Scapular mobility question

[RacerBill]

Take a look at the back cover of Book of Muscle, where the guy is pulling his scapulae together so they touch.

I used to think this was a sort of freaky hyper-mobility kind of thing, like the extremely deep squats (“balls to instep”) seen in elite Oly lifters, but then recently I’ve been reading some exercise descriptions talking about “pinch a quarter” between your shoulderblades. I’ve noticed a lot of the people in Crossfit videos can do it quite well.


Even after identifying my poor shoulder function and working for nearly two years to correct it, I still don’t come anywhere close to being able to get my scapulae to meet.


QUESTION: is getting the scapulae to touch considered a normal ROM for most trainees? If it is, then is the lack of mobility considered a warning sign for more problems later?

[kingkop182]

Good question, I too await the answer from the experts

[Jokerz]

hmm, I have always been taught that it is what you should go for. We used to see who could grab a piece of paper in weights class while doing Bent over rows. I've always been able to so I hope its not bad.

[UConnJulie]

I would say that it is IDEAL but probably far from NORMAL (given that the majority of average desk jockeys probably cannot do it).

There are several reasons why you might not be able to get them to touch ... short pec major, pec minor, lats; weak traps and rhomboids; motor control ... etc etc etc ...

If it has improved from when you started the mobility work, it will likely continue to improve with continued mobility work, but it might take time.

[Lost Dog]

Sweet! Finally something I can do!