The humble bath towel has a storied history, emerging from ancient Roman and Egyptian civilizations as an expensive, ornate linen creation treasured by those who could afford it. They were often considered as valuable to ancient owners as knives and shoes. The eventual development of the cotton trade and mass industrialization led to the more common availability of towels and eventually to the development of the “looped” towel in the 1700s, which is the one most of us know and love today.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because we are about to use a nice, loopy towel to work out some tricky areas, along with a couple of bonus muscles. Before reading any further, go and get a big ol’ towel you can use for the exercises.
Now, let’s talk exercises.
6 Effective Exercises You Can Perform With a Towel
The following exercises will stretch and strengthen you, with the towel guiding the movements and providing resistance in some cases. They are designed to target a handful of potential trouble areas while also creating several exercise opportunities at the same time.
These exercises target the shoulders, the core, the posterior chain muscles, and even the glutes and hamstrings. One towel for a whole lot of muscles—a pretty nifty trade. I have included some exercises focused on stretching and mobility, as well as others for a genuinely good workout.
My patients tolerate these exercises well, but I suggest that you speak with your medical provider to ensure that they are right for you.
1. Shoulder Pass-Through With Towel
The shoulder pass-through exercise is great for mobility, tapping into many of the joints’ movements in a single exercise. I find that most people can do at least a little of this exercise, and many can move effectively through the whole range.
Practice Note: Although this exercise may look daunting to some, I suggest that you try it first to see how you like it. You may be surprised by how well you do.
Step 1: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a towel in both hands, with the towel running horizontally across the front of your hips—the farther apart your hands are, the easier the movement becomes.
Step 2: Keeping your elbows largely straight and the towel pulled tight, bring the towel up in front, over your head, and slowly down behind you.
Step 3: Once you move your arms as far over or behind your back as you can, slowly move them back to the starting position.
Step 4: Moving your arms behind you and then returning to the starting position counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 12 repetitions.
Modifications: Can’t get all the way up or over? No problem! Just do what you can, moving as far as you comfortably can without provoking pain.
Why I Like It: This is a wonderful circumduction movement for the shoulders. The older we get, the less we tend to utilize the full range of movement that our shoulders offer, even when overt joint pathology isn’t present. The less we use them, the tighter they get; the tighter they get, the less function we have; the less function we have, the less quality of life we have access to.
2. Shoulder Internal Rotation Towel Stretch
Maintaining good shoulder internal rotation is ideal, although we rarely think about it when it comes to staying in shape. This exercise focuses heavily on internal rotation, and using a towel helps deepen the movement.
Step 1: Place the towel in your right hand, reach your arm up and over your shoulder, bend your elbow, and let the towel hang down your back. Reach up behind your back with your left hand and grab the towel, palm facing outward.
Step 2: Slowly straighten your right elbow while still holding the towel with your left hand, pulling your left arm up into a greater stretch. This movement will place the left arm into both internal rotation and elbow flexion.
Step 3: Once you pull your left hand up as high as you comfortably can, slowly lower it back to the starting position, then repeat the movement.
Step 4: Pulling your arms up, then back down, counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 12 repetitions.
Modifications: Raise your arm only as far as is comfortable when using the towel. Feel free to adjust your hand positioning on the towel to best coordinate your arms.
Why I Like It: Using a towel for shoulder internal rotation safely grants a broad range of motion.
3. Over-and-Under Towel Pulls
These over-and-under towel-pull movements target your back and core muscles. They are a neat, easily controlled movement that delivers a bundle of benefits in a short period of time.
Step 1: Lie face down on a firm, supportive surface. Push your hands out in front of you and grab a towel with both hands.
Step 2: Lift your shoulders off the floor. While keeping your chest up, bring the towel under your head to chest level, then return it straight back out.
Step 3: Bring the towel toward you again. This time, lower your head to the floor and bring the towel over and behind your head. Push the towel out and continue with the over-and-under movements.
Step 4: Pulling the towel in, then pushing it back out again, counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 20 repetitions, which include 10 pulls under your head and 10 pulls over your head.
Modifications: If you cannot hold your shoulders off the ground for very long, just do as many repetitions as you can and rest as needed. Over time, you should be able to do more.
Why I Like Them: Over-and-under towel pulls do not require much movement, but they will get your core working hard. And having strong core musculature is worth its weight in gold.
4. Standing Lateral Towel Bends
Lateral bends are great for stiff backs. While many exercises focus on anterior and posterior spinal movements, this one isolates the motion to side-to-side movement.
Step 1: Stand with your feet approximately hip-width apart, arms straight overhead, holding a towel pulled tightly in both hands.
Step 2: Slowly bend your trunk to the right as far as you comfortably can, then return to an upright position and repeat the movement to the left.
Step 3: Bending to the side and then returning upright counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 20 repetitions, meaning 10 bends to the right and 10 bends to the left.
Modifications: Can’t move side-to-side very far? That’s OK, just move side-to-side as far as you comfortably can. You can perform all repetitions on one side, and then the other, or you can alternate between sides as you go. I prefer alternating in a left-right pattern. Also note that you may be able to flex more in one direction than in the other.
Why I Like It: Including lateral bending exercises in your daily exercise regimen can help keep your spine and obliques flexible and fit.
5. Rhomboid Towel Pulls
Rhomboid spasms are like few others. Charlie horses in your legs can be worked out, and muscle spasms in your arms, while much rarer, are also easily reached and addressed. Your rhomboid muscles are a different story. Because they are located along your upper back, when they spasm, they are basically unreachable unless you have specialized massage equipment. Once spasms start, they can persist for hours. This exercise warms and strengthens the rhomboids, which, thankfully, can help control spasms.
Step 1: Stand with a towel in front of you, holding it with both hands approximately 2 1/2 feet apart. Hold the towel with your left palm facing toward you and your right palm facing outward.
Step 2: Initiate movement by bringing your right arm as far as you comfortably can up and slightly to the right at approximately a 45-degree angle while resisting the upward movement with your left hand. Do not resist so hard that your right hand cannot move up—just resist enough to give the right arm a good workout. Once you move up as far as you can, slowly lower your arms back to the starting position.
Step 3: Moving your arms up and then returning to the starting position counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 15 repetitions per side. While you can alternate between the left and right sides with each repetition, I recommend alternating sides within whole sets.
Modifications: If you can’t pull up very far at first, don’t worry about it. Just do what you can at first, knowing you can do more as you get stronger. It can also help to perform this exercise in front of a mirror at first to demonstrate proper form.
Why I Like it: This exercise dials in on your rhomboid muscles wonderfully. It’s one of the few exercises that you can really feel working them directly.
6. Towel Hamstring Curls
Hamstring curls combine hamstring towel slides with the classic bridge movement to create one beautiful core-building masterpiece. This exercise will challenge you but also reward you handsomely.
Practice Note: I highly recommend doing a few leg slides before you rise into the formal exercise. Failure to do so can potentially trigger an exquisite charley horse in both unsuspecting hamstrings at the same time, which can make for an exciting few moments and potentially lead to a standing tribal dance. Please do not ask how I know this. To warm up, simply lie on your back with your feet flat on a towel, knees and hips bent. Slowly slide your legs out straight, then return to the starting position about 12 times to warm up those muscles.
Step 1: Lie on your back on the floor. I recommend using a hard surface; you can do it on carpet, although it will be harder. Bend your hips and knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Place a towel flat under your feet.
Step 2: Push yourself up into a bridge position and stabilize. From here, slowly extend your legs, sliding the towel outward. Move as far as you comfortably can before bending your legs and sliding the towel back to the starting position. Be sure to keep your trunk in the air while performing the movement, resisting the urge to let your back drop into a resting position on the floor.
Step 3: Sliding the towel out and back counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 10 repetitions, and feel free to modify sets and reps as you see fit to make the exercise work best for you.
Modifications: If you cannot rise into a bridge while performing the hamstring curls, you can do one of two things. First, you can perform towel slides with your feet without raising your body into a bridge position—like the warm-up. Second, you can alternate between sliding the towel with your feet and moving into and out of the bridge position. I would suggest starting with just the towel slides, then moving to alternating slides and bridge and eventually performing the full movement.
Why I Like It: This is a hard exercise, to be sure, but you get out of it what you put into it. It’s advanced, but it has a wonderful payback.
These exercises combine to elevate the humble bath towel into a superstar exercise partner. Perform these exercises at least three times per week to see good results, and at least five times per week for the best overall outcomes. It may take you a little bit of time to master them, but stay with it, and you will reap the benefits. Good luck, and I hope they serve you well.
About the Fitness Model: Aerowenn Hunter is a health editor for The Epoch Times. She’s an accredited yoga therapist with more than three decades of teaching experience.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.