WALL EXTENSIONS

hey guys!

I have found wall extensions to be invaluable when it comes to stretching my back and shoulders. I have started running into a small problem tho. My shoudlers are not yet flexible enough. My arms won't touch the wall. or, they will, but my wrists have a severe pike. I was under teh impression from your elbows to teh tips of your fingers should be touching the wall, and if my wrists come up so much so that the only part of ym hand touching the wall is my knuckles, i am not flexible enough. If this is not true, great i dont have a question. But, if my assumption is correct and i AM doing these wrong...what are some things i can do to get correct for? I have read the Wall Extensions essay several times but i am missing something i think becasue i don't see anywehre in there where it says that this has prerequisites. I feel silly becasue there are a lot of people, especially on that essay, who say they really enjoy it, but i can't seem to do it. If someone could help me i would really appreciate it

does anybody have any advice? i am really trying to improve my shoulder felxibility. i would really appreiciate it if someone could get back to me soon.

Have you tried doing them on the floor?

yes. does my entire back need to be flat, from lower badck to shoulders, or just upper back and shoulder?

Is it possible for you to post a video of yourself doing the exercise? This would be very helpful.

That woudl be very helpful wouldn't it. Crap. unfortunatley i can not i wish i could tho it would make this all easier to explain

Not the end of the world, it just helps, but for this issue it most certainly just a matter of tight shoulders.

Yes it is possible for a person with open shoulders to do wall extensions with the hands on the wall and lower back on the wall, but as Coach Sommer's essay implies not everyone (or even most average people) will be able to do them.

Take it slow, and don't get frustrated by this.

Without getting into all the other options available to you to help increase your shoulder ROM here are some ways to play with wall extensions.

1) Try them in different positions, against a wall, lying on the floor, just standing up or sitting down.

2) Be mindful of the movement, don't just mechanically do them, try to figure out how the shoulders move, when and why the arms lift and the lower back arches. Try to find exactly when it happens and work around the transition point try to extend how long it takes to get there.

3)Vary the speed, faster, slower.

4) Vary the perfection, sometime striving to keep everything on the wall even if it means a limited amount of movement. Other times consciously letting the arms lift and moving further.

If you bend your knees while on the floor, and your hands are by your side near the hips, then I don't see any reason why your entire back wouldn't be touching the ground.

What I've been doing is not doing sets and reps in the position. As mentioned by Mr. Brady, simply explore ranges of motion. Straight arm, bend arm, and everything in between. Sometimes I even camp out in a position that I consider my threshold of where my shoulder just wants to lift off the ground, then later move around some more and reach new areas. Take it slow, make it consistent and you can gain a lot like this without much fatigue or injury.

Good point on the bent knees. Its also interesting to see how far you can straighten your legs from there and still keep your lower back on the floor.

Mr Brady said:

Good point on the bent knees. Its also interesting to see how far you can straighten your legs from there and still keep your lower back on the floor.

Hadn't even thought about that. Thanks Mr. Brady. On a side note, I do these when I do Supine Groing Stretches. Since they take me about 30 minutes nowadays to complete (this is a huge improvement btw :shock: ), I can kill two birds with one stone.