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Stretching Pectorals

I think stretching the pecs is an excellent idea for anyone that spends a lot of time at a computer, and who has done a lot of work on the bench press. (A LOT of people here!) I think loose pecs make it much easier to strengthen the shoulder stabilizers of the upper back.

I will share some deceivingly simple advice:

"If you want to improve your flexibility, stretch every day, twice a day; hold the stretch for one minute, three times, at a point you'd rate about a four on a scale of one to ten."

That is a paraphrase of Tudor Bompa on the subject. The twice a day part is probably overkill but since this takes five minutes it's worth it the first week. The one minute part is possibly the most important part; use a stopwatch. The 4/10 rating is almost as important, this needs to be a gentle stretch. The only important point not mentioned in Tudor's blurb is that static stretching should only be done on a warm muscle. I think you'll be surprised at how quickly this works.

To warm up, some knee pushups or band flys should work well. The warmup should be very easy and should not challenge your flexibility at all. If you do not warm up easily, a few minutes of walking on the treadmill or in a sauna to raise your temperature a bit before the pushups / flys is in order. Ideally, do your stretching at the end of a workout and very little warmup for the stretch will be necessary.

As for the stretch, I had good results with two. One that is a little gentler to get used to is a fly stretch with a pair of rings hung on the chin bar. You basically hold the rings and walk away from the chin bar, let your arms go into the stretched position of a fly. Rings are not a common piece of equipment but with 20' of rope and two 6" pieces of PVC, you can make a perfectly suitable approximation for this purpose.

The other stretch is the stick dislocate. This is normally done as a dynamic stretch. You hold a broomstick with a wide grip; your arms stay straight the whole time. Start with the stick hanging in front of you on your thighs; rotate the arms upward until it's overhead (that's the easy part); continue to rotate your shoulders with elbows locked until the bar is on the back of your thighs.

Instead, do the stick dislocate as a static stretch. To do it as a static stretch, you just hold the stick at your tightest spot. This is probably when the stick is behind you at shoulder level. If you want to improve this stretch, I found a surprising variant that may work for you.

Instead of moving your arms around, start with the bar overhead as if you had just locked out a snatch. Now simply bend forward at the waist [i]but keep the stick directly over your shoulders[/i] as you bend. (You know what an overhead squat is; if you can imagine an "overhead good morning" that is what this will look like.)

Bending forward lets the pecs fully relax and thus stretch better. The problem is fatigue in the low back and hamstrings holding the bentover position for sixty seconds. You could consider it a it an active static stretch for the hamstrings if that makes you feel better :) If not, fortunately it seems to work pretty well with standing normally.

Try this simple method and see what happens. Remember the key points:

• Do an easy WARMUP first.
• Stretch GENTLY.
• Hold the stretch for ONE MINUTE - use a stopwatch.
• Stretch FREQUENTLY.

Laree adding...

The pec stretch I've been doing first thing in the morning is from Dr. Jolie Bookspan's Fix Your Own Pain book, thus:

"Chest (pectoral muscle) Stretch. Face the wall and pull one bent elbow behind you. Turn your body away from the wall and use the wall to gently pull the elbow back. Feel the stretch in the anterior chest muscles. Don't hunch or tighten the shoulder. Hold a few seconds on each side. Drop arms and observe thumb positioning, which this stretch corrects by lengthening the previously tight anterior chest. Test by standing against the wall again. Muscle length should now be more comfortable, making it possible to stand straight, with heels, hip, back and the back of the head touching. Do this first thing in the morning, before exercise, and throughout the day to restore healthy shoulder and head positioning." Read more on her stretching program here.

After that, I moved to the doorway pec stretch first thing in the morning and after sitting at the computer all day. This one's easy: Stand at an open door with your hands on the door frame, elbows bent so the forearms are flat against the frame. Allow your body to lean into the open door, feeling the stretch in the chest and front of the shoulders.

Once you get the hang of it that way, you can also incorporate a hip flexor stretch at the same time, which is a great idea since after sitting at the computer, it's pretty likely you'll have tightness in both areas. To add the hip stretch, put one foot into the doorway and one back; straighten your torso from the hip as you stretch the back hip flexor at the same time as the chest.