Bicep curls are great. This shouldn’t come as news to you. Towel gun walks take everything that’s great about bicep curls and transform them into a grip crushing, core building carry, that hits the biceps, forearms, and the postural muscles of your upper back.
Arm pump aside, gun walks also act as an ‘anti-flexion’ exercise, as your core has to work to stop you from folding in half like origami on each and every step, strengthening your abdominal muscles.
This minimal kit challenge takes the gun walk and pairs it with the equally humble but awesome press-up, a pairing that ensures a seriously functional upper body pump.
The format of this workout is simple. You’re going to perform a ladder of press-ups, beginning with 20 reps, then 19 reps, then 18 etc… until you reach 1. Between each ‘rung’ of your press-up ladder, you’re going to grab your towel, loop it through the handle of a kettlebell, curl it half way up and take it for a 20-30m walk. Carry on in this fashion— press-ups, walk, press-ups, walk— until you’ve completed all 20 sets, for a pec-pumping 210 reps of press-ups and some serious mileage in your legs… and arms.
A. Press-up x 20,19,18,17…etc.
Assume a strong plank position, hands stacked directly below elbows and shoulders (A), bend your elbows to slowly lower your chest to the floor (B). Keep your upper arms from flaring as you push back up explosively to a straight arm position. Repeat.
B. Gun Walk x 20-30m
Between each round of press-ups, grab your towel attached to your weight and curl it up until your forearms are parallel to the ground. Hold the weight in this position (A) and quickly walk 20-30 metres, keeping your shoulders down and back, core engaged and torso upright throughout. (B)
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.
