Day 18: Shoulder Mobility Exercises You Can Do at Home

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Welcome to Day 18 of the 30 Days of Warm Ups and Movement Prep.

Today we will be working on shoulder mobility exercises and drills that can be done at home.

If you haven't already, download our 30 Day Challenge Guide.

The 30 Warm Ups and Routines in this guide are meant to be used before or after a training session.

Each day was originally designed to be done for 30 minutes, however, with much testing and feedback, 15 minutes is now recommended.

These sequences are designed to be done for the allotted time (15 minutes) working through the reps at a low to moderate pace.

Today is day 18 of the challenge and we will be focusing on shoulder mobility drills and exercises that you can do at home.

Movements

• Prayer Stretch; 30"
• 10 Reps Flexion/Extension with Towel
• 10 Primal Pull Throughs

Prayer Stretch

This is similar to the prayer stretch with the PVC from day 4, except we are stretching over the edge of the foam roller or a bench. The same cues apply. Pull the chest through toward the ground and think about lifting up your hands toward the ceiling. Don’t jam your head through as that will prevent extension of the upper back (which is what we want).

Flexion/Extension with Towel

Grab a small towel or a t-shirt for this drill. In both directions, you want the palms of the hands facing each other.

When bringing the towel behind your back and lifting away from your butt, don’t let the shoulders round forward or the upper back round. Keep your chest tall.
When bringing the towel over your head, avoid leaning backward and avoid arching through your low back.

Primal Pull Through

Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension.

Make sure you use the dowel to learn the 3 points of contact so you have a neutral spine throughout this movement.

The 3 points are: the back of the head, between the shoulder blades, and the lowest part of the low back (over the tailbone).

As long as you maintain the 3 points of contact as described, it isn’t important to us if the hips shoot back and the torso leans forward. The goal ultimately is to be able to do the lateral lunge with the dowel in an overhead squat position. However, while learning, all we need is the 3 points of contact.

The mechanics of the lateral lunge on the side that you are lunging toward should follow the same rules as a good squat (knee tracks over the middle of the foot and doesn’t collapse in, for example).

The mechanics of the lateral lunge on the side that you are lunging away from aren’t as important to us, do what is comfortable. You can keep that side’s foot on the ground or lift your toes off the ground and go on to your heel.