The Amazing Movement Podcast

Shoulder & Neck Mobility | Fitness Ep 08

• Carol Beringer

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🧘🏼 Get ready to release tension and improve mobility in your shoulders and neck! In this episode, Carol addresses one of the most common complaints she hears in her Pilates studio: "I'm so tight in my shoulders and neck." Using a lightweight Thera-band, she guides you through simple yet effective movements that create immediate relief.

Learn protraction and retraction of the shoulder blades, elevation and depression movements, and how proper arm positioning engages your entire core. Carol demonstrates how these "unremarkable movements with remarkable benefits" help counteract the effects of computer work, driving, and our forward-focused daily activities.

Perfect for all ages and abilities, this episode continues Carol's weekly series designed to help you use your body well through functional movement that makes everything else you do better.

CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction to Amazing Movement & Tools Overview 01:32 - Equipment Needed for Shoulder & Neck Mobility 03:02 - Thera-band Setup & Protraction/Retraction Movement 04:25 - Elevation & Depression with Overhead Movements 05:31 - Multi-Level Band Work & Core Integration 06:35 - Behind-the-Back Variations & Weekly Challenge

ABOUT CAROL BERINGER: With 25+ years of experience, Carol combines expertise in brain-based functional movement, Pilates, and yoga to help clients achieve improved posture, pain relief, and lifelong wellness. Her compassionate approach has transformed lives of individuals aged 6 to 96.

TOOLS MENTIONED:

  • Lightweight Thera-band
  • Optional: VersaLoop, flexible bar, foam roller, pinky ball, magic circle/Pilates ring

SERVICES OFFERED:

  • Private Sessions
  • Group Classes
  • Workshops & Retreats
  • Zoom Sessions

CONNECT WITH CAROL:

Subscribe for weekly episodes to continue building your movement repertoire!

#ShoulderMobility #NeckRelief #FunctionalMovement #CarolBeringerMethod #AmazingMovement

00:05 - Carol Beringer (Host)
Hi, carol Berenger here and welcome to this week's episode of Amazing Movement. So why is it called Amazing Movement? Because what we're going to do here are unremarkable movements with remarkable benefits getting you through the day. And the way you get through the day is you sit, you stand, you walk and you drive. And everybody wants to be fit and if we just use our bodies well with functional movement sitting, standing, walking and driving everything else we do will be better, and most of our life is in front of us. So we want to start using the sides and the back and twisting and all the planes of motion of our spine, which is forward, back, sideways and twisting. And you've probably heard the comment you're only as young as your spine, so we have to start here and then our limbs will go where they're supposed to. I hope you are going to continue to follow each week with something simple that you can add that won't complicate your life as you learn them, you can use them in any order and it'll just make you have better body confidence and the more you feel better in your body, the more you feel better in your head, can handle stress and you'll just be taking care of yourself with this great home that we have called our body. So the few accoutrements that you might need. 

01:32
A bar is nice, it could be a broomstick little loop it's called a VersaLoop. All of these things you can get online. You have your favorite places to shop there. A Thuriband, a lightweight one. We're not using it for strong resistance, we're using it for a closed kinetic chain to get feedback from space, because we don't get that against our body, so we're using it for feedback against space. And then a shorter bar is handy and I like this flexible one. And again, it looks like a licorice stick. You can get that online as well. Over here I do have a small pillow because when we do get to lying on our back, some people have forward head hang so strong that their chin goes up far and that will help educate your neck. A foam roller, which many people have and I like this one, is a softer one. The harder ones are punitive. A pinky ball, also online, and they're about a dollar fifty and the pinky ball has some resistance. It sticks to your foot for when we do the foot rolling and it has give a lacrosse ball or a golf ball are punitive. They're really hard and hurt and we don't want to hurt and a magic circle or a Pilates ring. They're also available online. 

03:02
Today we are going to work on shoulder and neck mobility because so many people I do have a Pilates studio in Wayne, pennsylvania for the last 22 years. When people come in they go so tight and my shoulders and my neck, so I always like to start with, you know, very basic moves that will help them feel successful right away. So today's sequence is going to be using a Thuriband and just a lightweight one. We're not looking for resistance, we're looking for closed chain. It's called closed chain movement so that you feel where you are in space. We're going to start with the thumbs out, elbows touching the waist, and then you're just going to reach out like you're serving a tray of cookies and it's like, oh, they're not done yet, I better put them back in the oven and then, or have a drink oh, I spilled that one, let's take that away, alright. So you're going all the way out and coming all the way back. I'll show you sideways, so you just reach out and then you just bring the elbows behind you and you'll see that this is called protraction and retraction of the shoulder blades. And if you've been over a computer for a long time or have a seated job or driving a long distance, you'll love it. Your shoulder blades will love it, for sure. 

04:25
Okay, so now we're going to just press out and actually, every time that we move our limbs, our abdominals, so your core comes into action. So when we're going out here, you might feel your abs lifting in and up. And these are things that we want to do. As we're moving, we want to feel how it's affecting our body. Now, the other things we don't do is I put my hands over my head today to put my shirt on, but we don't take our arms overhead. So as your arms go up, your abs come in and take it up, and this is called elevation and depression. So your shoulder blades go up and down through these movements, and when we talk about working from our core, we're working from our center. Your arms and legs plug in to your torso, so when you move them, well, you're also strengthening your core. 

05:31
Now let's take this band up a little higher so you can still see it in your upward periphery. We're not going up and taking our shoulders up, we're keeping the shoulder blades on the ribcage and you just pull it apart and you just feel how your body moves. You'll feel inner thigh seriously You'll feel abdominals, you'll feel your neck and then we can bring it down to shoulder height I just got a crack, it's a bonus and then we can take it lower and just keep the wrist straight. I always call it reaching through these two lead knuckles, because the minute you bend your arms or your wrist it becomes an arm movement, not the whole connection through the upper body and through the core. Then we can take the band behind us, the pinky fingers touching the thigh, thumbs out and pull outward. 

06:35
So again, this is going to move everything from fingertip to fingertip and usually five to eight. You don't have to do a lot, you just want your body to be aware of how it moves. We take it for granted. We just get up on two feet and go about. And then, if you reach back now, when you reach back, you're not sticking your chest out, you're keeping your torso still and a really tricky one is to go back and lift your elbows and then come up, reach out. That's it for today. So practice that this week and join us next week for something else to add to your repertoire.