A Physical Therapist Shares 4 Essential Chest Stretches for Mobility

CHEST DAY ENTHUSIASTS, we see you.

Bench presses, dumbbell flies, and pushup variations can be some of the most rewarding movements in a training split—there's nothing like a good chest pump at the end of an upper-body focused lifting session. But if you ever feel like a heavy day of chest training has you hunched forward, you're not alone. Chest tightness can round out your upper back by pulling the shoulders forward.

Dan Giordano, DPT, CSCS of Bespoke Treatments shares some of the best chest stretches you can do to help make the post-gym hunchback feeling a thing of the past.

What Are The Chest Muscles?

THE CHEST IS made up of two muscles, your pectoralis major and your pectoralis minor. They originate at the shoulder and attach at different points across the sternum, ribs, and collar bone. These muscles are responsible for pulling the arm up, forward, and across the body.

Who Would Benefit From Chest Stretches?

SPOILER ALERT: EVERYONE

If you love piling on reps of bench presses or pushups, your chest may be tight after your training days. This can be part of what causes the hunch. Our shoulders get pulled down and forward—and if you don't work to even out the effects of these movements with exercises that target your back and stretching, you can become unbalanced.

Desk workers can also benefit from chest stretches. The default position of being bent over a computer or hunching over to look at a phone screen can be an issue too—so anyone who sits in that way can do with some chest TLC.

These stretches from Giordano can give everyone, lifters, desk workers, and phone obsessives, some much-needed balance. When trying new stretches, only move to the point where you can feel the stretch. These moves shouldn't cause pain, so don't push beyond your own range of motion.

The 4 Best Chest Stretches

Seated Chair Stretch

This movement is super easy to add in between emails—you don't even have to stand up. Rep out a few of these during your next Zoom meeting.

How to Do It:

Single-Arm Chest Stretch With Rotation

Here's another easy seated stretch to pop into the middle of your workday. You can also program this move in between sets at the bench press. Just have a chair or bench handy for this movement whenever you choose to get your stretch on.

How to Do It:

Quadruped Kneel Pectoral Stretch

Giordano recommends this movement as a warm up or a cool down for your chest day.

How To Do It:

Scorpion Chest Stretch

This is the most intense out of all of these stretches, so try out the other ones first before progressing to this one.

How To Do It:

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