Bodyweight Standing Row (With Towel)

Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a towel with both hands in front of you, shoulder-width apart. Extend your arms forward, keeping them straight. Keeping your core engaged, pull the towel towards your chest by bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Pause for a moment and then slowly extend your arms back to the starting position. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

How to perform the Bodyweight Standing Row (With Towel)

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Bodyweight Standing Row (With Towel) using your body weight.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your rhomboids.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your rhomboids rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

Build a free routine

Stage exercises here, then sign up to save them as a real Fitly routine — synced to web and mobile.

View staged routine (0)

Related exercises

0 exercises staged Save your routine — sign up free.