It can be easy to let your fitness goals fall by the wayside on days when you just can’t make it to the gym, but if these unplanned off-days are stacking up, what you need is a go-to, ‘do-anywhere’ session you can roll out at a moment’s notice. And on that front, we’ve got you covered.
This 20-minute giant set workout requires nothing more than your bodyweight and a towel, but will hit your chest, back, shoulders and biceps from multiple angles, driving muscle growth while also pushing your work capacity and all-round fitness.
The Workout
After a thorough warm-up, set a countdown timer for 20 minutes and get to work, moving through the reps of each movement in a circuit fashion, resting only as necessary to keep your form sharp and tempo controlled.
Your goal is to complete as many high-quality rounds as possible – making a note of your total ‘score’ for each movement and aiming to beat it next time.
A. Bodyweight Bicep Curl x Max Reps
B. Bodyweight Row x Max Reps
C. Pike Push-Up x Max Reps
D. Push-Up x Max Reps
How to Do the Moves
Bodyweight Bicep Curl
Put a knot in the end of your towel, throw it over a door and close the door, locking the towel in place. Grip the ends of the towel, put your feet against the door and lean back until your arms are straight. Keep your body in a rigid, straight line from head to heels. Curl your hands towards your head by bending your elbows, your feet acting as a lever. Squeeze your biceps at the top. Lower under strict control until your arms are straight again.
Bodyweight Row
Still holding your towel, switch to an easier rowing motion, pulling yourself up by pulling the towel down towards the middle of your torso.
What to read next
Pike Push-Up
Assume a strong push-up position with your hands shoulder-width apart. Walk your hands backwards towards your feet until your hips are almost above your shoulders. Lower your torso slowly towards the ground by bending at the elbows. Pause as your nose makes contact before explosively pushing back up.
Push-Up
Walk your hands forward and drop your hips, dropping into a regular push-up position, bend your elbows to slowly lower your chest to the floor. Keep your upper arms from flaring as you push back up explosively to a straight arm position. Repeat.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
