in the most-hated of all abdominal exercises--the crunch. Helping promote good form and subsequently better results, the Ab Roller is still available, a testament to it's longevity on an increasingly fickle fitness equipment market.

History

The Ab Roller was the brainchild of fitness expert, Don Brown. A part-time instructor working at Jack LaLanne Nautilus Studio, Brown soon used his expertise in the fitness business to open his own fitness studio in 1986, the Excellence in Xercise Health and Fitness Center. His one studio soon turned into a chain of fitness centers. While training one day, a client complained that crunches hurt her back after a sports-related injury. Brown found that if he could find a way to support the neck and head during crunches, that they were less stressful to the neck, back and shoulders, and more effective for the abdominal muscles. The Ab Roller was born.

Philosophy

The philosophy behind the Ab Roller was spawned from that conversation with a client who had sore back muscles. Brown found that when the head and neck were supported, clients could do more crunches than if they were not. He worked on a design that would allow his client to complete a crunch without using the traditional hands-behind-the-neck pose that caused her so much pain.

Marketing

The Ab Roller was marketed on infomercials in the mid- to late 1990s. Late-night television advertisements showed subjects with taut, sexy abs, and celebrity hosts talked up the effectiveness and ease of the Ab Roller. The marketing strategy apparently worked, with over $1 billion in sales, the Ab Roller quickly became on of the most popular pieces of fitness equipment of the time.

Exercises

Using the Ab Roller is simple. There is a headrest, and two curved, padded bars. Placing the Ab Roller onto a supported surface, like a mat, you lay your head down on the headrest and place your elbows in the crook of the curved bar. Gripping the padded bars with your hands, you complete a crunch by simultaneously engaging your abdominal muscles while pushing lightly on the bars with your hands to roll them forward, and raise your head off of the floor. To work the obliques, you only need to turn on your hip so your back is still flat but your knees are bent to one side, and repeat the exercise to target the harder-to-reach side abdominals.

Effectiveness

Reviews on the effectiveness of the Ab Roller are mixed, and most point toward the Ab Roller being effective for beginners, with the effectiveness waning as the exerciser progresses and needs further challenge. The best way to get defined abs is to combine isolated ab workouts, cardio workouts and sensible diet to burn belly fat. Even so, the Ab Roller can help you complete those isolated ab exercises to complete one of the components of your flat-ab regimen.