The Superman Wheel Rollout

[Greg Newton]

I was in K-Mart today and finally spied an ab wheel. I've been checking Walmart for awhile with no luck. I got it home and it was pretty tough to do. John and Pastor Tim Allen make them look easy. At first I could only do two, but after playing around with it and watching the video from EL Paso again I was able to do eight. I also found doing them on a thick carpet is not a good idea.

For those of you who have already mastered them, any tips on breathing and where to tense your abdominals the hardest would be appreciated. This is truly a whole body exercise.

Greg

[Aaron Hoot]

Wow from your feet the 1st time very impressive my friend.

Aaron

[Hopeful]

I breath in as I roll out and breath out when I move back towards my feet. 8 is great and very impressive on your first try.

Hopeful

[Tim Allen]

Greg,
Congratulations on your introduction to this amazing exercise.
8 reps is phenomenal for your first experience.
Contract your abs from start to finish. Relax between reps.
Try to hold the extended position for 1 then 2+ seconds.
As you advance, move your feet closer together.
My record is now 13. I'm working my way up to 20.

[John Peterson]

Hey Greg,


Nothing more to add here except that 8 is in the realm of dreams for most mortals. Congratulations my friend.


---John Peterson

[b38]

Greg,

Roll On Big River!

All the Best!

Bill

[Greg Newton]

Thanks guys for the kind comments and the advice. This is what is best about this forum and that is the POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT we try to give each other. I've been on other bodybuilding, weight training, exercise, and fitness sites and a lot of times, and pardon the expression, you see a lot of one upsmanship and who has the biggest dangling participle. That is not what we are about here.

After several years of consistantly practicing Atlas situps, which I don't have very good leverage for, I have very strong abdominal muscles. I've also done a lot of work with the Tee's and with planks. I can do the dips on the arms of a chair with my legs and hips in an L-sit. So, I have done a lot of things to set the foundation.

HOWEVER, don't think for a minute I breezed through them like John or Pastor Tim. They were shakey, wobbly, and HARD! My stomach is very sore today and also the top of my gluteus maximus muscles. I am pleased that these felt good on my spine and seemed to have an elongating effect. I also felt these very strongly in the lats. This is something I'll be doing from here on out.

Greg

[farrout]

Hey Greg,

8 reps straight off is AWESOME!

I better get my homemade wheel out & start rolling otherwise I'll be eating your dust!

Take care,
Steve

[GB]

Greg,

8 is Great!!! Congratulations – what’s next?

GB

[John Peterson]

Hey Greg,

You stated, "HOWEVER, don't think for a minute I breezed through them like John or Pastor Tim. They were shakey, wobbly, and HARD! My stomach is very sore today and also the top of my gluteus maximus muscles. I am pleased that these felt good on my spine and seemed to have an elongating effect. I also felt these very strongly in the lats. This is something I'll be doing from here on out."


I dare to differ with you Greg because YOU DID BREEZE THROUGH THEM AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY.


You see Greg, you performed 8 repetitions of an exercise for which you had no previous neurological adaptation. You simply saw what Pastor Tim and I had done and you duplicated it. Trust me, as the neurological patterns become set you will have no problem at all in performing this exercise smoothly. This of course is true with any exercise, a certain amount of neurological adaptation is required for andy movement to become second nature.

---John Peterson

[Charlie]

Hi Greg,

Great job, very impressive.

Charlie

[Greg Newton]

Today is Sunday and I am still pretty sore. I found it hard to do Tee pushups and Atlas situps because of it. I think the best bet for the time is to practice holding the down position as Pastor Tim advocated and doing two or three reps in sets.

Greg

[Tim Allen]

Holding the down position, combines the best of both worlds; a superior dynamic exercise with a wonderful isometric exercise.

For everyone trying this, go slow.
Try 1 second holds for 3-5 reps before moving up.
Remember to breathe throughout the movement and in the iso hold.

[isorez]

Great advice, Tim

[VRT Man]

Greg, you have my bona fide endoresment. This is FANTASTIC! I do ab wheel rollouts from the knees only, and do 35 reps when the strain becomes too much. I have yet to do a standing Superman rollout though. Haven't attempted it yet. Great work!

Greg Mangan

[Greg Newton]

O.K.,

After my initial go with the Superman Rollouts I have discovered just how much the abdominals are involved in Tee pushups. Today I discovered how much they are utilized in pullups. I felt like my lower abdominal wall was shredding in the top portion of my pullups today. Sprints were O.K., although I could feel the sore abdominals, but the pullups were very hard to do. Especially when I tried to do close grips, which was a no go. Pain is one thing, but pain that makes you feel like you will tear something is another.

I seldom get sore. I have more of a tendency to overwork my joints, deplete my nervous energy and feel beat up, but I rarely get sore. The last time I got this sore was when I did 300 consecutive Tiger Bend Squats after not doing deep knee bends for over two years. So the Superman Rollouts are definitely in that kind of category.

Hey Greg,

I just saw your post. Thanks! Hearty praise coming from you. BUT, I think I am going to have to work into this a bit differently from henceforth. Doing them from the knees sound a much better way to start!

Greg

[workout warrior]

WOW GREG THIS IS REALLY AWESOME!!

I am really impressed with your work and since that is the case I will do the following and see if I would be able to do a roll out from standing:

Achieve 200 consecutive Atlas full range sit ups in less than 8 minutes (I think this is achievable before September 2010)

Achieve 30 consecutive tee push ups which I believe can be achieved in September.

I will post a thread when I achieve the above and let us see if I would be able to do a roll out from standing.

P.S.: I may practice some L-Sit holds which I hope will enhance my abdominal strength.

[Greg Newton]

Hey Ahmed,

I think those are obtainable for you. You've been at some of these exercises for awhile. I've never tried doing 200 at one shot, but I believe eight minutes would be just about right for the Atlas situps. Use a mat to prevent chafing and be careful of straining your lower back.

For the tees, I'd recommend doing them every other day. They are pretty intense as we've discussed before. Do some regular pushups or Atlas pushups submaximumly in the days between.

The L-sit is fun to do at odd times during the day. For me it takes pressure off my lower spine if I've been standing a lot or if I wake up stiff. It is one of those things that the more you practice it, the better you get at holding it. Good luck and I'll be pulling for you.

Greg