Volleyball- How do I stretch so that my arms are able to be closer together (ie. better passing platform)?

Question

Hello,

When I attempt to pass, my arms do not even nearly come together. When in passing position, my elbows are about 4 inches apart.

I found an article from Bob Ctvrtlik about how he stretched his shoulders and chest to attain a better passing platform, but he does not describe what stretches he had to do.

I don't even know what muscles I should be stretching in particular to help bring my arms closer together.

Here is a link to that article.

http://www.volleyballmag.com/archive/instruct/1998/pass.html

Any links or ideas on how to rectify this issue would be great.

Thanks,

I.

Answer 1

ok, u might want to change the position of your hands

1) put your left hand out, palm up.

2) smack your right hand in you left

3) make it so thatyour arms feel comfortable, your hands should be at an angle to each other

4)put your thumbs together

you elbows should be closer together now

Answer 2

That is intresting.,I'm not saying this will help but these are just the arm stretched we did for our team. We did where your left arm goes to the right as far as you can, then you take your right arm and make like a L where the | and _ meet is yor elbow, so then you have your left arm inside the L then you push back..It should be your left arm's elbow almost over to the other elbow , but that is mine.

Another way to explain it is to put you left arm straight to the right as much as you can ,then put your right arm under your left one , then bend your right arm up and pull back and over.

Vise Versa

We did one where you put your right arm bent behind your head and then you take your left one and grab the right hand and pull and then reverse to your left arm.

Take your arms and put them behind your back grab your hands together,bend over  and push your arms as far up(which is behind your back like towards the ceiling or sky.)

Then you come up then release.

That is all I can think of now. I never heard of anything like this.

Try these and tell me whether they helped you or not. I hope they do.

Answer 3

wow i really do not know. thats interesting, because i never knew of anyone who had that problem.

i dont know stretches, but make sure your palms are not open and facing up. turn your wrists in a bit and shrug your shoulders. it may help!!!

Answer 4

Hi there,

  It is likely that you are not protracting and elevating your shoulder joint enough anteriorly and superiorly.  The main reason, If indeed it is muscular in nature and not due to limited range of motion of the sternoclavicular joint, would be tight middle fibers of trapezius, rhomboid major and rhomboid minor.

  This is a difficult area to stretch well but I would suggest upper back stretches.  One example would be to clasp your hands together in front of you and round your back towards the floor, pressing your arms away from your body untill you feel a stretch.  Note: It should not be painful.  Do 3 sets of 30 seconds each 7 days a week and your range of motion should improve.  Good Luck!