The arms behind back chest stretch is a great exercise for stretching the chest muscles and improving upper body flexibility for your golf swing. Here's how you can perform the stretch:
- Stand upright with good posture, feet shoulder-width apart.
- Reach both arms behind your back, bending your elbows and interlacing your fingers together.
- Gently squeeze your shoulder blades together and straighten your arms as much as possible.
- Slowly lift your arms away from your back, keeping them straight and extending them upward.
- Feel the stretch in your chest and shoulders as you lift your arms.
- Hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds, breathing deeply and focusing on relaxing into the stretch.
- Release the stretch and lower your arms back down.
- Repeat the stretch for several repetitions, aiming to increase the range of motion with each repetition.
- Maintain good posture and avoid any excessive bending or arching of your back.
The arms behind back chest stretch helps to counteract the forward posture often associated with golf swings and sitting for prolonged periods. It opens up the chest and shoulders, improving mobility and allowing for a more fluid and unrestricted swing motion. You can incorporate this stretch into your warm-up routine before playing golf or as part of your regular stretching routine. As with any stretching exercise, it's important to listen to your body and not push beyond your comfortable range of motion. If you experience any pain or discomfort, modify the stretch or consult with a healthcare professional.
This exercise again is about opening up the chest and getting yourself tall and into the right posture particularly notable for golfers I see on the golf course who are carrying their golf clubs or actually pulling a trolley. If you're pulling a trolley, you're kind of pulling your shoulder out of position quite a long time — or actually carrying clubs on your shoulders. Your muscles and your shoulders will tense up to kind of protect from injury against carrying heavy golf clubs. So when you put your bag down and you walk up to the ball, you're still quite tense. It's a great exercise. You just clasp your hands around your back and just pull your shoulders generally outwards and downwards to sort of open the shoulders up, get your chin released again from your body and up nice and tall. Hold this position. You can with a little lean forwards into your golf posture there and then bring your hands and arms forwards to here without letting your shoulders rise up again. So shoulders get pulled outwards and downwards, opening and stretching up in the pec area, positioning your body nicely forwards for good posture. Then let your hands and arms come round and you should stand to the golf ball a little bit taller.
You can do that pre-round but actually I like to use that exercise during the round of golf if I feel like I’m getting tense or I’ve carried my bag or pulled my trolley for a long way. Stand nice and tall. Open my chest out. Set up to the golf ball. I feel a lot more relaxed after I’ve done that exercise try that next time you're playing and I hope that works for you.