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An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world \u2014 having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire<\/a>, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we\u2019ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.<\/em><\/p>\n When you attempt to do the monkey bars, after taking an extended post-childhood hiatus from the practice, you\u2019re apt to think one thing:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c$@%#! This feels awful!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That terrible feeling is partly due to the fact that your arms have to support a lot more weight than they did when you were seven.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s also due to the fact that you probably don\u2019t do much hanging as part of your fitness routine (even though you really should<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s worth getting over this shock to the system, though, and tackling the monkey bars more regularly. As an exercise that works your shoulders, back, arms, core, and grip strength, as well as your agility, there\u2019s a reason the monkey bars are a standard fixture in both military and civilian obstacle courses<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n To make it across the monkey bars at all, you\u2019re going to need a baseline of strength. General strength exercises like pull-ups<\/a> will help get you there, but don\u2019t ignore working on your grip strength; often the reason someone falls off the bars prematurely isn\u2019t because their arms aren\u2019t strong enough, but because their grip strength isn\u2019t adequate. You can find a guide to strengthening your grip here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond general strength, traversing the monkey bars more comfortably and efficiently requires working on some foundational movements, as well as your technique.<\/span><\/p>\n On the former front, you\u2019re going to want to start hanging on the regular<\/a>, and Danny Clark, Master Instructor for MovNat<\/a>, recommends these exercises in particular:<\/span><\/p>\n When it comes to technique, there are a few different ways to traverse the monkey bars. There\u2019s the side swing, where your body is perpendicular to the bars and your palms are facing each other; this approach can sometimes feel more accessible and stable to beginners. The <\/span>Front Power Traverse<\/span><\/a> is a good method for when you\u2019re looking for speed. If you\u2019re first starting out, or find yourself in wet, slippery conditions, you may want to grip each bar with both hands before moving one hand to the next bar; while this method can feel more stable, it does make the traverse harder, as it stalls your momentum, slowing your progress and sapping more energy. As you get more comfortable on the rig, move to alternating your hands on the bars (i.e., you only have one hand gripping a bar at any given time).<\/span><\/p>\n For smoothness and efficiency, use the <\/span>Forward Swing Traverse <\/span><\/a>which, with tips and instructions from Danny, has been illustrated above. This traverse allows you to do the monkey bars with true primate-like flow.<\/span><\/p>\n The more you practice the monkey bars, the less terrible this effective bodyweight exercise will come to feel. So don\u2019t leave the monkey bars behind in your childhood, and instead jump on them the next time you\u2019re at the playground (there are a bunch of other exercises you can do while you\u2019re there, too<\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n\n