Ab-wheel rollouts
 

Are they useful/functional? Good to go to when a program says something like "ab work of choice"?

I'm in the market for some basic gear that will help me make progress on strength and conditioning goals without access to a legit gym (i.e. stuff that can fit in a car and be brought to a local park). My list currently looks like

* gymnastic rings
* weight vest
* 24 and 32 kg kettlebell

What's missing from that list? Is there some other implement besides an ab-wheel that would be more bang for the buck?

I'm planning to get Steven's new book and do whatever he tells me to do along with lower body strength/power development via kettlebells and barbells when I have access.

I'm not training for any sport in particular — I just want to develop the type of fitness that'll serve me well when I dive into gymnastic skills and maybe MMA in the future.

Zach Even-Esh suggests this thing:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BDLJ5G

you can put your feet in it and do pikes and such.

You might want some of Ross Enamait's books.

Ab wheels are awesome. Given your goals, you might want to look at sandbags. Also, hills and large automobiles (for sprinting and pushing). A Prowler would be awesome as well.

A second 24kg KB might be nice as well.

But look at your goals:

Looking X (strong, ripped, etc.) = diet
Feeling X: might be diet, might be strength, might be conditioning, etc.
Being X (besides ripped) is a whole different thing.

Decide what matters to you. If you want to see your abs, concentrate on diet.

Thanks Arien!

I'll check out Enamait's books and add the ab wheel to the list. Just needed some validation from Performance Menu folks, haha.

The key issue I think is to establish goals and find ways to stay motivated enough to increase my training volume without access to a group/community. It's tough! I think having really specific goals and programming is the only way without a coach and/or fellow athletes. Maybe keeping a training log & being more active on these forums will help...

I can definately recommend Ross Enamait's books, I've got three of his books (Infinite Intensity, Never Gymless and Full Throttle Conditioning) and they've been really helpful and informative in regards to helping me with making a sensible S&C program. Enamait starts out with explaining the scientific background to his training philosophy, provides you with a bunch of great exercise ideas and progressions and finally lists a sample 50-day plan to inspire your own programming. Achieving some of the final exercise progressions in those books can be great goals. More goal ideas can be found here: http://beastskills.com/tutorials/

As for the ab-wheel, I don't own one myself but I hear that they're great. Alternatively you could set the gymnastic rings about hip-height and use them for rollouts instead.

Sweet. Never Gymless looks great, exactly what I was looking for.

Abs wheel rollouts are definitely fine and as stated above you can use the rings for the same. L-sit /V-sit/manna variation is good too. With gymnastics type stuff you'll be getting core work through that anyway.

Ross' books are good as well.

Obviously, weights for lower body. KBs are good. Sprinting is great. WOrk on pistols as well.

Gymnastics strength stuff depends on your goals. My book would definitely be able to help you with whatever direction you wanted to go for that.