maratoolBehind Head Chest Stretch
How to do the behind head chest stretch
- Sit upright on the floor with your partner behind you.
- Place your hands behind your hand, and push your elbows back as far as you can. Your partner should hold your elbows. This will be your starting position.
- Gently attempt to pull your elbows forward with your hands still behind your head for 10 or more seconds. Your partner should prevent your elbows from moving.
- Now, relax your muscles and have your partner gently pull the elbows back as far as it comfortable for you. Be sure to let your partner know when the stretch is adequate to prevent overstretching or injury.
Muscles worked
The muscle under tension is the pectoralis major, which drives the upper arm forward and across the body.
A stretch loads it at the far end of the range it normally works in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.
Nothing travels, but holding the position is not the target muscle’s job alone: the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.
How this movement works
You get into position and hold. One joint sets the angle and one muscle group takes the tension, so the load stays exactly where you put it. Hold for time, breathe normally, and come out the moment the position drifts: a shape that has quietly shifted is no longer training what you set it up to train.
It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.
What you need
These train the chest too, using equipment this one does not:
- Bench Pressbench + barbell
- Bench Press - With Bandsband
- Bench Press Dumbbelldumbbell + bench
- Bent Arm Pulloverbarbell + bench
- Bodyweight Flyese-z curl bar
Difficulty
Listed at expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.
Of the 105 chest exercises in this database, 2 are listed at expert level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.