1. Reach Out and Touch the Wall
Standing sideways to a wall, position yourself so that you can reach out to it with one arm. Place your hand on the wall, fingers pointing backwards, your arm at shoulder height. Rotate your body away from the wall, while your hand maintains contact with it. Twist out until you feel tension run the length of your arm. Then repeat on the other side. Continue until you feel sufficiently loosened.
2. Take Care
Don't stretch too far, or make yourself extremely uncomfortable. Exercise--from stretches to intense workouts--is not about punishing your body. It is not true that more pain is a sign that you've done a bang-up job in developing muscle tone and strength. With this routine, you're stretching nerves as well as muscles, so you want to take extra care with your movements. Avoid bouncing, jerky movements as we are prone to do, thinking that the more showy actions mean proper technique--they don't.
3. Focus on Form
You can also do this stretch by forming a 90-degree angle with your arm as you place your arm, or just your hand, on the wall. As in the previous form, stretch back and away from the wall while keeping your hand in place. Hold for several seconds, allowing the tension to ease up. You can reach back with your outside hand, and try to touch the hand that is on the wall, focusing on the compression of your shoulder blade region as you do so.
4. Mind Your Muscle Groups
This stretching exercise is ideal for the chest, the forearm and biceps, and the front of the shoulder. Ideally, do this exercise early in your exercise routine, in order to warm the body up and get the blood circulating, thus making it easier for your muscles to function properly during the coming intense work out. But don't neglect the benefits of doing this after your work out as well. Just as these and other muscle groups need a warm up period, they need a cool down period too.
5. Check Your Chest
While this routine is good for the arms, shoulder blades and upper back, it is also a prime way of easing the tension on the pectoral region. As you push away from the wall, focus on your chest area and feel yourself push your chest through the motion. Exaggerate your arm swing--though still slowly and smoothly--as you do so. Add deep breathing to the routine and you can more easily focus your efforts so that you feel the stretching and loosening of muscles in that area.
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