Can You Touch Your Fingers Behind Your Back? (BIG PROBLEM!)
Can you touch your fingers behind your back? If not, then you need to watch this video. I’m going to show you how your poor shoulder flexibility is holding back your gains and making you more susceptible to injury on some of the most popular exercises.
It starts with the test.
This is called the Apley Scratch Test. To perform it, stand tall and reach one arm up and over your shoulder to try and touch as low down the shoulder blade as you can. With the other arm, reach behind your back and try to touch your fingers as far up your back as possible. Ideally, you would be able to touch your longest fingers together.
It is actually an acceptable result to at least be able to touch the top of your shoulder blade with your top hand and the bottom of your shoulder blade with your bottom hand. The problem is, 93% of the population cannot do this. That is a big problem.
The problems become magnified as I said, when you then go and perform some of the most popular lifts in the gym with this mobility deficit. Exercises like the bench press, lat pulldowns, bench dips, chest dips and even barbell rows are all compromised when you don’t have adequate range of motion of the shoulder joint which is precluding you from achieving the touching of the fingers behind your back.
From a biomechanical standpoint, the top arm needs to have shoulder flexion and external rotation range of motion while the bottom arm needs to have shoulder extension and internal rotation mobility. Most will struggle to get the bottom hand sufficiently up the back. A loss of internal rotation is a common side effect of muscle imbalance and adaptive stress of the shoulder.
Don’t worry if you don’t pass though. I’m going to show you three ways that you can improve this quickly.
The first is by concentrating on unshrugging your shoulders whenever you do any of the exercises listed above. Instead of forcing your shoulder blades down and back, which can lead to an artificial pinching of the scapula together, just concentrate on keeping your shoulders down and unshrugged. This will take care of the shoulder blades and make it easier to keep the joint stable, preventing them from tipping forward into a dysfunctional anterior tilt.
The second thing you can do is include a sleeper stretch into your mobility routine. This will help to eliminate glenohumeral internal rotation deficit or GIRD. The key is making sure to keep the head of the humerus down to accurately assess the loss of range into internal rotation and to keep the stretch where it needs to be. Letting your shoulder pop up is only going to trick you into thinking you have more motion than you do and won’t help you to fix this problem long term.
The third thing you want to do is use either a band or a door knob to perform the test as a corrective exercise. Either hang the band over the pull-up bar and reach behind your back to grab it or stand in front of a door and reach behind you to grab the knob. In either case, from here you want to squat or alter your body in space to deepen the stretch on the shoulders and let the arm rise higher behind the back.
Try these out and I promise you that even if you can’t touch your fingers behind your back right now, you will be able to in no time.
If you are looking for a complete training system where mobility matters just as much as your muscle gains (because staying healthy long term depends on it), be sure to visit athleanx.com via the link below and check out the workout programs. Start training like an athlete today and see just how fast you can feel better than ever, while looking your best ever.
For more videos on improving shoulder mobility and how to get rid of shoulder pain, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube via the link below and remember to turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.
Build ripped athletic muscle here –
Subscribe to this channel here –
704608 Views – 30755 Liked
shoulder flexibility,shoulder mobility,shoulder pain,sore shoulders,shoulder pains,shoulder injury,how to fix shoulder pain,how to get rid of shoulder pain,how to improve shoulder pain,how to increase shoulder flexibility,shoulder stretches,shoulder stretch,how to increase shoulder motion,shoulder flexibility routine,shoulder stretch routine,stretches for shoulders,stretches for shoulder,athleanx,athlean x,jeff cavaliere,touch fingers behind back
#Touch #Fingers #BIG #PROBLEM
*
NOTIFICATION SQUAD GIVEAWAY – It’s back!! Alright guys, I’m giving away a complete 30 Day Workout program to 100 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 100, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached!
https://giveaway.athleanx.com/ytg/touch-your-fingers
If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…
Can opener is a different exercise In a different set of drills and exercises 5 years ago ( 3 Years before the video) AthleneX 10 Mobility/Flexibility exercises ( pre workout prep)
Can Opener……… Can anyone say Turkish Getup ! Arm Bar! Good corrections. Which ever variant you choose!
Can some people not make their wrists touch? How do you guys wash your back?
I would have to be hand cuffed in the front it's so bad. Hopefully I don't a get falsely arrested.
My right arm (top) and left arm (bottom) are easy. Could almost high five if tried to.
But othe way around I can only touch my head and my butt.
I guess I have major inbalance for some unknown reason. 🤔
4:40 it's nice to know what this exercise actually does. My physio added it to my routine and I really don't like it, but knowing what it is actually going to help with makes me less reluctant to do it or to "accidentally" "forget" it…
Loved the video. Brilliant!
Weird things is I can do it on my left hand but couldn't on my right hand
i can lock my thumbs on both sides i dont lift or workout
2 more added to my daily, 1 added to my warm-up. This is exactly what my shoulders need, especially the right side
I have a problem with push and pulling my right side beacuse of the shoulder un-mobility. Thanks for the door stretch example Jeff. You saved me once again! 🙌❤️
is there a reason that I can do it perfectly one way but not at all on the opposite arm? Should I focus on stretchign one arm then, or work both?
Jeff, thank you so much! I’ve had shoulder pain for the past 3 years. I’m in my early 40s, and I just figured I was getting old. It caused me to stop lifting weights, which I had really enjoyed in my workout program. But it was too painful. I couldn’t do any real arm exercises, but I also couldn’t do a bridge or a pushup and even planks were painful. I had completely given up on working out other than walking because my arms would not cooperate. I’m not back to doing arms yet, but I can now get my right arm behind my back again. I mowed the lawn for the first time without pain today. And my goal is to start weights again before the holidays. I’m going through your shoulder routine every day, and it looks like I might actually get there. Thank you for putting this content out there! I know it’s a lot of work, but I owe you big time. Can’t wait to get pain free with full mobility so I can join one of your programs soon!
Hey Jeff, I'm a huge fan of yours — have been for years. And although I've never seen the results I'm after, I'm still an avid believer in the Athlean-X program, and putting the science back in strength.
With that being said, I think you really need to do a tricep video focusing on people who want to work their triceps but can't really do dips or bench without some residual pain. My rotator cuff and scapula are pretty healthy, I just can't seem to get any meaningful gains from the long head of my tricep and that final stage of scapular depression. Please, the world wants to see a video for chronic pronators who never learned to work their triceps correctly. What's the best way to workout triceps if most of these classic, hallmark exercises aren't possible without pain?
I feel crazy pain in my shoulder after putting my hand behind my back in that position even though it never gives me any issues during exercises or daily life…maybe its just this stretch isnt good for me or what?
I can clasp both hands behind my back
I can shake my own hands behind my back.
4:55 that's what I needed, it feels so good
could having this issue lead to things like tennis elbow and carpal tunnel?
Holy fuck Jeff stop talking and just get to the point
What if someone twisted your arm to your back then cracked it ? Because I think that’s the reason why I can’t do with my right arm
I can do both hands but most of my friends can only do one, I wonder how many people can actually do both hands
Jeff you're awesome man! You have a video on almost all of the issues I've been having. Keep up the great work!!
genius
Is it okay if youre doing the behind the back stretch and your should internally rotates while your stretching it?
I can reach behind my back using my hand but for one of them when I try to get my hand higher I feel a pinching pain in my front deltoid that stops me from being able to go as high as I can with my other shoulder
Did someone who followed this video see real improvement?
Thx thx thx thx thx×1000
Man 😭 now I know my problem
FUCK!!!! Welp, I finally figured out my shoulder issue
Day 1: This is hard
Day 2: Almost there
Day 3: I can do it
Day 4: This hurts tremendously
Wow, the very right thing I really need to know. My right shoulder is stiff, sometimes painful, lacks of mobility and cannot reach as high as my left while reaching back. But after this video and a few try; I could reach quite higher and easier. I am looking forward to fixing my shoulder issue with these exercices. Thanks a lot Jeff. This does help me greatly since I am very concered with the stiffness and pain in my right shoulder. I really appriciate it!!!! Sincerely!
Yoga everyday + weights 4 times a week = winning!
My fucking shoulder hurts more after this lmao
I can almost friken cross my fingers from my back
I've been lifting for a couple of years and unfortunately I've Learnt thr hard way and have been injured many times now as I didn't want to lose my gains I've gone back to the drawing board and noticed I've got internal rotation problems on my left hip and shoulder rotation problems on my right. I'm much more focused on sorting my problems now than getting gains as I went though hell for a year with elbows/hip/knees/shoulder problems. Jeff's videos should help a lot and I've accepted the fact I'm not going to fix this stuff over night. It probably took many years to get this way so will probably take a few more to get out of it. Thanks Jeff
I got your online training but had to stop a month in because of my horrible posture causing pain in my shoulder and back. Watching a few of these videos I’m gonna get healed up no get back to training . Your video are amazing man!
Its actually important for itchy back 😂😂😂😂
Thank you!!! November 15, 2021
Why do I keep finding every topic I look for in here… You are the best!
Hi Jeff, I have this exact problem & I've had several right shoulder dislocations because of this. Which program of yours will fix this? I will enroll right away. Can anyone let me know which is the best-suited program to fix this issue? Please someone reply I need this fixed desperately……