Many workouts designed specifically for the abdominal muscles are uncomfortable, causing most people that try to implement them to regularly to give up on them. Even when you are able to stick with it, it is not uncommon to find that the exercises you are using do not hit all of your abdominal muscles, fail to do enough of a workout to be considered significant, and often cause back or muscle pain that makes it difficult to keep going.

So a number of different exercise equipment manufacturers have designed various abdomen exercise equipment in order to avoid this problem. One of those is the ab roller, a machine created to provide most of the same workout as the standard crunch, but with slightly less irritation on your back and a greater emphasis on all of your abdominal muscles.

Using the Ab Roller

The ab roller has a number of different exercises made possible by its curved design. In general, these exercises are directly based on well known abdominal exercises.

1) The Basic Crunch

The most well known of exercises, to do the basic crunch, lay back on the mat and keep your hands on the ab roller. Your feet need to be laying flat against the mat, and your head should be resting against the pad. The exercise requires you to use your abs to raise your shoulders and lower them back down. Repeat.

2) Bicycle Crunch

The bicycle crunch has been found to be one of the most effective of all abdominal exercises. Lie back against the mat keeping your hands rested on the frame of the ab roller. Again, your head should be sitting on the pad. Perform the same maneuver you did with the basic crunch, except this time left your legs and twirl them as if you are peddling a bicycle before you lower yourself back down.

3) Raised Knee Crunch

Laying against the mat with your feet planted on the floor and your head on the pad, your knees should stay together and be pinched very close against your body. This position is very similar to the standard crunch, but with your knees raised in it becomes much more difficult and much more effective a workout.

4) Oblique Crunch

Following the same pattern as the standard crunch, your feet should be planted and your body should be rested correctly against the ab roller. However, rather than keep your knees directly in front of you, you should perform the crunch with your knees tilted to one side. Then switch to the other side. By going back and forth you can achieve a fairly substantial and well rounded workout.

5) Scissor Crunch

Here we have a different type of starting position. Your hands should still be on the frame and your head should be on the head pad. Except in this case your legs should be straight out. As you raise your head to the standard 45 degree angle, you should also be crossing your legs by sticking one leg over the other and alternating.

These 5 exercises are well known as some of the better way to have an effective ab workout that covers your entire abdominal muscles.