Reverse Snow Angel Exercise — All You Need To Know
The reverse snow angel exercise is a strength-training exercise that works the shoulder’s external rotators and stabilizing muscles.
The reverse snow angel exercise is just like regular snow angels, except that you will be facing down. When you stand backward, your back muscles have to work harder.
For a beginner, the intuitive form may seem strange, but it is important to do the workout with the right form.
The traps and lower back are the main muscles used in this exercise, but other muscles, like the obliques and deltoids, are also used as you do the movement.
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Table of Contents
- How To Do Reverse Snow Angel Exercise
- Imortant Tips
- Common Mistakes When Doing Reverse Snow Angel
- Doing a lower back crunch
- Extending your neck too far
- Reverse Snow Angel Exercise Muscles Worked
- Reverse Snow Angel Exercise Benefits
- Strength increases
- Get rid of shoulder and neck pain
- Improves posture
- Reverse Snow Angel Alternatives
- Prone Cobra
- Standing Snow Angel
- Snow Angel Exercise For Shoulder
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Do reverse snow angels build muscle?
- What are snow angels good for?
- What is angel exercise?
How To Do Reverse Snow Angel Exercise
Reverse Snow Angel Exercise
You need to mat For to do the reverse snow angel exercise:
- Lay on your stomach on the mat with your legs straight behind you. Put your palms on the mat and stretch your arms out to your sides.
- Move your shoulder blades together and lift your arms until they are just above the floor.
- Hold your mid-back and lats together. Move your arms toward the front of your head with your hands outstretched.
- Meet your thumbs above your head, then move your arms back to your sides to return to the starting position. This is one full rep.
- Repeat until you’ve reached the number of reps you want. If you are just starting out, try to do three sets of 12 reps and rest for 2 minutes between each set.
Important Tips
- Keep your elbows straight and make sure your arms go as far as they can during the whole movement.
- Make sure you warm up well before starting this drill, because lifting the limbs at the same time puts stress on the spine.
- If your training surface is smooth, you can slide with this drill by putting pads under your arms and legs.
- Focus on your glutes, adductors, and abductors in that order.
Don’t forget how good reverse snow angel exercise is for your fitness. The abs and core help keep you steady, and you train them well when you work out.
This exercise targets your deltoids and stretches them in a stable way. Avoid putting too much pressure on the shoulders to reduce the chance of shoulder pain and injury.
Try working out near a mirror so you can see if your lower back, shoulders, or hips are moving in the wrong way.
Common Mistakes When Doing Reverse Snow Angel
Avoid making these mistakes when doing the exercise:
Doing a lower back crunch
Don’t crunch your lower back when you work out. This puts extra stress on your spine and can lead to back and spinal injuries. Fix the mistake by putting your arms in the right place. Engage your upper arms and legs, and push down hard with your feet. You can also fold a blanket and put it under your hips. This will help you stay in the right position while you exercise.
Extending your neck too far
One of the goals of this workout is to strengthen your core. Make sure you don’t stick your neck out too far to avoid putting too much strain on your neck. Keep a slope between the shoulder blades to relieve pressure on the neck. Keep your eyes straight ahead toward the ceiling and pay attention to your breathing.
Reverse Snow Angel Exercise Muscles Worked
Reverse Snow Angel Exercise
Reverse snow angel exercise is a controlled way to stretch the deltoid and lats in a separate way. The workout mainly works on the lats and traps, which strengthens the core and shoulders because each movement requires stabilization.
The other muscles that were worked are:
- Hamstrings
- Rectus Abdominis
- Obliques
- Glutes
- Adductors
- Abductors
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Reverse Snow Angel Exercise Benefits
Reverse Snow Angel Exercise
Strength increases
The external deltoid rotators and stabilizer muscles receive a hypertrophy workout from the reverse snow angel exercise. Pulling your shoulders back will be simpler if your shoulders and stabilizer muscles are strong. Your strength for general deltoid actions, overhead lifts, and even daily tasks will all improve as a result.
Get rid of shoulder and neck pain
The muscles of the shoulder and neck become deconditioned, stiff, and weak when they aren’t used. Keeping your muscles active prevents sprains since weak and tight muscles are more likely to occur. The shoulder and neck muscles are simultaneously worked out during reverse snow angel exercise, which helps to ease any discomfort these muscles may experience. Working these muscles will also keep them in shape and make subsequent exercises go more easily.
Improves posture
Reverse snow angel exercise promotes muscle symmetry in the upper body by helping to define and shape the back and shoulder muscles. Good posture is a result of these muscles. By preserving body equilibrium, good posture lessens the pressure on the spine. The body support system is shielded by the musculoskeletal equilibrium, which guards against harm or increasing posture deformation.
Reverse Snow Angel Alternatives
Check out these alternative exercises that provide the same benefits as reverse snow angels.
Prone Cobra
The Prone Cobra is a simple exercise that will help you improve your posture by strengthening all the back muscles that help you not slouch.
How To Do
- Lay on the floor with your face down and your palms up toward the ceiling.
- Extend your hips and spine so that your legs and torso lift off the floor and into the air.
- Raise both arms at the same time, turn your palms so they face away from you, and point your thumbs up.
- Keep your place.
Standing Snow Angel
Standing Snow Angel
Another alternative to doing the reverse snow angel exercise is to do it while standing up against a wall. With the Standing Snow Angel exercise, you stand against a wall and move your shoulders in the right way.
How To Do
- Stand against a wall with your back to it.
- Start with your arms down by your sides and your palms facing away from the wall.
- Then, slowly slide your arms up the wall in a way that looks like a snow angel or a jumping jack.
- The first rep of the standing exercise is done when you hold for a second and then slowly move back to the starting position.
When you get to 90 degrees, it should be hard to keep your hands on the wall, especially if your shoulders or chest are tight. If this is happening, try slowing down and focusing on your technique.
Snow Angel Exercise For Shoulder
Snow Angel Exercise For Shoulder
No matter what sport you play, you need to be able to move your shoulders. Having a full range of motion in the shoulders is just as important as having a full range of motion in the legs and hips. By doing the snow angel shoulder exercise, you can increase your range of motion, improve your posture, and feel less pain in your shoulders.
The workout is great for people who are just starting out. Not only does it help your shoulders move better, but it also helps your shoulders stay stable and rotate. Even though it can be surprisingly tiring and frustrating at times, everyone, not just athletes, can benefit from the exercise.
So, if you want to add variety to your strength and mobility plan, try adding one of the different kinds of snow angels.
Make sure to use the right form when doing any of the snow angel shoulder exercises, and don’t add more weight too quickly.
The main goal of the exercise is to build strength and increase your range of motion. So it’s not necessary to add more weight. Just keep your attention on good technique and slow, controlled movement.
Conclusion
The reverse snow angel exercise is a versatile move that you can use in all of your workouts. With this exercise, your muscles and shoulder rotators will be more stable, and you will get stronger. It will also help you stand up straighter and ease shoulder and neck pain. Try this workout if you want to work out several muscle groups at the same time. Remember to eat well and get enough rest so your muscles can heal, and stick with this exercise to get the most out of it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do reverse snow angels build muscle?
The exercise not only helps strengthen your core, but it also helps strengthen your shoulders. Because each movement requires stabilizing functions, it has become a popular exercise in sports and fitness.
What are snow angels good for?
The snow angel is a way to strengthen the muscles on the outside of the shoulders and the muscles that keep the shoulders stable. By making these muscles stronger, the shoulders can be pulled back, which helps with posture and reduces pain in the shoulders and neck. Go back to all Strength Workouts.
What is angel exercise?
Tuck your chin in a little to stretch your neck, and lean the back of your head against the wall with your chin tucked in. Bring your shoulders down and away from your ears. Bring your arms up to a 90-degree angle and put the backs of your elbows and then your hands against the wall.
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Originally published at https://stepbyfitness.com/ On 27 August 2022
