Shoulder stiffness and tension… sound familiar? Whether the tops, sides, or backs of your shoulders are pissed off, a commonly overlooked area that will (when stretched) usually bring relief is your armpits.

Hear me out. Poor armpits! They rarely see the light of day, and because of that the tissues surrounding your shoulder joints can easily become tight and stuck together. Opening and re-lengthening this area brings a surprising amount of relief…

Armpit Space

• Stand (you can also do this sitting but make sure you’re sitting up tall), turn your palms forward, and reach your arms overhead.

• Interlace your fingers and press up through the heels of your palms, focusing on making as much space around your armpits as possible.

• Keeping your fingers interlaced, bend your right elbow down and reach up through your left elbow.

• Hold for 3–5 deep breaths before switching sides.

• Release your arms back to your sides and repeat, interlacing your fingers the opposite way.

Keep stretching your shoulders with our new 5-Minute Shoulder Reset video and use #5minreset to let us know how it goes!