Exercise library

How to do the Barbell Ab Rollout - On Knees

A expert compound exercise using barbell, working the abdominals.

Primary musclesAbdominals
Secondary musclesLower back, Shoulders
EquipmentBarbell
LevelExpert
TypeCompound
ForcePull

Steps

  1. Hold an Olympic barbell loaded with 5-10lbs on each side and kneel on the floor.
  2. Now place the barbell on the floor in front of you so that you are on all your hands and knees (as in a kneeling push up position). This will be your starting position.
  3. Slowly roll the barbell straight forward, stretching your body into a straight position. Tip: Go down as far as you can without touching the floor with your body. Breathe in during this portion of the movement.
  4. After a second pause at the stretched position, start pulling yourself back to the starting position as you breathe out. Tip: Go slowly and keep your abs tight at all times.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the barbell ab rollout - on knees to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.