Chest Opener with Foam Roller

*WATCH VIDEO FOR MORE DETAIL! *

Are you somebody who sits most of the day at a desk? Are you a mom or a newer mom and maybe you're breastfeeding or changing a lot of diapers?  If you're bending over a lot to take care of baby your chest is probably quite tight! Maybe you’ve noticed a change in your posture and that those shoulders are really in a forward position. 

So i've given you some exercises on how to work on that thoracic mobilization which is going to help, but we need to find an opportunity to lengthen out these pectoral muscles that have been pulled forward because we're always in this hunched forward position. Think about the posture you want - you want to be broadening through the collarbone and opening up! Just from a confidence perspective it makes such a difference in how you feel as well. 

This is a great just little easy stretch that you can do again utilizing the foam roller. So you're going to need a longer one here (i think this is 36 inches because you're going to need your tailbone and head supported). So you're just going to take your tailbone and bring it down towards the end of the foam roller and you're going to lay back so that foam roller comes right along the spine. You're going to go ahead and keep your knees bent and make sure you're ideal in that neutral spine. You don't want to be jamming the back in or arching it here! It's just a little bit of that space we're scooping up and in with the belly and you can go ahead and just bring your arms out to a T and let gravity do its thing. Those arms and hands can hopefully reach the floor- note that obviously i've got a little more range of motion because i'm on this extended platform so my hands are coming even lower than where you know the natural floor would potentially be which is great because i'm getting even more of a stretch. Just hang out here for a minute and just let gravity do its thing and it's really incredible what a difference this can make from where you start.  By hanging out here for a minute you will just naturally kind of allow your  arms to continue to drape further down.

So again, this is a really simple stretch  but it can be quite relaxing. Try this for a minimum of a minute to just let gravity do what it’s supposed to do and help your chest open up and get that great posture back!