Loosen’ up Your Upper Body Like a Rubber Band ~ My Warm Up Drill ~ Movements and Drills That Changed The Way I Look At The Body.
It’s always a good way to start off with a warm up to get our bodies going.
“Loosen’Up Your Upper Body” is a great drill to start off with. We all hold tension in upper body. Many people suffer from headache, shoulder and neck tension and when those symptoms persist, some will suffer develop a symptom like a Frozen Shoulder. A painful condition that limits shoulder range of motion and….it’s painful. It’s no joke. Some clients will have pain during sleep and become sleep deprived which sometimes increase the risk of depression because the pain take so much out of your positive energy.
We may not realize but we hold a lot of tension and burden of our shoulder especially with our lifestyle that we live in. Computer deskwork, smartphones and tired eyes, repetitive strain of our joints and muscles etc all leads to our “loads”. Stretching is an excellent way to loosen’ up. Increasing the strength of our muscles is also a good thing.
There is a traditional Japanese and Chinese phrase “Loose Upper Body and Strong Lower Body”. It’s written as “上虚下実” (Jyo-Kyo, Ka-Jitsu) in Kanji. If you are familiar with eastern medicine and philosophy, the upper body is the “Kyo” and Lower Body is the “Jitsu”. A harmony of Yin and Yang and this is where I want to tap into with this drill. Looser upper body and arms.
It’s a good thing to develop and strengthen the upper body with more muscle mass, but it’ll be more optimal when the upper body possess the “rubber band” type feel.
Well, enough of my yapping. Let’s get right on with the drills.
This is an easy 4 min drill that you can do along with the video. With me 😀！
After each minute, I’ll add one more component to the drill.
A simple timeline will look like this.
1st minute - Loosen’ up your wrist
2nd minute - Loosen’ up your wrist + Elbow (Make circles with elbows)
3rd minute - Wrist + Elbow + Shoulder (Jostle the shoulder front and back)
Last minute - Wrist + Elbow + Shoulder + Shoulder Blade ( Make circles with your shoulder)
※ Please discontinue the excercise if you feel pain or feel uncomfortable. Make sure you check with your doctor before doing any exercise.
During the drill you’ll start to notice areas of the upper body that feels tight or you might feel the fatigue. Those are the area of your body that are holding extra tension and stiffness. When I first started doing this I felt areas where I felt the tenderness and stiffness around the shoulder. That tells me I have a tendency to hold tension and stiffness it those area without being aware of it. Well, there are times that I am aware of it and that is when I feel like “Oh~, I need a massage!”
Try this drill and see how your upper body and arms feel after you do it. If you are a tennis player, or baseball player see how your swing will feel. You’ll probably feel more whip in your arm. I like to shoot basketball and I’ll notice change my jumpshot and I’ll be able to hit from further distance with ease.
Hope this helps!
But, wait!!
This is just a warm up, and... I have a few more warm up drills to share….
See ya!
Kei
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