Beginner-Friendly Shoulder Conditioning
Beginner-Friendly Shoulder Conditioning
Whenever I’m warming up my shoulders for backbends, I like to include some conditioning exercises as well. Like I’ve said before flexibility training is as much about strength as it is about stretching. If you are trying to get more open shoulders, like in a bridge, you’ll see more progress incorporating some strength and active flexibility exercises.
Below are some of my favorite shoulder conditioning exercises. Choose at least 4 of these to add to your shoulder warm up to start building stronger shoulders.
Shoulder Conditioning Warm Ups
Palm Pulses
Start with straight arms out to the side, at shoulder height, palms facing up to the ceiling
Roll your shoulders down your back so your shoulder blades are low on your back (and your shoulders aren’t shrugging up towards your ears)
Keeping your shoulders down, pulse your palms towards the ceiling for 20 counts. The pulses should be small but fast and controlled, you only need to move your arms a couple of inches
Flip your palms down (still keeping them at shoulder height) and pulse palms towards the floor for 20 counts
Flip your palms towards the front and pulse forwards for 20 counts
Last round! Flip your palms behind you and pulse backwards for 20 counts
Y-T-Ws (Shoulder Retraction)
Y Shape
Lying down on the ground, bring straight arms overhead in a wide Y-position, palms facing the floor. Keep your gaze towards the floor, either with your forehead resting on your mat, or you can lift your head, but don’t crane your neck by trying to look up
Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you lift your arms straight up in your “Y” shape. Keeping your shoulder blades squeezing together, lower your arms a couple of inches back towards the floor, and then flap them up again. The goal is to keep your shoulders retracted (squeezing together on your back) the entire time, even as you let your arms start to lower. You can think about trying to grip a pencil between your shoulder blades, or like you’re trying to squeeze a penny between them
Repeat for 15 arm lifts/lowers with your Y shape
T Shape
Bring your arms out perpendicular to your body in a wide “T” position, palms facing down
Squeeze your shoulder blades together to peel your arms off the ground and lift your wrists a couple of inches off the ground
Maintaining the shoulder blade squeeze, continue to raise and lower your arms in your T position for 15 reps
W Shape
Finally, bend your elbows to bring your hands about face height, palms facing down, like you’re making a big W with your arms
Squeezing your shoulder blades together towards your spine, let your elbows and palms lift together a couple of inches towards the ceiling
Keeping your shoulder blade squeeze, lower your arms a couple of inches (only letting them come to the floor if you can do so with your shoulders retracted)
Repeat for 15 arm lifts and drops in your “W” shape
Hitchhikers
Start lying down on your mat, arms straight overhead, gazing down at your mat (or even resting your head on the floor)
Make a “thumbs up” sign with each hand, pointing your thumbs to the ceiling, palms both facing inwards
Punch your knuckles forwards as far as you can to lengthen through your arms. Reach so far forwards with your hands that you could almost block your ears with the top of your shoulders. (Normally we like to keep a lot of space between our shoulders and our ears - this is not one of those times!)
Suck your belly button into your spine to engage your core (and discourage your low back from trying to help in this exercise)
While continuing to punch your knuckles away from your shoulders to help shrug your shoulders up by your ears, start to pulse your thumbs up towards the ceiling
Pulse thumbs towards the ceiling 20 times, on the last pulse hold for 10 seconds, continuing to reach your knuckles away from your shoulders and trying to pull your thumbs to the ceiling
Relax down to the floor
T Hitchhikers
Lie down on the floor, arms out in a T position, making a “thumbs up” fist with both hands, thumbs pointing towards the ceiling
Squeeze your shoulder blades together as your lift your arms off the floor
Keeping your arms raise, pulse your thumbs to the ceiling 20 times, and on the last time hold for 10 seconds, trying to keep a constant lifting up in your arms
Relax down to the floor
Scapular Push Ups
Set up in either a high (straight legs) or low (on your knees) push up position, with shoulders over wrists, sucking your belly button into your spine to keep a strong core
Without bending your arms, let your chest drop an inch or two towards the floor as you let your shoulders retract (shoulder blades shrug together towards your spine)
Press into strong hands and push the back of your shoulders up to the ceiling, like you’re trying to push the space between your shoulder blades as high as you possibly can
That’s one rep. Repeat for 10-15 reps
Dolphin Push Ups
Start in a forearm plank
Push into your forearms to push your hips back into a dolphin pose. Forearms can stay parallel to each other on the floor, or I like to bring my hands in and interlace my fingers. Legs can be straight, or knees can be bent, aiming to have a nice flat back making a straight line from your elbows through your back up to your hips
Keeping strong arms to slow your decent, start to drop your shoulders forwards towards the ground, like you’re trying to bring your head down to kiss your hands or the mat. Start with only letting your shoulders drop forwards a couple of inches, and progressively you can work towards doing deeper push ups as strength will allow
Press back into your forearms to push shoulders and hips back to your starting position
Repeat for 8-12 reps
Active Puppy Press
Start in a tabletop, hips over your knees and shoulders stacked over your wrists
Keeping your hips stacked over your knees the whole time (don’t let your butt droop back towards your heels), start to walk your hands forwards with straight arms as you drop your chest towards the floor
Try and keep your shoulder blades hugging around the sides of your ribs towards the floor instead of letting them slide together down your back
With your straight arms, bring your elbows down to the mat, maybe your forehead down to the mat, or if you have really open shoulders, your upper arms, chest, or chin might rest on the mat
Keeping your chest low, start to press your palms into the floor, as if you’re trying to push the floor away from your face. Your arms may even be shaking a little, which is totally fine. Keep pushing palms into the floor for a slow count of 10
Then relax, stop pushing the floor away and see if you can sink any deeper into the pose, and hold for another 10 seconds
