This setup takes the Ab Rollout to an entirely new level of tension (and results!) on your six-pack abs.
The normal rollout is an excellent exercise, however you lose most of the tension at the top of it, unless you shorten the range of motion.
In this ADVANCED version, instead of rolling with your hands on top of something, we're going to SUSPEND your upper body from a high pulley, using that as a counterbalance to your bodyweight.
This means that as you're doing the rollout, not only are you supporting your bodyweight, you're also working against CONSTANT cable tension trying to pull you up.
There is NO break in the tension from the start of the set to the end of the set.
You are going to hate me for this one...and you'll sound like Arnold in Total Recall when he's pulling the giant tracker thing out of his sinuses.
How to Setup and Perform Cable Suspended Ab Rollouts
To perform this one, you'll need a high pulley and a cable handle. You may also need a length of chain to extend the cable down from the high pulley, if your high pulley cable isn't long enough to reach far enough down to do the exercise without the weight stack hitting the top of the machine.
If you don't have a high pulley, you can also use a band or bands to suspend yourself as well...the trick will be having a good combination of bands to properly counterbalance your bodyweight.
You'll see what I mean when you see the setup...both with cables or bands, you'll need to experiment with how much weight/resistance you use. It'll be easy to determine it pretty quickly once you see how the exercise is done and you test your setup out.
The counterweight needs to be heavy enough that it keeps you off the floor but not so heavy that it pulls you right back up.
To give you an idea of resistance, I've got 90 lbs on my cable stack and I weigh around 200 lbs here.
Take an underhand grip on the bar (or band/bands) and kneel on the floor a few feet back from being directly under the pulley. We want a backwards angle on the cable/chain, as you can see in the picture.
I haven't even started the exercise yet and I'm already in the mid-way position of a cable crunch with great tension on the six-pack abs...and it only gets worse from here.
Now start coming forward into the rollout type of movement.
Come all the way forward until your body is stretched out.
At this point, your elbows will potentially contact the floor.
That's totally fine and to be expected. Just don't let anything else touch the floor.
Hold that position for a second or two, then use your six-pack abs to pull yourself back to the start position, maintaining that slight elevated off the floor.
Come all the way back up to the start position...where you can see that I'm still in the mid-way position of a cable crunch with NO break in tension.
Now do it again with no break.
The first time you do it, don't go to complete failure. Leave a rep or two in the tank.
When you've experienced the exercise, then you can push it and potentially work it until you can't maintain core stability. This often results in falling on the floor, so be sure you don't completely drop the cable and crash the weight stack.
The Suspended Cable Ab Rollout is An Advanced Exercise
You'll need to have a very strong core already in order to do this one, but it's awesome for getting your core even stronger.
It'll absolutely TRASH your six-pack abs with constant tension...and this kind of tension and resistance means your abs will "pop" even at higher levels of bodyfat. When you get leaner, they'll pop like crazy.
Follow this one up with a deep core anti-rotation exercise like 2 Dumbbell Bench Anti-Rotations for a complete core workout.
Want 90 more unique and challenging exercises to SHRED your core? Check out The Best Core Exercises You've Never Heard Of!
Share This Page...
Want More Exercises Like This?
You'll find them here...
Support