FEEL: You should feel the muscles in between your shoulder blades getting a workout. You may also feel a stretch in your chest and the front of your shoulders.
COMPENSATION: Do not shrug your shoulders, do not arch your low back excessively.
FEEL: You should feel the muscles in your low back, glutes, and shoulder blades working.
COMPENSATION: Don’t bend your elbows or knees when lifting up. Keep your neck in a neutral position, don’t look up.
FEEL: You should feel your shoulder blade muscles working hard with this exercise, especially the muscles between your shoulder blades.
COMPENSATION: Do not arch your low back, do not move your head or neck, do not lose ‘I’ position.
FEEL: You should feel the muscles in the back of your shoulder blades working.
COMPENSATION: Don’t shrug with your shoulders to lift your hands up. Your neck muscles will be active, but you shouldn’t feel like you are primarily relying on them to lift your hands up.
FEEL: You should feel your shoulder blade muscles working hard with this exercise, especially the muscles between your shoulder blades.
COMPENSATION: Do not arch your low back, do not move your head or neck, do not lose ‘W’ position.
REGRESSION: If this is too difficult for you can either perform this one arm at a time, or perform this off of an elevated surface like a bed or table so your arm doesn’t have to go through its entire motion.
FEEL: The muscles on the back of the shoulder blade and the shoulder will be working with this exercise.
COMPENSATIONS: Avoid arching the low back or shrugging the shoulder blades.
FEEL: You will feel the muscles on the back of the arm and the leg that are lifting up towards the ceiling. You will also feel the lower back work with this exercise.
COMPENSATION: Avoid arching the lower back as you elevate the arms and the legs.
FEEL: This should feel like a coordination exercise as you’re focused on maintaining head and neck position while simultaneously moving your shoulder blades. You may feel a gentle stretch from the bottom of your neck to the base of your skull. You may also feel your neck muscles working to maintain head position.
COMPENSATION: Do not move the rest of your body. Do not lose head/neck position as it should be parallel to the ground. Keep your elbows straight, just move from your shoulder blades.
FEEL: You should feel your core, shoulder, and hip muscles working.
COMPENSATION: Keep your back flat, don’t arch it. Keep your body off of the ground. Maintain your chest towards the floor for the entirety of this movement.
FEEL: You should the muscles in your core, shoulders, and hips working. You should also feel a stretch in your ankles.
COMPENSATION: Keep your back flat, don’t arch it. Don’t point your toes down as you go backwards, keep your foot up.
FEEL: This should feel like a full body workout, especially your upper back and shoulder blades working to stabilize the objects. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed up and back together to ‘pack’ your shoulders.
COMPENSATION: A little shrug is ok, but do not excessively shrug. Think of positioning your shoulder blades up and back. Do not let the objects or your body sway too much, try walking in a straight line.