Are you feeling tightness in your chest and the front of
your shoulders while working on the computer? Do you ever feel you need to do
some stretch exercises in these areas after a long and tiring day? Or do you
want to improve your posture and bring your shoulders back with neck exercises?
All of these can be accomplished with arm behind your back stretch exercises.

These arms behind your back stretch exercises will work on
your front chest muscle pectoralis major and your shoulder muscles anterior and
middle deltoids. You will also be strengthening your rhomboids while doing
shoulder blade pinches. These arms behind your back stretch exercises will help
relax your shoulders by strengthening your lower trapezius muscles. Other
muscles that may feel being stretched out are the levator scapulae (neck),
pectoralis minor (chest), supraspinatus (top of shoulder), serratus anterior
(rib cage) and coracobrachialis (inside of upper arm).

These arms behind your back stretch exercises can be done
sitting or standing. The best way to feel the stretch is standing up straight. When
bringing your arm behind your back, avoid bending forward or you will lose the
stretch at your chest. These arm behind your back stretch exercises works on
your shoulder and arm range of motions. Let’s begin with this standing arm
behind your back stretch exercises!

Standing Position:

• Feet shoulder width apart
• Knees slightly bent
• Your hips and pelvis should be pointing forward
• Have your chest up and out towards the wall
• Relax your shoulders down
• Pinch your shoulder blades together
• Perform a chin tuck by bring your chin back towards your
  shoulder blades
• Relax y our jaw
• Look straight ahead

Arm Behind Your Back Stretch Exercises:

• Breathe in
• Raise your right arm behind your back
• Bend your right elbow up to 90 degrees
• Place the back of your right hand on your back
• With your left hand, hold on to your right elbow
• Breathe out
• Using your left hand, guide your right arm across your back
  and up towards your shoulders
• Hold this position for 30 seconds
• Repeat 3 times
• Relax and switch arms to stretch the left side

You should feel various muscles stretched but no pain in any
direction. Only bring your arm up as far up your back to feel a stretch. You
can adjust bring your arm across by holding on to your wrist instead of your
elbow. You will feel the extra stretch by focusing on pinching your shoulder
blades together. Overall, this arm behind the back stretch exercises should
give you more range of motions in the shoulders and arms as well as relieve
neck tension and improve posture. Avoid any over stretching with this stretch
exercise. Other stretch exercises will be described at a later time.

Technorati Tags: chin tucks, levator scapulae, neck exercises, pectoralis major, posture, shoulder blade pinches, stretch exercises

Do you ever feel stiff looking over your shoulders? Do you ever feel you need to do more than just turning your head to release neck tension? How about combining some neck exercises to give you more range of motion as a neck workout? Here I will talk about taking your neck rotation and adding a head or face clock. You can do these neck exercises through the whole range of your neck rotations.

Sometimes, just turning your head left or right doesn’t quite give you the relief you would like. I’ve added a new twist to the normal neck rotation neck exercise. The neck muscles that help rotate your head are: transversospinalis rotatores, splenius capitis, sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and levator scapula. The transversospinalis rotatores and SCM rotate the head to the opposite side where as splenius capitis and levator scapula rotate the head to the same side.

You can do this neck workout sitting or standing. I’ll describe the neck rotation and face clock in sitting. When doing the head or face clock portion of the neck exercise, think of 12 o’clock above your forehead, 3 o’clock your left ear, 6 o’clock below your chin and 9 o’clock your right ear. When doing the neck rotation, be sure to go as far as you are comfortable without any neck pain. Let’s begin!

Sitting Position:

• Feet flat on the floor
• Sit up tall
• Your chest up and towards the wall in front of you
• Do shoulder blade pinches by squeezing them together
• Rest your hands in your lap
• Drop your shoulders away from your ears
• Perform a chin tuck by bring your chin back towards your shoulder blades
• Relax your jaw
• Eyes looking straight ahead

Neck Workout: Rotation and Clock

• Breathe in
• Lead with your nose and turn towards your right shoulder
• Breathe out
• Do a face clock by starting at 12 o’clock
• Repeat 10 times
• Reverse and go counter clockwise
• Repeat 10 times
• Breathe in
• Turn your head to your left shoulder
• Breathe out
• Perform a face clock
• Repeat 10 times
• Reverse the direction and go counter clockwise
• Repeat 10 times
• Return your head back to the starting position
• Repeat this neck workout 10 times

There should be no pain or discomfort with this neck workout. If you begin to feel dizzy, stop and avoid rotating all the way to your shoulder. After this neck workout, you should feel your neck looser. Any neck tension or stiffness should be less than when you first started. Other neck workouts will be described at a later time. Enjoy your neck workout today.  

Technorati Tags: chin tuck, face clock, head clock, neck exercise, neck exercises, neck range of motion, neck rotation, neck workout, SCM, shoulder blade pinches, sternocleidomastoid

Do you like to stretch when you first wake up in the
morning? Do you reach for the sky or ceiling when raising your arms up? How about
just adding a few more moves with your arm raising stretch in the morning as
neck exercises? This morning when I got up and stretched, I raised my shoulders
up and squeezed my shoulder blades together. So, this will be today’s neck
exercises.

The motions for these neck exercises are a combination of
moves: shoulder blade pinches, shoulder raises and chin tucks. These neck
exercises help with breathing and having good posture. A benefit of these neck
exercises are that they reduce neck tension and improve neck flexibility. These
extra motions are simple to implement into your everyday movements. You can do
these neck exercises sitting or standing. I’ll describe them standing.

Standing Position:

• Feet shoulders width apart
• Knees slightly bent
• Arms by your side
• Relax your shoulders
• Bring your chin back towards your shoulder blades
• Your eyes should be looking straight ahead

Arms Up Neck Exercises:

• Breathe in
• With your hands, raise your arms up towards the ceiling
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together
• Tilt your head back
• With your palms, reach towards the ceiling while raising
  your shoulders up
• Breathe out
• Bring your shoulders down with a slight bend in the elbows
• Raise your arms up again
• Repeat 10 times

These neck exercises should feel good and be relaxing. These
movements should help relieve any neck stress or stiffness. There should be no
pain with any neck exercises or stretch exercises done. Other neck exercises
will be described at a later time. Enjoy Christmas today!

Technorati Tags: chin tucks, neck exercises, shoulder blade pinches, shoulder raises, stretch exercises