TODAY’s Never Have I Ever series offers guidance about procedures and practices our trusted health experts would never participate in. Discover why they should be avoided and which healthy practices you should turn to instead.

Maybe you saw it tucked away in the corner of your gym, or perhaps it caught your eye when an impressively toned influencer used it on social media.

The allure of this particular piece of fitness equipment isn’t new — but it also hasn’t gone away. In an age when people are rightly focused on building core strength, a tool that claims to work multiple muscles at once is certainly tempting.

But certified personal trainer and TODAY fitness contributor Stephanie Mansour is staying far away from this one, she says.

Never Have I Ever: Used an Ab Wheel

An ab wheel, sometimes called an ab roller, is a small, relatively inexpensive and deceptively simple piece of fitness equipment.

To use one, you’ll hold on to either side of a wheel, get into a plank position, and hold that position while you roll the wheel back and forth in front of you.

“It’s a positive in that it is meant to help you engage all of your ab muscles,” Mansour tells TODAY.com, including the rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, as well as the deeper transverse abdominus muscles.

If that sounds challenging, it is, Mansour says. And that’s why she’ll never use one.

An ab wheel might be an appropriate challenge for someone who already has a “super, super strong core,” Mansour says, on top of expert balance and muscle control.

“If you’re an experienced exerciser, you could probably do this the right way,” she explains. “But for someone just starting out, or even someone like me who is experienced, this isn’t my first choice for how to work my abs.”

The problem is that many people who try to use ab wheels aren’t advanced enough in their fitness journey to use them correctly. And, as Mansour found out firsthand, using them incorrectly can put you at risk for injury.

Over a decade ago, Manosur tried using an ab wheel. “And I threw my back out trying to use this thing,” she says.

“You can easily do it incorrectly because you’re only using your hands to hold on to a very small surface area,” Mansour explains. “It’s very easy to go too far, to go too fast and to be kind of jerky with it,” she says.

If you don’t have the strength, control and balance to keep yourself up, you could find yourself in a tricky situation with your arms outstretched and no way to pull them back. “There’s really no checks and balances,” she adds.

What to Do Instead

For people who are interested in using an ab wheel but aren’t advanced enough, Mansour recommends working on other core exercises first — including those that engage multiple muscles at once, like the roller.

Start by working on core exercises that challenge you to hold yourself up with fewer points of contact on the ground, like holding a plank with one arm or one leg outstretched, Mansour suggests.

You could also work on shoulder taps in a high plank position, which similarly “mimic what you’ll be doing with the ab roller,” she says. Try alternating side planks as well, which challenge your balance and engage the obliques.

Consider using sliders under your hands or feet to add some additional balance work to your core moves.

If you are really intent on using an ab roller, Mansour suggests starting by just rolling it out and back an inch at a time to get used to the movements and to gauge your strength. She also recommends starting out on your knees in a modified plank rather than in a fully outstretched plank.

“If you’re really curious, don’t let me scare you,” she says. “But just know that you’ve got to be cautious as you’re starting off.”

Personally, though, with so many other effective ways to work your core, Mansour isn’t looking to get back to the ab wheel anytime soon.

Does microdosing exercise really work? Is it enough to level up your fitness and make any kind of beneficial impact on your health? I’ve covered previous studies on how exercise snacking can improve cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health, but what about physically inactive individuals with little experience with exercise? Do they still achieve benefits from these short bouts of movement? Let’s delve into the research.

The meta-analysis

In a meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers evaluated the effects of brief bouts of exercise spread throughout the day, known as exercise snacks, on muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health outcomes. The study authors were especially interested in the impact on the following factors:

• Muscle strength
• Fitness
• Heart health
• Blood pressure
• Body fat
• Cholesterol

The study involved 414 physically inactive adults of varying ages. In this case, the researchers considered exercise snacks to be five-minute workouts performed at least twice per day, at least three times a week, for at least two weeks, rather than longer sessions in single blocks. The meta-analysis included randomised controlled trials of adults and older adults comparing those who did exercise snacking with those who didn’t exercise at all. Exercise snacking lasted for 4-12 weeks in the studies. The workouts varied in intensity from moderate-to-vigorous to near-maximal.

The results

Here are the results of the meta-analysis:

• Exercise snacking enhances heart and lung fitness. The adults who stayed committed to these shorter workouts had better endurance.
• Exercise snacking helped older adults enhance their muscular endurance and become tired less quickly, though more studies are needed specifically on this.
• These shorter exercise bursts didn’t improve muscle strength or the ability to produce force. Typically, building strength requires using heavier loads or committing to longer training sessions. However, the studies in this analysis ended after 12 weeks.
• These mini workouts scattered throughout the day didn’t change medical markers over those 4-12 weeks, such as body fat, cholesterol, metabolic health, and blood pressure.
• 91% of participants completed their exercise sessions, and 83% stuck to their program requirements, showing high compliance with exercise snacking.

The bottom line

It’s important to note that this research involved adults who were physically inactive and had little to no experience with exercise, and the studies ended after 12 weeks. The bottom line is that if you’re physically inactive now, several short bursts of movement throughout the day over 4-12 weeks can definitely improve your fitness. You’ll be making strides, or shall we say movements in the right direction, but it might not be enough to make significant metabolic changes in your health, such as your blood pressure, body composition, or cholesterol.

If you asked me what I thought was the most glamorous form of exercise, I’d say Pilates. The wildly viral workout has become synonymous with sleek Reformer studios, sweat-inducing sessions and matching pastel-hued sets worn by so-called “Pilates princesses”. It’s hard not to fall for the allure, but behind the aesthetic lies something far more functional. Pilates was never about looking polished; it’s about how your body moves. At its core (literally), it’s about mobility, alignment and strength – three things most of us need more of after years of sitting, slouching and scrolling.

Enter the Pilates leg kick – or single-leg kick, as it’s known in the classical mat repertoire. It looks deceptively gentle, but experts say this one simple move can do wonders for your hip mobility and core strength.