I like the scapular wall slide for a couple of reasons:
- It's a great exercise to use as part of your upper body warm up. It'll really get your low trap muscles firing.
- It'll help open up your chest and bring your shoulders back if done enough.
- A lot of shoulder injuries have been linked to scapular dysfunction. This exercise tries to address this dysfunction
- It makes you aware of what ideal posture is (chest up, shoulders down and back).
- You don't need any equipment, just a wall.
Start the exercise by leaning back against a wall. Your feet will be about 6-8 inches of the wall, but your hips, shoulders and head are going to be against the wall the entire exercise. Starting with your arms up, slide your forearms down along the wall. Think about forming a "W". In the bottom portion of the slide you should really feel a pinching sensation between your shoulder blades. Hold for a count of 2, then return to the starting position by sliding your arms back up the wall. Just like you were signaling "Touchdown" (I hope to see about 10 of those scored on the Jets this weekend). The real key is to try and keep your forearms back against the wall the entire movement.
As I mentioned before, this exercise can be used as part of your warm up where I'd suggest one set of 8-10 reps. Or you might want to include this as a pre-hab or re-hab exercise in your routine and perform multiple sets.
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