that stretch/party trick where you take the stick all the way back behind you
I can get the bar above me if I take quite a wide grip. By "wide grip" I mean hands almost the full length of the broomstick apart. In this position I can get the feeling that my arms are almost locked back over my head (like in the starting position of that stretch/party trick where you take the stick all the way back behind you) But Bernd The Physio won't allow this, and with a narrower grip I find it exponentially harder.
Really handy website on mobilising crocked/overused joints here:http://www.mobilitywod.com/Search for shoulder, elbow, and maybe the hip stuff too (if your hips aren't well positioned at the bottom of the squat then I guess your upper back and shoulders have to do more work).
I tried this last night and to my surprise my hands are indeed above my feet.I do think technique has a lot to do with it. Correct squat position, lower back strength, hip tension and upper back flexibility all contribute a lot to how vertical your upper back is.
Quote from: hamsforlegs on March 23, 2012, 06:28:51 pmhttp://www.mobilitywod.com/ Really good find with that website, i just need a few spare days to watch all of the relevant vids.
http://www.mobilitywod.com/
I've been seeing a physio in London for various shoulder tweaks and he has diagnosed the upper thoracic inflexibility in me too. The starting exercise he has given me is to stand with my back against the wall, and round it so that lower and mid back are flat. Then I have to raise my arms straight above my head until the back of my hands touch the wall - importantly while keeping my back flat the whole time. I'm finding this ridiculously hard. The reason is that my lats are massively overdeveloped and tight in relation to my traps. So the solution is to use this exercise (progressing onto others with weights) to strengthen the traps and rhomboids in the upper back/shoulders while loosening and stretching the lats.
Instead of standing against a wall - try lying on your back as you can relax more and gravity is helping. If you use the yoga trick of breathing in and focussing on relaxing the area of tightness you can sometimes lower the arms further.
Thanks for this - interesting. The physio did say I could do lying down stretches but I'd preferred the standing stretches as I figured it was better to build strength vs gravity in my traps etc opposing my lats rather than just stretch the lats. Will mix it up and do a bit of both.
The overhead squat is an unbeatably awesome bit of exercise. Can only do 2 x 7kg with barbells though.