Home · Exercise Library · Chest · Standing Shoulder and Chest Stretch

Standing Shoulder and Chest Stretch

The standing shoulder and chest stretch opens the pectoralis major and anterior deltoid by clasping the hands behind the back and lifting them away from the body. Maddy programs it for desk workers and anyone whose pressing volume has pulled the shoulders forward. Coached by Maddy (NASM-CPT) — these are the exact form cues he gives on every client's first week.

Muscles worked

Chest · pectoralis major Front shoulders · anterior deltoid Biceps · biceps brachii

Sets & reps by goal

GoalSets × RepsRest
Strength2 × 15-20 s hold20-30 s
Muscle3 × 30 s hold30 s
Endurance3 × 45-60 s hold30 s

Level — Beginner

Beginner-friendly; the only limiter is existing shoulder mobility, which the towel modification solves.

Proper form — 5 cues

  1. Clasp your hands behind your lower back, palms pressed together.
  2. Roll both shoulders back and down before you lift the hands.
  3. Lift your knuckles away from your glutes until you feel the front of the chest open.
  4. Keep the ribs stacked over the pelvis — the lift comes from the shoulders, not an arched lower back.
  5. Hold with a long neck and eyes forward; do not let the head poke ahead of the chest.

Breathing: Inhale to set the shoulders, exhale slowly as you lift the hands and let the chest open.

The 3 mistakes Maddy corrects most

Arching the lower back to make the hands travel higher.. Lumbar extension fakes the range and takes the stretch off the chest entirely. Fix: Brace the trunk lightly, keep the ribs down, and accept a smaller lift that stays in the shoulders.
Shrugging the shoulders toward the ears as the arms rise.. An elevated shoulder blade slackens the pec fibres you are trying to lengthen. Fix: Set the blades down and back first, then lift the hands only as far as that position holds.
Bending the elbows to force the hands higher.. Bent elbows shorten the lever and shift tension away from the chest and front delt. Fix: Keep the arms straight and lift less — range you cannot hold with straight arms is not yours yet.

Common questions

I can't clasp my hands behind my back — what should I do?

Hold a towel or resistance band between your hands with whatever gap lets your arms stay straight. Work the same lift-away action, and shorten the gap gradually over weeks as the chest and front delts open up. Forcing the clasp before you have the mobility usually just drags the shoulders forward, which defeats the point of the stretch.

Should I do this stretch before or after training?

Both work, with different doses. Before an upper-body session, use short 15-20 second holds to open the chest without dulling pressing performance. After training, or on rest days, longer 30-60 second holds are appropriate. If your goal is lasting posture change, frequency matters more than any single long hold — brief holds done daily beat one long weekend session.

Is this the same as a doorway chest stretch?

They target similar tissue from different angles. The doorway version stretches one side at a time with the arm elevated, so you can bias different pec fibres by changing hand height. This clasped-hands version hits both sides at once with the arms low, which biases the clavicular chest and front delt. Maddy uses both across a week rather than treating them as interchangeable.

Related exercises

Seated Chest StretchChest · Front shoulders Wall Shoulder and Chest StretchChest · Front shoulders Inchworm to Pushups (Modified)Chest Incline PushupsChest Pushups (Modified)Chest

Browse: All chest exercises · All shoulders exercises · All bodyweight exercises · Full exercise library

This is one exercise. Your plan is the other 99%.

Maddy hand-builds training around your exact body — schedule, recovery, injuries, food culture. It starts with a 3-minute scan.

Start My Body Scan → 11 questions · 3 min · free · no card yet