Scapular wall slides or Scapular slides are one of the basic and best exercises for strengthening the upper back muscles and improving scapular strength and mobility.
Incorporating scapular wall slides into your exercise routine can help to build additional strength, muscle mass and improve weak areas in your shoulders and upper back.
In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about how to perform the scapular wall slides correctly. You will also learn its benefits, how to avoid common mistake.
What Are Scapular Wall Slides?
Scapular wall slides—also known as wall slide or reverse wall slide—It is one of the basic exercises that people are taught to practice for improved shoulder rotation, upper back activation, and scapular mobility.
To do them, a lifter would stand with the heels, butt, upper back, shoulders and full arms. Keep hands against the wall, arch the lower back less. Moves the hands up and down, like they were doing a full shoulder press.
Benefits Of Wall Slides
The Scapular wall slides exercises are a good choice for training: Benefits of regularly performing scapula slides include:
- The shoulder and shoulder blades are powered by the scapula muscle. Working out this muscle group helps keep your shoulders strong and healthy.
- The reverse wall slides calls on strength in the serratus anterior, helping to keep your shoulders working with both power and full range of motion.
- In the study, it was found that the group that did wall slide exercises had a significant decrease in pain in the rotator cuff muscles after four weeks.
- You can use this exercise to warm up your shoulder and back muscles for training.
- It is an excellent exercise for building stabilizing strength and mobility in your shoulder blades.
- You don’t need any special equipment to practice the scapular wall slide workout. All you require is the right technique.
Scapula Wall Slides Muscles Worked
The muscles involved in wall slides are:
- Main muscles during: Rotator Cuff Muscles (shoulder)
- Secondary muscles: Trapezius, Rhomboids, and Levator Scapulae
Wall Slides Exercise Guide
Wall slides work the muscles surrounding the scapula and shoulder for both dynamic and static stability. It is a frequently used exercise for upright posture and postural disorders. The W/Y wall slide trains retraction and depression of the shoulder blade.
Wall slides are an effective exercise to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.
How To Properly Do The Reverse Wall Slide
- Start by standing with your back flat against a wall.
- Keep your feet at least 6 inches in front of your body and keep the back of your head, shoulders, butt, and heels against the wall.
- Leave a slight bend in your knees, so your legs aren’t fully locked.
- Slowly slide your arms up the wall, keeping your elbows straight, until you reach a position where your arms are above your shoulders and at 90-degree angles from your torso.
- With your chest open and back tall, squeeze the muscles of your midback as you slide your arms down toward your shoulders.
- Keep your back and the backs of your palms, wrists, and elbows pressed up against the wall.
- Slowly slide your arms down the wall, keeping them as close to the wall. Elbows are slightly lower than shoulder height.
- Hold this position for one count. Inhale and then push your arms back up to your starting position without anything lifting off from the wall.
- Repeat for the prescribed number of sets and repetitions.
Make It Easier Or Harder (Regression & Progression)
You can make Scapular wall slides easier by taking the feet a few inches away from the wall.
To make Scapula slides harder, you can increase the number of sets and the number of times you do them. Or you can do scapular wall slides with a resistance band.
Forearm Wall Slide
- Start by touching the wall with your forearms and shoulder width apart.
- The elbows are bent at ninety degrees and the wrists are next to the elbows.
- Keep your forearms against the wall and slide your arms up and out without lifting your shoulders.
- Using the lower trapezius to control the lower part of the shoulder blade helps prevent the shoulders from lifting during the movement.
Resistance band scapular wall slides
Using a resistance band for the wall slides is a great way to build more strength in this important muscle. As you get stronger, you can use different levels of resistance to keep track of your progress.
With this exercise, don’t use a resistance band that’s too tight. If the band is too tense, you can use other muscles instead of the rotator cuff muscles.
