Poor shoulder flexibity

[Liv...]

Two of the girls I coach have shocking shoulder flexibility which impacts them in almost every apparatus as they constantly close their shoulders just because they can not really keep them open. At the moment they want to work handspring, Back handspring and a Handspring over vault but these things are near impossible because of the lack of flexibility. I'm currently stretching their shoulders but I do not know any drills that will help them.

Please help me with any drills that you know that might help thank you.

 

[GikiGirl]

I like to hang with my back arched over a pommel horse or at home, off the edge of a couch with a weight in my hands and just let the shoulders stretch. I started with a 10 lb. plate, then moved to two of those and now three. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds with arms straight.

 

[emorymom]

Could you maybe post a picture of that? That sounds like something my daughter could do.

 

[Kiwi]

There are some shoulder flexibility exercises here: Handstands: Part 2 | Apex Technical Corner

Are they doing rocking bridges and bridges with feet raised? You can also do the exercise where you hold a stick in front of you with your hands apart and take it over your head and down the back, then back the other way. This can also be done with a rope or stocking. Move hands closer together to make the stretch more difficult.

Also stretching the pectoral muscles can sometimes help with shoulder flexibility. For example, lying prone on the floor with the right arm stretched out to the side, put the left hand by the chest and push so that the body rolls away from the floor, creating a stretch in right arm and chest. (Repeat on other side).

 

[iwannacoach]

I like the idea of improving range of motion to make skill development easier. Put to gether a stretching routine for shoulders that addresses every muscle group that leads to or from the shoulders, ie. chest...lats...intercostals (muscles between the ribs)...and trapezius. Your routine should use light/comfortable resistance over the complete range of motion while repeting the motion enough times to warm the muscle and then fatique it. Once this has been done you can do some static stretches mostly to feel the almost instant improvement in motion. This improvement will not last more than say 1/2 to one hour, so some brief static streches or motion streches during the work-out session are necessary. I saw Nikki"s post and that exercise is a good stating point. but I would like to se it put into motion by standing on a rolling board and slowly pushing your hands down and towards your hips to roll yourself to the spotting block. Use an assistant to help you roll if you are not strong enough.
I also like GikiGirl's exercise but I would put it into motion by moving with very straight arms from a verticle start position to a position that fully opens the shoulders, reverse and bring the arms back to the verticle. Repeat for multiple reps (10-20). Use only enough weight to "feel it" until you are accustomed to the exercise. Never use a weight that you won't be able to complete 8 repetitions with.
An extra benifit to the "motion" concept is that it will increase muscle strength and and muscle comfort at the extreme of the motion range.