How to Do a Towel Pull Up

The towel pullup is one of the less known but most respected and challenging forms of the basic pullup exercise. By gripping a towel that hangs from the bar, the exercise calls into use muscles as diverse as the large lats and the finer muscles of the forearm. To do this highly functional training exercise, follow these steps.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Throw a towel over the bar. Use a strong towel that's long enough to hang down, over the bar, on both sides. Without lifting yourself off the ground, hold on to both ends of the towel and give it a yank to make sure it's sturdy and there are no rips or tears in the towel.

2. Hang from the towel. The towel pullup is a completely different exercise from the pullup and most other pulling exercise since it puts as much demand on the forearms as it does on the large muscles of the back and arms. To get used to it, start by gripping both ends of the towel together with a baseball bat grip. Let yourself hang from the towel for ten seconds. Take a rest and then pull yourself up so your elbows come to a 90-degree angle and hang from the towel again.

3. Stretch out your forearms. Even though you're still using the "usual" muscles to do a towel pullup, chances are that your forearms are going to feel most of the pain since they are probably not used to an exercise of this intensity. So before moving on to the next step, stretch your forearms by holding your hand straight out in front of you with your fingers facing up. With the other hand pull the top of your palm toward you. Repeat the stretch with the other hand.

4. Do the full pullup exercise. Start the towel pullup from a dead hang by gripping the towel and then lowering yourself until your arms are straight. In a controlled but explosive movement pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar. Slowly lower yourself back down until you get to a dead hang. Repeat the exercise for as many repetitions as possible and then stretch your forearms and back afterwards.