Sleeper Stretch — loaded shoulder hold
Internal rotation range in the back shoulder — the range a bowling, throwing or serving arm loses first, and the one that precedes the impingement
How to do it well
The set-up and the rep in full, then the cues the app shows on the exercise card — the short version, for the moment you are standing in front of the bar.
Set-up
Lie on the side of the working shoulder with the upper arm on the floor straight out from the shoulder, elbow bent to 90°, forearm pointing up. Roll back slightly so the shoulder blade is pinned underneath you. Hold a light dumbbell in that hand.
The rep
Let the forearm rotate slowly down towards the floor in front of you, with the dumbbell adding a little pressure. Stop at tension, a stretch at the back of the shoulder, and hold for thirty seconds. Never push into pain. Rotate back up and swap sides.
On the exercise card
- Side-lying, shoulder blade pinned to the floor
- Rotate the forearm down slowly
- Stop at tension, never at pain
- Tempo
- ease in
What goes wrong, and the fix
| What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|
| Pain at the front of the shoulder | Stop. Roll back a little further onto the shoulder blade, or reduce the range. |
| The shoulder blade lifting off the floor | Keep it pinned, or the stretch moves away from the back of the shoulder. |
| Pushing the forearm down with the other hand | The light dumbbell is the only pressure. Let it work slowly. |
Make it easier, or harder
- Easier
- No dumbbell, or a smaller range.
- Harder
- A slightly longer hold. More load is not the goal here.
How Train Smart prescribes it
The sets and reps below are the authored starting point. The actual weight you see is calculated from your own last top set and the week you are in within your four-week block.
A bowling, throwing or shooting arm loses internal rotation first, at the back of the shoulder. The sources page lists the study linking lost internal rotation in the throwing shoulder with shoulder and elbow injury, which is why cricket and basketball both hold this in their prehab blocks.
| Program | Session | Sets × reps | Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cricket | Endurance Day | 2 × 30s/side | Light DB |
| Basketball | Upper + Trunk | 2 × 30s/side | Light DB |
What it trains, and who trains it
- Muscles worked
- Shoulders
- Region
- Full body
- Classified as
- Mobility
- Prescribed in
- cricket · basketball
This exercise, in a program that knows why it is there
Train Smart puts this movement in the right session, at the right point in your block, at a weight calculated for you — and swaps it automatically if you do not have the kit.
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