[Fiend]

Recently my already dismal shoulder immobility has nose-dived (and I think partly contributing to some climbing capacities nose-diving too). I am doing (read: trying to do) some stretches and rehab exercises courtesy of Biscuit. Despite those, the immobility is worse overall, despite the impingements being a bit better (the former might be tension in the upper back too).

Anyway, whilst hanging around in Toolstation waiting to replace my patio weeder and hand broom for Lancs Reasons, I was doing some of the "arm across the chest" stretches (utterly terrible at this) and "palm against a wall behind me" pec stretches  (ditto). I think there's a lot of work to be done here and both of these can be done regularly and conveniently (like whilst buying other, more exciting, Lancs route cleaning tools).

So does anyone have any other suggestions for similar shoulder stretches that can be done in any circumstances and without tying myself in knots (I think "threading the needle" would have got me laughed out of the shop...)?? Ta.

[Paul B]

I use the Lattice follow along YouTube videos for both my upper and lower body, mainly for ease.

One thing that's great about them is a chest stretch where you lie on the floor. I find it far more effective than any of the standard doorway pec stretches.

[Dingdong]

I use the Lattice follow along YouTube videos for both my upper and lower body, mainly for ease.

One thing that's great about them is a chest stretch where you lie on the floor. I find it far more effective than any of the standard doorway pec stretches.

The floor pec stretches are good. I also like the wall shoulder lifts where you sit on the floor, back to the wall, making sure your lower back stays in contact at all times and then you put you arms against the wall starting at a 90 degree bend and lift the arms up keeping elbows on the wall until they’re straight and then bringing them back down. They’re also known as Wall Angels if you want to look up some videos.

[Paul B]

This is the upper body video:

[seankenny]

Stretches are hard => you’re tight in those areas => stretching them is probably good. So… you don’t need any new stretches! Just do those five minutes every day for a couple of months and see what happens.

No one said this would be quick or interesting.

Maybe try a couple of full body routines from you tube, work out where you are particularly inflexible and then find some exercises which target those areas.

[Fiend]

Sorry I meant logistically easy, i.e. stretches that won't get me kicked out of Toolstation for taking the piss or that I can do whilst stuck in traffic. Will check other replies later.

[Fultonius]

 How did you get on with the bar hangs?

[slab_happy]

Depends on what your tolerance is for getting funny looks in public, but your basic one-arm doorway pec stretch would still be one of the better bets for not being thrown out of public places.

There's also a variant where you place your elbow higher than your shoulder, so your upper arm's at more of a diagonal, and look down and way from it, and you can get some stretch into the pec minor, which is otherwise tricky.

Also the one where you link your hands behind your back, straight arms, press your palms together if you can, , then lift your hands up and back away from your body -- good for opening up the front of your shoulders.

Or: cross your arms behind your back, hold your own elbows.

The arm bit from garudasana (eagle pose) hits rhomboids more than than the front of the shoulders per se, but is still very nice (you can lever under the shoulderblades):



In my experience, the most useful thing is being reasonably disciplined about doing shoulder stretches after climbing (or strength training involving my shoulders).  And that's when you can do the ones that require lying on the floor or whatever.

But having a repertoire of stretches you can can do in odd moments is also a good call.

[Fiend]

How did you get on with the bar hangs?

I got on fine until the guy behind the counter started shouting at me "Are you going to buy those sodding scaffolding pipes or just dick on them all day?!?"

I do them as part of my shoulder rehab and occasionally warming up / down at the wall. They do open things up and feel fine. My smol Crusher fingerboard at home isn't ideal. I should do more of them whenever I'm near suitable rungs / jugs.

Or: cross your arms behind your back, hold your own elbows.

Glad to see you've still got a sense of humour slabs   

Thanks for the further suggestions, they sound good especially the linking hands and lifting behind back one - spot on for ease of use.

Stretches are hard => you’re tight in those areas => stretching them is probably good. So… you don’t need any new stretches!

Yup. That's sort of the plan. But I feel I can add a few more in - as per some suggestions.

This is the upper body video:

I'll have a look at that and see what I can fit in my normal non-Toolstation stretching routine. Ditto for Dingdong - and yeah I sometimes do wall angels.

[mrjonathanr]

I hope you think I have a sense of humour too! But seriously, this is a great one to work towards and not too weird looking if public stretching practice is your thing.

[slab_happy]

Or: cross your arms behind your back, hold your own elbows.

Glad to see you've still got a sense of humour slabs   

If your elbows are far out of reach, just grab your own forearms. Then you can try working your hands further along over time.

If you get to your elbows, reverse prayer pose is the next goal after that. It'll really test how well you've been stretching your wrist flexors, though.

[petejh]

Wall angels and doorway pecs. Do them in private.. why make life hard.

[Fiend]

I hope you think I have a sense of humour too!

You've climbed with me twice, so you must have some sense of humour / tolerance. But that video proves it. Yes. I can work to that, I'll file it under "working towards a 1 armer" and "working towards 10kg weight loss".

Thanks to you and others for the suggestion. I think this confirms that I'm on the right track with the sort of stretches I'm doing and should just keep doing them. I did do some stretches on the beach at Angel Bay whilst sunbathing after the tide came in and swamped the bouldering. That's the sort of "fitting it in regularly" I need to do.

[slab_happy]

I forgot to say -- another advantage of having a repertoire of different stretches that you can do frequently in odd moments, even if it's only briefly, is that it becomes a way of checking on the state of your shoulders, so you can notice if you're getting stiffer than usual, without it creeping up on you.

Thanks for the further suggestions, they sound good especially the linking hands and lifting behind back one - spot on for ease of use.

There's also a version of that you can do if you've got a counter-top or windowsill handy -- stand with your back to it and put your hands on it, fingers pointing forwards, arms bent, sort of like you're about to do a triceps dip. Then bend your knees.

So again, it's lifting your arms up behind your back and getting that stretch in the front of your shoulders, but you can get more leverage into it and you've got more scope for moving around and shifting position to get the stretch where you want it. For example, gently rocking side to side can be good.

There's also the classic counter-top stretch: https://myfiveminuteyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/kp2-1024x893.jpg

[mark20]

Not stretching , but I regularly use a massage ball to ease muscle stiffness in back and shoulders  (the first one). Harder and knobblier than a tennis ball.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/browse/c0-sports/c1-fitness-gym/c4-massage-balls/_/N-waxn58
Do that for 5mins while I’m having a cup of tea in the morning, no effort and quite nice.

[Fiend]

Yup, I've been doing that a lot. I like it harder and knobblier

[Wellsy]

I bet you do

[SA Chris]

I prefer a smooth  one to knobbly. I can get in deeper into the tissue without it hurting my skin. (fnarr missus).