Barbell Rollout

How to do the Barbell Rollout

1. 1Kneel on the floor and hold a barbell with both hands, shoulder-width apart.
2. 2Roll the barbell forward, extending your arms and keeping your core engaged.
3. 3Continue rolling forward until your body is fully extended and your arms are overhead.
4. 4Pause for a moment, then slowly roll the barbell back towards your knees, maintaining control.
5. 5Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tip: Exhale slowly as you roll out and keep the ribs pulled down toward the pelvis the entire time.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Hips sagging at the bottom — if your lower back arches as the wheel rolls out, you have gone past the range your abs can control; shorten the rollout and stop at the point where your hips still stay tucked.
• Hinging at the hips — pushing your backside back toward your heels on the return turns it into a hip hinge; keep the hips locked in line with the torso and pull with the abs.
• Reaching with the arms — leading with the arms turns it into a lat exercise; think of moving the whole body as one rigid plank that happens to lengthen.
• Skipping the posterior tilt — before you roll, squeeze the glutes and tuck the pelvis slightly so the abs are braced before the load arrives.

Where it fits in a workout

Rollouts belong toward the end of a session, after heavy lifts but while you can still brace well. Superset them with hanging knee raises or a plank variation so the core work is done in one block.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

When to talk to someone

• Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
• Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
• Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

More exercises

• All core exercises
• All barbell exercises
• Barbell core exercises
• Foam Roller Body Saw
• Floor L-Sit
• Leg Raise Machine Seated Crunch
• Plank Shoulder Tap
• Suspension Fallout

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.