Try This Drill Before Your Next Big Press Workout
Overhead pressing is great for your building shoulders—but only if you actually have the mobility to press with proper form. This drill from Don Saladino, NASM, will help you gain that mobility.
This move—called a serratus wall slide—do magic on your shoulders by targeting the often-neglected serratus anterior muscle. Connecting your ribs to your shoulder blades, they are in charge of rotating the blades up and tilting them backward so that the ball-and-socket of the shoulder can move like it should. Plus, it will help get your lats moving through a full range of motion to promote better posture and shoulder movement as well.
You’ll need a large foam roller, or some other similarly-shaped implement to do the drill. Check out this option from Trigger Point if you need one to try this at home.
Here’s how it goes: Stand close to a wall and place the sides of your hands on a foam roller that’s against the wall at shoulder height. Pull your shoulders together in front of you to make the space between your shoulder blades flat. Tighten your abs to drive your rib cage down and actively flex your lats and rhomboids to pin your shoulders down and away from your ears. Maintaining this position throughout the whole drill is way harder than it looks.
Now, slowly roll your hands up the wall, leaning your torso toward the wall as you reach the top of the movement. But keep your back and core position. If you can’t get your hands all of the way up without arching, you may need to set up closer to the wall.
Saladino recommends doing 3 sets of 10 reps. Try it as an activation drill before overhead pressing exercises or as a standalone exercise on recovery or mobility days.
Hearst
Want to try out more exercises and workouts from Saladino? Check out his Men’s Health Superhero Shred program, which is designed with the same principles he uses to get his star clients in shape. You can also find Saladino’s program, alongside a ton of other fitness content, on our new All Out Studio streaming app.
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