Pain from using ab wheel - am I about to herniate myself?

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:32pm

I recently added the ab wheel to my workout since regular situps and crunches hurt my lower back. Until then I had been doing static leg elevations (and getting some pretty good times, IMO) so my abs have reasonable endurance and isometric strength, but I wanted abs that would be:
1. capable of exerting sudden strength
2. awesome-looking

So I bought an ab wheel after seeing it reccomended in this subforum. I have been doing sets of 5-10 from the knees since my abs aren't good enough for the pushup-position type of reps. It feels like a great workout and usually 3 sets of 6 reps leaves me aching. The only problem is, after doing this for about a week, my abs have been all bulgy and wierd - like, overnight they appear to have quadrupled their definition, and they have been like this since day 2 or so, which leads me to believe that it is not muscle growth but some sort of wierd ab mangling or something. After doing sets on the ab wheel, the second row of muscles from the bottom sort of juts out and hurts like crazy - to the point where it hurts to do a chin-up because of abdominal pain.

Is there a risk I am seriously injuring myself, or is this just a severe case of muscle soreness? I have been scaling back my workout when it starts to get painful, but I'm still a little concerned.

Does anyone know if ab wheels ever cause health problems?

**KayRoc** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:35pm

Take a few days off, could be your noob abs cant handle the awesomeness of the Ab Wheel. If you are super pumping your muscles to failure & breakage without rest, they do wierd things.

Or go see a doc if it really concerns you.

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:45pm

3 sets of 6 is a bit much to start with on the Ab-Wheel. I was used to doing 200 crunches at a time when I started and I did 3 sets of 3 and my abs still ached the next day. I do 3 sets of 5 from standing now. But I would have suggested starting with 1 set of 3 the first day, and building up to 3x3 and so on.

**Neildo** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:47pm

Whoa....wait, really? that few? I have on old-school ab-wheel and i was doing more than that...and i'm in terrible shape!

edit: from the knees. it actually makes my knees hurt more than my abs.

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:49pm

Don't forget mine are from the knees, not the toes. I can't even do one good rep from my toes yet.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:52pm

Epi, if you were mangling your muscles, you would know by now (you'd be in the ER or something :P) Probably your muscles are cramping. I had a weird, very visible and ugly looking "knot" the size of a penny in my left trap. I took a few massage sessions to get rid off... fucking painful.

How often have you been using the ab wheel? Like anything where you can only do less than 10 reps, you should not be doing it every day, once or twice a week at most. Three times a week would be pushing it.

Let it rest for a few days (or weeks) first. Then try to stretch your abs - get some icy hot and massage the abs. Then you start slowly once or twice a week at the most. Like any other muscle, the abs can be overtrained.

**nomamao** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 3:31pm

Hey, I've had inguinal hernia, and I know you don't have that by where you are describing the pain.

But, if you have a bulge in the center of your abs, that's not good. And, if it's a ripping pain as opposed to the burn you feel from a normal workout, I suggest you see your doctor and have him take a look. It can't hurt to be safe.

You might have actually ripped up some tissue a little bit as opposed to a full tear, but to be on the safe side, cut back on anything that hurts your abs until you see a doctor. Bulges in the abdominal region plus ripping pain seems to me to indicate that you overdid it and have a slight hernia.

Unlike most people that had hernia, even when the initial tear happened, i didn't think much of it because it wasn't that painful UNTIL I SAW the lump where it wasn't supposed to be.

I wish you luck, and hope you check out fine.

**krazy kaju** · Posted On: 8/17/2007 3:18am

Your body just isn't 'used' to your abs being worked that way, and it challenges new and different muscle fibers to break down, adapt, and then grow.

The reason why your abs look bigger now, is probably because what is known as 'the pump' among bodybuilders. 'The pump' is when lots of blood flows into your muscles to help repair the tissue, making it swell and look bigger. Don't worry, the pump isn't a negative thing at all.

The reason it hurts is because it's like you started working out an entire new muscle that's never worked before. All that I can suggest is to wait it out and try not to overwork again.

On a side note, one day try doing bench presses, military presses, deadlifts, and rows to momentary muscle failure followed by negative only chin-ups to exhaustion. Your muscles will burn like hell in the same way you're describing, as your arms and lats will get a totally different workout doing negatives after already being exhausted with regular bench presses, etc.

**Rubberduck** · Posted On: 8/17/2007 5:30am

Epicurus, I had the problem with my back too, so you should consider doing back strengthening too, if you aren´t already. I did back raises (strength, not bazillion reps) and good mornings. Now I do jackknives to get the abs and back work together.

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 8/18/2007 9:14am

Thanks again for the excellent replies, I think Krazy Kaju has hit the nail on the head in particular re; the swelling because it's fine now and it doesn't get so bad when I do my sets anymore either.