Stand and rotate your upper torso side to side with your hands behind your head, focusing on thoracic rotation and engaging the obliques and abdominal muscles.
How to do the Prisoner Shoulder Rotation#
- Stand tall with feet about hip-width apart and place your hands lightly behind your head, keeping elbows wide.
- Brace your core and keep your hips facing forward so the movement comes from your upper spine.
- Rotate your chest to the right as far as is comfortable, leading with the sternum and keeping your neck relaxed.
- Return to center under control, then rotate to the left to complete one repetition.
- Keep a steady tempo and maintain an upright posture throughout each rep.
Muscles worked#
- Primary: Obliques (External & Internal Obliques), Upper back (Rhomboids & Middle Trapezius)
- Secondary: Abs (Rectus Abdominis), Rear delts (Posterior Deltoid), Traps (Trapezius)
Common mistakes#
- Turning the hips instead of the upper spine.
- Pulling on the neck with your hands.
- Collapsing the elbows forward so the shoulders round.
- Rushing through reps with little actual rotation.
