World’s Greatest Stretch
Also known as: Spiderman Lunge with Rotation, Lunge with Thoracic Rotation
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Description
In a deep lunge with one hand on the floor, you turn your chest and reach the other arm to the ceiling to loosen your hips and upper back in one drill. The rear leg stays straight with the knee off the floor, so you feel a stretch at the front of that hip and in the groin of the front leg. Up top, the chest and front of the raised shoulder open while the muscles around the shoulder blade (serratus anterior, infraspinatus, middle and lower traps) turn it and hold the arm up. A few slow reps per side warm you up for squats, deadlifts, overhead pressing or sprints.
How to Perform
- From a push-up position or standing, step one foot far forward, whole foot flat, and sink your hips low. The front knee can travel well past the toes.
- Straighten the rear leg: knee off the floor, heel pushed back, weight on the ball of the foot. Squeeze that glute to open the front of the hip.
- Plant the hand opposite your front leg flat on the floor inside the front foot, fingers forward, and push the floor away with a straight arm.
- Let your other arm hang inside the front knee, hand reaching toward the instep, while the knee stays out over your toes.
- Breathe out and turn your chest toward the front leg. The free arm sweeps past your face and up in an arc until it points at the ceiling.
- Follow the hand with your eyes and pause for 2-3 seconds, both arms in one line from floor to ceiling, hips low and square.
- Bring the arm back down the same arc to inside the knee. Finish all your reps on this side, then switch legs.
What Muscles Work
Primary Muscle:
Secondary Muscles:
Tips
- For a warm-up, 3-5 slow reps per side with a 2-3 second pause at the top, for 1-2 rounds, is usually plenty. In a mobility session, do 2-3 rounds of 5 per side, or 30-60 seconds of slow reps per side.
- There's no weight to add. Progress reps and pause first, up to 5 reps and one full breath at the top on each side, then depth: a longer lunge, lower hips and the rear knee closer to the floor without touching it.
- Feel for two areas: the front of the rear hip and the groin of the front leg, then the chest and the front of the raised shoulder. If your lower back feels it, the turn is coming from your hips.
- Easier: rear knee down on a mat and the support hand on a yoga block or a low step. The block also spares sore wrists; pressing on a fist works too. Harder: drop the same-side elbow to the instep before each rotation, or walk it, stepping into the next side every rep.
- Substitutes: Lizard Pose holds the same low lunge for the hips, Kneeling Back Rotation Stretch gives you the upper-back turn without the lunge, and Lunge Stretch is a quicker hip opener when the warm-up is short.
Common Mistakes
- Letting the rear knee bend and drift to the floor while the hips rise. Push the rear heel back and squeeze the glute; if you can't hold it, do the knee-down version on purpose.
- Turning the pelvis instead of the upper back. The stretch then lands in your lower back, so keep both hip bones facing the floor and stop the turn where the hips start to move.
- Front knee caving in as your arm drops inside it. Press the knee out over the second toe and keep the whole foot flat.
- Support shoulder sagging toward the floor or the elbow bending. Push the floor away and keep that arm straight under the shoulder.
- Flinging the top arm back behind you to fake range. Finish with it vertical, stacked over the support arm: the chest turns, the arm just follows.
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