To stretch the pec minor preferentially bring the arm back behind you so that the shoulder goes into extension and use a doorway or whatever to stretch that way. That will give a bit more of a stretch to the pec minor. Try to bring the scapula into retraction while you do this. I've tried doing this in a corner as well but I don't find that to work well. But you don't need to feel a really deep stretch. The BEST way is more of a manual passive stretch for the pec minor involving a partner. This would be a typical thing a therapist would do for you. To do that you would lie on a foam roller with the foam roller vertical instead of horizontal…so that it lines up along your spine and between your shoulder blades. A therapist would probably use one of those half foam rollers for this. I use a whole roller. You can also use a rolled up towel for this…a big towel. DON'T do it with a PVC pipe! Put something under the head as well for support. So you lie on the roller or towel that way and you bring your scapula into retraction and depression as much as you can. Your partner then pushes down, using the heel of the hand, and in the direction of retraction on the front portion at the corocoid process of the scapula. The partner should NOT be putting pressure directly on the humeral head. Using the heel of the hand on the corocoid process the partner pushes down and slightly toward the humeral head to force a stretch of the pec minor. You should feel this stretch in the chest but if the pressure from the hand hurts that is a no-no.
Here is a picture of the approximate area to push down on: Corocoid Process And here is a picture of the strech, but without the roller or towel: Partner Pec Minor Stretch Knock-knees are something you should check out with a professional. I wouldn't like to get involved with that. Of course it can be acquired a may have something to do with hip medial rotation. But it can also be associated with foot position and other things. And if there were a structural problem with the knee we could be poking our nose in places it doesn't belong. For simply postural corrections I can help but for this kind of thing I am not qualified. Here is a Pec Minor Tightness, Stretching and Release video. Recognize that the table maneuver he is doing is not the stretch I have described above but an attempt to manually release the pec minor muscle itself…which is whey he is using the knuckles or finger and manipulating the arm to release tension. You can do self work on the area with a tennis ball or a smaller bouncy ball to really hone it. Or with a theracane. You can use your thumb as well to some extent.
Mesocycle 25 Week 2 The Singles Scene Deadlifts: 455 x 2 495 x 1 495 x 1 475 x 1 475 x 1 455 x 1 Total Singles = 7 Average Weight = 472 Average Intensity = 94.4%
I was very anxious about my form because I felt it was all over the place. So I wrote to Eric asking for advice....this is his response prior to seeing the video (which I will link below):
Probably from now on out, with maximal work you'll have to expect some rounding. This is what you have been preparing for, in a way, and it is why I insisted on so much work under fatigue and so much buffering. As long as everything is "within" tolerance" as they say, I doubt I'll have a problem. You're talking 7 reps, after all. It's a very low percentage of your total volume. A tiny fraction. It's all the other stuff that prepares you for this…except for these singles of course are a tool themselves. So while others do not view maximal work as "training" but rather as just "maxing" we do and recognize that performance counts ALWAYS during training and all… So just weigh all that with the reality of some back rounding and you'll be fine. The upper back is where you can take a lot of rounding. As long as your lower back doesn't go too far beyond "flat" you can take it. It's what you've been "training" for, after all. One thing you do need to always be aware of is the position of the lower back. If you sense it ever going beyond "safe" then dump the attempt. Otherwise you can handle a lot of flexion in the mid to upper back.
So, I uploaded the video and sent it to Eric:
Eric's Response:
These HD videos take me 20 minutes to watch. It looks ok. I think that you got lazy on your setup for many of the reps in that you didn't really have your shoulders well squared from the beginning. But nothing was grossly out of place and you were definitely in the safety zone. For the lighter sets in the future just concentrate more than ever on keeping the quality up. I think you may be losing a bit of mobility in the mid and upper back. You should work on thoracic extension a lot. Do thoracic extensions on the foam roller and also do the other oec minor stretch "stretch" with the foam roller down the center of your back. I had talked about that recently on a post…I'll dig it up. Do a lot of tissue work on your chest and do pec and pec minor stretches in general after your workouts. I seem to be seeing a posture change. Some of it is just muscle growth but I don't think all of it is. I want to see those shoulder back more in general.
