Your abdominal muscles or "abs" are extremely important muscles that help you maintain good posture and protect your back from lower back pain and injury. Just about everything you do uses your ab muscles. In fact, one Canadian study found that participants with weaker abdominal muscles experienced a higher death rate than the others in the group.
So we combed through what we think is the best of the Ab rollers available because ab rollers are an excellent way to increase your core strength.
We only included seven rollers because they start looking pretty much the same after the first several.
Product | Perfect Fitness | Fitnessery | Lifeline | LAFENI | Odoland |
Wide wheel | |||||
Return assist | |||||
Knee pads | |||||
Contoured handles | |||||
Workout plan | |||||
Rating | |||||
What I like about this ab roller is it is nice and wide so it has a really stable feel. One problem with the skinny wheels is that you can end up turning sideways if you get off balance. That doesn’t feel so good on your wrists.
And speaking of wrists, I like the contoured handles. I have wrist pain and when I hold skinny handles they don’t spread the pressure out like the wide handles do.
I’m not too excited about having the “spring assist” that this one has. It may make it a little better for newbies but isn’t the point of an ab roller to get a good workout? It just seems like a point of failure and from looking at other reviews the spring has broken before. Of course you could just use it without the spring then and perhaps if you aren’t a newbie anymore it won’t matter by then.
Overall this ab roller has some nice features at a good price so I’m giving it our highest rating.
One thing to note is that you really do need knee pads to use an ab roller if you are on a firm surface. Without them will be pretty painful. Fortunately this roller comes with a set.
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2. Fitnessery Ab Roller
If you prefer the more traditional narrow wheel ab roller this is a high-quality roller that will last for many years. This one doesn’t have the gimmicky spring assist so there is little to nothing to go wrong with it. That is probably why they offer a life-time warranty.
It comes with a knee pad and a couple of downloadable eBooks for building abs.
Given the great price and quality of this ab roller it is a really good value.
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3. Lifeline Power Wheel
This one is unique because not only can you use it with your hands like a normal ab wheel, but you can also strap it to your feet which gives you a whole different workout.
However you will get a workout just getting your feet into the straps because it's not easy.
I personally don't like the skinny little handles since I have big hands.
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4. LAFENI Ab Roller
This ab wheel not only has some really nice features, it looks really cool too.
A couple of resistance bands are included with this roller. That makes it more like the units that have spring assist, but what I like about this is that you can decide if you need it or not. The spring built in doesn't allow you to do that, plus if the spring breaks your wheel is likely to make some unwanted noises.
I love how big the grips are on this. If you have big hands like me you'll appreciate that as well.
It is available in multiple color combinations as well: red/black, black/white, blue/black, yellow/black
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5. Odoland Ab Roller
Instead of one wide wheel this roller kit has three wheels for stability. It can also be converted to two wheels but I'm not sure why you would want to do that.
One nice feature is that it comes with resistance bands that can assist beginners, but then they can also be used for working out other body parts as well. A workout guide is included that tells you how to get the most out of the roller.
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6. KANSOON Ab Roller
This one sort of reminds me of riding a tricycle. It is very stable and has nice beefy grips. It's got rollerblade-like wheels with bearings for smooth gliding.
If you are one who likes to do more than go more than just straight back and forth then this isn't the roller for you. If you want to curve off to the side to develop oblique muscles a single roller unit may be better.
This roller comes with a plastic stop device you can place on the floor to limit how far you extend. If you have an injury of some sort this may be beneficial. Or you can slowly increase how far you put the stop out and try to increase every time you use it.
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7. Epitomie Fitness BIO Core Ab Roller
This wheel is available in yellow or red and has a snazzy design. Instead of the foam grips that may eventually peel off or get smelly with sweat, this one has rubber handle grips like a bicycle.
There are really two wheels on this one so it does have the stability of the wider units. You can also reverse the wheels to leave a little gap between. That makes the wheels even a little wider for more stability.
This is a solid performer with not much to not like.
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Conclusion
It won't make a huge difference which of the above ab rollers you choose, as long as you use one you'll see the difference. Just pick one that fits your needs best. You really can't go wrong.
Your starting fitness level will be one of the considerations. If you are using an ab roller for the first time then maybe the "return assist" feature may help you get started. If you choose a model without knee pads then you'll need to get your own or use it on a soft floor.
The wider wheels will also be better for newbies as well. They really don't have a downside for those who already have stronger abs.
So just pick one and get started today!