It’s Day 8 of the Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge! If you missed yesterday’s video, catch up with Day 7 here.
Our health and wellbeing expert, Fiona O’Donnell, explains what’s involved for Day 8 in the video below. We want you to tell us how you are getting on so tag us on social using #mkt21days and we’ll give you some encouragement!
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Day 8 – Shoulder Mobility
Today’s challenge is a mobility challenge. Fiona explains: “I am one of those people who spends a lot of time at the laptop even though I’m very active, and I find that my neck, my shoulders and my upper back get really tight. One of the exercises I find invaluable is an upper body mobility exercise.”
“I promise you when you look at this you’re going to say ‘that’s easy, I can do that’ — but if you follow my instructions correctly, you’ll realise that unless you’ve been doing gymnastics all your life and have fantastic upper body mobility, this is probably one of the most essential exercises for you to do right now.”
“So listen carefully, follow my instructions nice and slowly, make sure you’re in the correct position, and let’s get going to bring you better upper body and shoulder mobility.”
How to do it
We’re going to start by putting our feet about half a foot out from the wall and leaning our bottoms against the wall. If you put your heels against the wall, you’ll find yourself feeling a bit imbalanced — that’s why we’re putting our feet out a little, and you can bend your knees.
Next, flatten your back against the wall. That’s a difficult enough part if you don’t have good lower back mobility (we’ll come to that on another of our sessions). So you’re squeezing your belly button back towards your spine, flattening your back into the wall, so that from the tops of your shoulders all the way down to your sacrum (the bottom by your bum) is flattened into the wall.
For some of you, that’s going to be difficult; for others, it might be easy. Next, bring your elbows up to 90 degrees. Double-check that your lower back is still pressed against the wall — for some of you, your mobility might prevent your elbows from being on the wall while your lower back is pressed into it.
Then point your hands so they’re level and rotate your arms upwards, pressing your wrists against the wall. Check that your lower back is still pinned to the wall, take a breath in, exhale, and rotate downwards. Make sure your elbows aren’t dropping, squeeze your lower back against the wall again, and go for four more of these.
Squeeze your wrists against the wall and down, flatten your lower back into the wall, press into your feet — if you don’t feel a bit of a burn in your shoulders, you’re probably not doing it right! Fiona does this at least three or four times a week and still finds it challenging. If you can do it every day, your shoulder mobility will be so much better than it is now. For many of you, your wrists won’t even touch the wall at first — but that’s what we’re aiming to achieve.
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If you have any questions throughout the Challenge, email Fiona or send her a message on Instagram or Facebook, and use hashtag #mkt21days to let us know how you’re getting on with the Challenge!
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge?
It’s a free daily video series with health and wellbeing expert Fiona O’Donnell, designed to help busy parents build simple, achievable fitness and mobility habits over 21 days.
Do I need any equipment for Day 8?
No. All you need is a clear space against a wall — no equipment is required for this shoulder mobility exercise.
How often should I do this shoulder mobility exercise?
Fiona recommends doing it three to four times a week at minimum, and ideally daily, to see real improvement in your shoulder mobility over time.
What if I can’t get my wrists flat against the wall?
That’s completely normal for most people starting out. It’s the goal you’re working towards, not a starting requirement — keep practising and your mobility will improve.
Related Articles
- 10 Fun Games to Play with Kids That Will Get the Family Exercising
- 9 Easy, Medium and Hard Home Workouts for Mums
- Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge – Day 7
Keep Moving With Us
Enjoying the Challenge? Browse the full Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge series for more simple daily exercises you can do at home with the family.
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