This is an excellent bodyweight exercise for the shoulders and upper back. It can also be a great warm-up for the shoulders while stretching the pecs.
1. Start in a prone position by laying on your stomach with your hands behind your lower back (like you’re being handcuffed).
2. Extend your arms out straight by hinging at the elbow and begin to bring your arms to a Y position. Keep them locked and keep your thumbs turned up toward the ceiling.
3. From there, do the same motion coming back, trying to make as big of a circle as you can coming around, and return to your starting position with your hands placed behind your lower back.
4. You’re then going to retract your shoulder blades. While keeping your hands on your lower back, bring your shoulder blades back down, and repeat this entire motion for 10-15 reps.
Let’s be clear here – Chin ups are hard. But you have to start somewhere and that is why assisted chin ups are great for working with a weight that is in line with your current strength. Most assisted chin up machines have varying grips so be sure to work with the grip that is given to you by our trainers.
This exercise is to help set your shoulder blade and give a bit of a balancing challenge. The stabiliser muscles of the shoulder have to kick in to keep your shoulder blade and humerus bone in place. A great warm up protocol for when working with shoulders!
This is one of the big exercises on the gym floor. Many do it incorrectly and many could stand to implement it into the program.
A few tips on this exercise!
1. You can do this exercise with an underhanded grip of an overhand grip
2. If you find it difficult to maintain the angle of your spine, use a bench put on an incline to prop up your chest!
3. It is important to try not to shrug your shoulders up to your ears.
The pull up is such a strong and versatile exercise. You don’t need any real equipment other than something above your head and able to be hung onto.