Serving Cookies
Serving Cookies
Muscle Group(s) Stretched: Shoulders
Range of Motion Strengthened: Shoulder external rotation
Type of Stretch: Active Dynamic
Difficulty: All-Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
This is one of the drills that stuck with me from Dr. Susan Haven’s contortion anatomy workshop (if you ever get the opportunity to take it - highly recommend!). Plus it has such a fun name, how can you resist using this to strengthen your rotator cuff???
How To
Step 1
Bend your right elbow and pull it against your side body, letting your right palm face up in front of you as if you were holding a plate of cookies. Keep your elbow pulled in toward your ribs/waist/hip (where it lands will depend on your body proportions) for this whole exercise, don’t let it float away!
Step 2
Keeping your right elbow squeezing in toward your side, and keeping your right forearm parallel to the floor, reach your right hand off to the side as far as you can (as if you were going to serve your imaginary platter of cookies to someone sitting next to you). Don’t let the right elbow come away from your side!
Step 3
Bring the right palm back to the front. That’s one rep. Repeat for 8-12 reps.
Things to avoid “cheating” this exercise
Make sure the movement is coming from your shoulder (not twisting your torso to the side with the arm)
Keep the right shoulder low, don’t let it shrug up
Make sure the elbow doesn’t leave your side body. A sneaky trick is to place something small like a towel or a resistance band between your elbow and your side body and to keep pinching it in with your elbow as you rotate your arm - if you drop your prop then you know that elbow is sneaky away!
Related Content
Flexopedia: Robot Arms
Blog Post: The Importance of “External Shoulder Rotation” in a Backbend
Blog Post: 5 Drills for Improving Overhead External Shoulder Rotation
Blog Post: How to Get More Open Shoulders in a Bridge
