Since I have chronic shoulder problems I knew I had to do this routine as soon as I saw it. This a short but effective routine to not only take your shoulders through all ranges of motion but also work on some strength. As mentioned, I have shoulder issues and I was able to do this routine without any problem and I do feel like it benefited me. It is something I will have to do regularly though. I have already incorporated Julia‘s 10 Min Mobility for Neglected Joints into my rotations. I love that she has these short focused routines so I can stack several of them to create longer workouts that target my personal needs.
Each exercise is done for 45 seconds followed by a 12 second transition. There is a timer in the lower left hand corner of the screen counting down the intervals and transitions. During the transition Julia demonstrates the next move. For some of the moves Julia shows a more advanced option.
Stiff Shoulders is 12:34 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat.
- Floor angels + rotation (lay on back with knees bent and feet on floor, extend arms overhead with palms facing ceiling, trying to keep backs of arms/hands on floor, pull elbows down to sides, when elbows are level with shoulders, raise forearms off the mat to ceiling while keeping elbows on mat, lower forearms back to mat then push them back overhead)
- Seated shoulder opener (sit on mat with hands on mat behind hips, keeping arms straight, arch back and hold then slide hips back releasing the stretch briefly and rounding shoulders before repeating)
- Shoulder circles with hands clasped (kneel on mat with hands clasped at small of back, draw large circles with shoulders)
- Shoulder CARs (still kneeling on mat, draw large slow arm circles–so large arm crosses in front of body, you will also change the direction your hand faces as you raw the circle)
- Repeat #4 on other arm
- ER + IR > alternating arm switches (still kneeling on mat, bring both hands behind back by bringing one arm overhead and bending elbow and other arm down at small of back, also bending elbow, reach hands toward each other, repeat with arm positions swapped then extend both arms out to sides in a T and rotate arms/wrists so one palm faces the ceiling and one faces floor)
- Child’s pose > alternating arm sweep (child’s pose then sweep one arm under body into thread the needle, alternate sides)
- Quadruped SA swimmer (on hands and knees, place one hand behind head with elbow out to side, extend arm straight then sweep it out to side and bend elbow bringing hand to small of back with elbow extended out to side, lower elbow, reverse this motion)
- Repeat #8 on other arm
- Scapular push up > down dog (on hands and knees, keeping arms straight, lower chest toward mat bringing shoulder blades together, return to neutral then push back into down dog)
- Y-to-T lift off (lay face down on mat, arms are extended overhead in a T with thumbs facing ceiling, lift arms and hold a few seconds, lower arms and sweep them to sides in a T, raise arms and hold a few seconds)
- Half swimmer (still laying face down on mat, hands are stacked at small of back with elbows open out to sides, lift elbows then straighten arms with thumbs facing ceiling and arms lifted, hold this position for a few seconds then return hands to start at small of back)
- Thread the needle hold (halfway through the interval change sides)
For more info on Julia Reppel and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
