Building Mobility Efficiently: Modified Pigeon with 1-arm Child’s Pose

About the Author: Eric Cressey

Here’s another Sturdy Shoulder Solutions sale inspired post. The Modified Pigeon with 1-arm Child’s Pose is another new drill we’ve busted out in our warm-ups to get a little more bang for our buck. It’s particularly useful for pitchers, who need to get into their lead hip (adduction) while getting lat length, scapular upward rotation, and apical expansion on the throwing shoulder.

A few big coaching points:

1. You should feel a stretch in the outside of the front hip, but nothing in the knee (particularly the inner part). If you’re feeling it in your knee, you’ve probably set up incorrectly.

2. Think of a stretch along the entire outside of the torso and arm: quadratus lumborum, lats, and long head of triceps, especially. If you pinch at the front/top of the shoulder, ease off it a bit.

3. Breath in through the nose and exhale fully through the mouth as if you’re blowing out birthday candles (and hold for a count of three before inhaling again). You should feel your abs turn on as the shoulder stretch increases. Do five breaths.

You can learn more about how I assess, program, and coach at the shoulder girdle – and save $50 through Sunday at midnight – at www.SturdyShoulders.com.

Archives: