Yoga for Rocks: Shoulder Mobility Program (Day 4, With Band)

But even if you're a rock, you have shoulders that pop easily, and they're just super stiff, the rubber band can always stretch more. So just grab wider, or buy an even softer rubber band. Everyone can do this. Even if it means having to navigate the band over your head, because it's so hard to get the arms back, I believe that everyone can do this.

If you can't, then seek super professional help. I consider myself a semi-professional on rock issues. You might have to seek further assistance if this is too much for you. Let's do one more full circle.

Nice, and let's do a forward fold. Bend your knees and just let your arms drape. Maybe grab opposite elbows. Get a nice stretch for your lower back.

Let your shoulders hang towards your earlobes. Grab your rubber band again. This time you can sit down on your knees if you like. You can, of course, do the last one seated as well.

But this time, let's go side to side. So this will give a nice stretch for the lats all the way up through your armpits. So grab the belt and go sideways, and try pulling your biceps in close to your ear. And as soon as you start feeling pinching pain in your shoulder joint, stop there and pull back a little bit with your left elbow.

So you're pulling the arm in, but you're also pulling the arm out to make a nice stretch for your whole side body, because it's not just the shoulder that is tight. Your chest and your side body and your back is probably super tight too. So just stretching the shoulders are going to have a nice effect, but stretching everything around the shoulder, everything that attaches to the shoulder, and everything that is in the way of the shoulder is going to help tremendously. Switch sides.

Pull the right arm in towards your ear. And if it hurts, pull back slightly with the arm, and try rounding your back sideways. So side bending, stretching from the waist up to the elbow. Now flow from side to side in your own time.

What I like to do is to have the arms further behind me, but that's because I like it super intensive. Your choice. Just go from side to side. Alright, let's drop the rubber band.

Release the arms and shoulders. Shake it, shake it. Swing it, swing it. And release the shoulder blades.

And then we're going to do the same thing with the other side. So you're going to go from side to side, and then you're going to go from side to side. And then you're going to go from side to side. Alright.

Now let's try the full wall dog. We have done the half wall dog already. Place your hands in towards the wall. Wide hands, fingers pointing out.

One foot forward, and then lower your chest. If it's too much, then look up towards the wall. If it's not enough, lower your chest as far as you can go. And use the back foot to press in towards the wall, because when you're engaged like this, it's easier than when you relax, it's probably going to be too intense for the shoulders.

So you can work hard with the leg and push the arms in, but try to release your neck and let your neck hang. And the pressure from the back foot is going to help you to regulate the intensity. Let's take three more breaths. TESTED.

Stand up. Catch your thumbs behind you. So make two circles with your thumb and index. Just catch on there and see how much you can lift.

If your fingers flip open, that's okay. Try to reach that point and stay there for five. Bent elbows are okay. Let's do another round of wall dogs.

So your hands can go higher, makes it easier. Step your right foot forward, your left foot back. Drop your head. If that's too much, look towards the wall.

Just make your shoulders used to bearing some weight when your arms are overhead. So when your arms, this is a technical thing, when your arms are down behind you, when your arms are down behind you, you should pull your shoulder blades back and down. When you lift your arms overhead like you're doing now, you should not pull your shoulders back. You try to push them slightly forward and out towards the side of your ribs.

So arms down, that's when you move the shoulders together. When your arms go up, they spread apart. That's a technical thing that many people get wrong. So stand up and let's try that.

Arms behind you, roll the thumbs out and push the shoulders back and down. That helps lifting your chest, makes it easier to breathe and the shoulders can be more relaxed. So what's normal here is that you have a bad stance and a bad hip posture and that's why your shoulders are rounded forward and you slouch. So good posture is pulling the shoulders back and finding a good hip and chest movement.

I'm actually going to create a posture program later. But when the arms go up, you can't no longer pull your shoulders down. You roll your shoulders forward and up. So you're scooping your armpits like you're scooping ice cream with the armpits up like this.

I wouldn't like to taste that ice cream, but get the idea. Forward and up. Let's go back again. Stretch your arms behind you.

Lift your chest, lift your gaze, shoulders back and down, then arms up, shoulders forward, scoop and lift. If you have a problem with lifting your arm in front of you, you have a slouchy posture and rounded shoulders, instead of lifting with your arms, lift with your chest. So I'm not moving my arms at all, but you can see my arms are still raising up. So good posture is going to help you not having to have as much shoulder flexibility.

So you can compensate for lack of range of motion in the shoulder with good posture. And that's one of the only times I recommend substituting flexibility in one place with another. Because if you want to reach something and you reach from the chest like this, that's a really good thing. Alright, let's see you guys tomorrow for the last video.

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