When I first began my calisthenic journey, I was skeptical of ab rollers. They reminded of the fitness equipment that was sold on late-night infomercials. A gimmick. Unnecessary. As time went on, I realized how wrong I was. Though ab rollers aren’t totally essential, and you can certainly get a strong core without one, they’re now among my favorite pieces of equipment.
With an ab roller, you get access to a movement that hits your core, your shoulders, and to a surprising degree, your arms.
Ab wheel train for stability, strength, and even flexibility if done right. I also consider it one of the most fun, satisfying movements one can preform in calisthenics.
There are a lot of ab wheels on the market. Some good, some bad, some great, and some gimmicky. Let’s see how the Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro Roller stacks up.
The Good:
Right out of the box, this feels like a premium piece of equipment. The build quality is high, and it’s obvious a lot of thought went into the overall design, color scheme, grip placement, etc. However, the greatest strength is the spring return mechanism, which assists as you move up and out of the extension in the movement. Unlike standard ab wheels, the Perfect Fitness Roller gives slight force as you move back up, and this relieves strain on the lower back.
Lower back strain is what keeps many people from performing ab rollouts, and the Perfect Fitness Pro Roller goes farthest in alleviating that issue. Other than this special feature, the roller performs well as a standard ab wheel.
The Bad:
The Pro Roller is quite a bit heavier than other ab wheels because of the internal mechanism. If you plan on traveling with it, this could be an issue. Others have reported durability issues with the spring, but after months of use mine has held up well.
The handles are quite close together, so if you aim to use the ab roller movement for a lat workout, I recommend going with a long-handled wheel, like the Fitnessery Wheel.
If you would rather do this movement completely unassisted, I wouldn’t recommend the Ab Carver.
Recommended?
This is a unique piece of equipment that serves a very specific purpose. If you struggle to perform ab rollouts because of back strain or strength and flexibility issues, then this is the perfect wheel for you. If you prefer a wider grip and a simpler design, there are lots of other cheaper wheels on the market.