STRETCH OF THE WEEK:

Unilateral Leaning Lat Stretch:

The unilateral leaning lat #stretch is particularly great for swimmers due to their high level of lat use in each stroke. However, most people can find this stretch beneficial for their posture. In general, people’s pecs and lats (which are major shoulder internal rotators) are overly tight from daily activities. This causes rounding of the shoulders and bowing of the upper back leading to poor thoracic posture. Add this stretch, along with the any of my pec stretches I demonstrated in a previous post, into your daily routine, and you’ll be standing straighter and have less shoulder and neck pain because of it. 🙂👍🏻

1. Anchor a heavy resistance band above your head and kneel facing perpendicular to where it is anchored with your right arm furthest from the anchor point.
2. Sit upright and grab the resistance band with your right hand and allow it to pull your arm sideways over your right ear and over your head.
3. Externally rotate your right hand trying to face your palm towards the ceiling.
4. Now shift your hips slightly to the right side and allow your torso to tilt left as your right arm gets an even deeper pull across your body.
5. Hold this for 30 seconds and repeat on your left arm.