Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review TL;DR: the Ab Carver Pro is heavier and pricier than most of its competitors but offers a unique ab workout experience and a sense of progression, too, thanks to its ability to roll slightly sideways if needed.
Need a new ab roller? How about buying the best ab roller on the market, the Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro? Although it's a pretty good piece of home gym equipment, the Ab Carver Pro is certainly not perfect, but it's extremely competent nevertheless.
The 'kinetic spring' provides some resistance/assistance, which makes the Ab Carver Pro even more stable, but it also limits the range of movement of taller users. All in all, the Ab Carver Pro is a worthwhile investment, and there are definitely worse ways to spend this much money on home gym equipment.
If you are unfamiliar with ab rollers, they are one of the best home gym equipment you can have and using them can help you get a six-pack faster. That said, ab rollers require some base core strength, so if you haven't already, please check the best core exercises here and bulk up your torso today.
Need a refresher, or new to ab rollers? We'll tell you how to use an ab roller correctly.
Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review – Tech
Most ab rollers are a combination of a straight bar and a wheel or two, not like the Ab Carver Pro, which has a thick, rounded wheel, ergonomic handles and a 'kinetic carbon steel spring' that is supposed to offer resistance as you roll out and assistance to roll back in.
The 'ultra-wide' wheel is also rounded, so you can steer the Ab Carver Pro left or right, focusing on the obliques. This lateral rolling movement requires even more strength, so this feature will be more beneficial for people who are confident doing standard ab rollouts.
Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review – How does it work?
In theory, the Ab Carver Pro is more efficient in building a six-pack definition than a standard ab roller as it provides some resistance through the coil inside the roller. And indeed, if you try to roll the Ab Carver Pro in your hand, you will feel the resistance of the coil working against you.
On the floor, the resistance feels more subtle as you are working against the spring with your whole bodyweight. Admittedly, the Ab Carver Pro provides a more stable platform to lean against as opposed to thinner, less meaty rollers. For the same reason, I feel it actually requires less core strength to work the Ab Carver Pro, as it is much easier to hold your pose when the roller is heavier and wider, not to mention resistance that also helps stabilisation.
Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review – Ergonomics
The Ab Carver Pro is heavy, much heavier than other ab rollers: it is a touch over 2 kg. This makes the Ab Carver Pro feel like better value equipment, and considering the wider surface area of the roller, it's easier to maintain your posture in whichever position you are in.
Even the lateral motion feels relatively effortless, especially if you are somewhat used to ab rollers and have the core strength to perform at least 8-10 standard ab rollouts. The resistance/assistance the coil has to offer makes the Ab Carver Pro more accessible to beginner users, but the kinetic spring might restrict the full range of motion of tall users.
The coil has a rolling distance it can tolerate: it's approx. 135 cm/54 inches. If you are over 6 feet/182 cm tall, this will limit the range of motion as the coil will max out before you can finish the rollout. If you are way taller than this, you will find the Ab Carver pro too limiting, and you might want to opt-in using a non-coiled ab roller.
Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review – Verdict
The Ab Carver Pro, much like most ab rollers, is an excellent home gym equipment and can provide quick yet efficient ab training at home. The chunkier design and the larger handles make the Ab Carver Pro easier to handle, even for less experienced users.
The 'kinetic carbon steel spring' will provide an adequate amount of resistance as you roll out and assistance to help you roll back in. In reality, this doesn't make the Ab Carver Pro harder to use; on the contrary, it makes the ab roller steadier and easier to handle.
The spring can also pose limitations as it has a specific distance it tolerates: this will limit the range of motion of taller users, but only if you are over 6 feet tall. For most users, however, the spring will be a great feature to help master ab rollouts and perform oblique rollouts more efficiently.
Is the Ab Carver Pro worth the hefty price tag? For not-too-tall beginner users, getting an Ab Carver Pro is a good investment and can help them get used to this demanding exercise, as opposed to giving it up straight away after one session. Even for more experienced users, the possibility to train their obliques might be enough incentive to get an Ab Carver Pro.
Although it might be more expensive than a run-of-the-mill ab roller, the Ab Carver Pro is still way cheaper than your average home gym equipment and considering the benefits of using it, we could recommend buying one. There are worse ways to spend this amount of money for sure.
Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro review – Also consider
The SKLZ Core Wheels (retailer link) are made by the same company and offer a different workout experience to the users: instead of one big wheel, you get two smaller rollers, meaning you can do unilateral exercises with the SKLZ Core Wheels. As well as training your abs, with the Core Wheels, you can also train your pecs and other areas of your body too.
Talking about weird ab rollers: how about the Lifeline Power Wheel (retailer link)? This ab roller works the other way around, and as opposed to holding onto it with your hands, you clip it on your feet so you can really bomb the lower abs.
