‘Bat wing’ move relaxes shoulders

Trainer Cori Lefkowith of Innovative Results in Costa Mesa, Calif., makes a funny motion when she approximates how desk barnacles look in their offices, crouched over a computer keyboard. The neck is hunched, the fingers curled into claws. It’s uncomfortable.

“We’re all seated at desks like this all day,” she says.

The Scapular Wall Hold, also known as the “bat wing,” can open things up.

And this exercise is as simple as it gets:

Stand with your back to a wall, with the heels just a couple of inches away from the wall.

Bend the elbows so that they, not the back, are touching the wall.

Push the chest out.

“That’s it,” Lefkowith says. “It’s just pinching your shoulder blades down and back.”

The exercise works the lower part of the trapezius muscle, which extends from the upper neck to the middle spine, where it widens out.