Wall Angel

How to do it

Setup

1. Stand with your back flat against a wall, placing your feet roughly a half-step away from the baseboard with slight knee flexion.
2. Press your sacrum, upper back, and the back of your head firmly against the wall.
3. Bring your arms into a 'goalpost' or 'W' position with elbows bent at 90 degrees, aiming to place the backs of your elbows, forearms, and wrists flat against the wall.

Movement

1. Brace your core to ensure your lower back does not excessively arch off the wall.
2. Slowly slide your arms upward along the wall toward an overhead 'V' or 'Y' shape, keeping contact with your elbows and hands as long as comfortable.
3. Pause briefly at the top of your pain-free range of motion without letting your ribs flare.
4. Slowly pull your elbows back down and in toward your ribs, squeezing your shoulder blades down and back to finish the repetition.

Breathing

Inhale as you slide your arms overhead; exhale as you pull your elbows down toward your ribs while keeping the core braced.

Cues

• Keep your ribs pulled down and flat against the wall.
• Slide the backs of your hands, not just your elbows.
• Move only as high as you can maintain wall contact without pain.

Common faults

Excessive lumbar extension (arching the lower back) to force the arms flat against the wall.

Engage the abdominals to posteriorly tilt the pelvis slightly, keeping the low back relatively close to the wall.

Elbows or wrists peeling away from the wall during the upward slide.

Only slide up as far as you can maintain good form; stop and reverse direction before your arms break contact.

Shrugging the shoulders upward toward the ears during overhead movement.

Keep active depression and upward rotation by drawing the shoulder blades smoothly around the ribcage rather than hiking the upper traps.

Safety

• Do not force wrist or shoulder contact if you experience shoulder impingement or anterior capsule pain; work within a comfortable, pain-free range.

Muscles

• Lower trapezius prime mover
• Middle trapezius prime mover
• Rhomboids synergist
• Infraspinatus synergist
• Rear deltoid synergist
• Rectus abdominis stabilizer
• Pectoralis minor stretched
• Pectoralis major stretched

Joints

• Shoulder blade: Upward rotation, Downward rotation, Retraction, Depression
• Shoulder: Abduction, Adduction, External rotation
• Thoracic spine: Extension, Isometric stabilization
• Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization

Details

Movement

Mobility drill

Modality

Mobility, Rehabilitation, Flexibility

Mechanics

compound

Force

not applicable

Laterality

bilateral

Kinetic chain

open

Level

beginner

Equipment

Wall

Record

Repetitions; or Duration

Load

bodyweight

Related

• substitute for Wall Slide
• variation of Wall Slide
• regression of Prone Snow Angel
• substitute for Prone Snow Angel

Sources

• wger: Wall Angels, by bbayuwega (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

wall-angel.json