How to Do YTW: Muscles Worked, Benefits, and Alternatives – Fitness Volt (2024)

While the concept of rehab is pretty well-established, prehab is a much newer idea. With rehabilitation or rehab, you perform special exercises to restore an injured muscle or joint to full function. There are several stages of rehab exercise, starting with easy isometrics before gradually progressing to weighted exercises.

In contrast, prehab exercises are preventative and designed to reduce your risk of injury. They’re done preemptively or “just in case.”

While there is no guarantee that doing prehab exercises WILL stop you from getting injured, it’s a safe bet that they could lower your risk.

There are prehab exercises for most major muscles and joints. Lifters tend to select their prehab exercises based on their injury history, the types of training they do, and advice from healthcare professionals and coaches.

As the shoulders are one of the most injury-prone joints, many exercisers include prehab exercises in their upper body workouts. These are generally done to improve shoulder joint mobility and stability.

YTWs are one such exercise and could be one of the best things you do for your shoulders, even if you currently have no joint issues.

In this article, we reveal why and how to do YTWs, and provide you with several variations and alternatives to try.

YTW – Muscles Worked

YTWs, which are named after the shape you make with your arms, are an isolation or single-joint exercise. However, despite this, they involve several important muscles.

The main muscles developed by YTWs are:

Trapezius

The trapezius, or traps for short, is the large diamond-shaped muscle that covers much of your upper back. It’s made up of three sets of fibers – upper, middle, and lower. While the entire traps muscle is involved in YTWs, the mid and lower fibers are the most active.

Rhomboids

The rhomboids are small muscles located between your shoulder blades. They work with your mid traps to pull your shoulders together. While they might be small and hidden beneath your traps, the rhomboids are still an important muscle, especially for posture.

Deltoids

The deltoids are your main shoulder muscles. Like the traps, they’re made up of three sets of fibers – anterior, medial, and posterior. All three are involved in YTWs, but the posterior deltoid does most of the work.

Rotator cuff

The rotator cuff is a group of small muscles beneath your deltoids that control the movements of your shoulders and are also critical for joint stability. The rotator cuff muscles are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis, which can be remembered using the acronym SITS.

How to Do YTWs

Get more from YTWs while keeping your risk of injury to a minimum by following these guidelines:

1. Lie on your front with your forehead resting on the floor. Place your arms in front of you, forming a Y-shape. Point your thumbs up toward the ceiling so your palms face inward. Pull your shoulders back and down.
2. Without arching your lower back, lift your arms a few inches off the floor.
3. Next, sweep your arms back to form a T-shape, keeping your thumbs pointing upward.
4. Finally, bend your arms and pull your elbows down and into your sides, forming a W-shape. Squeeze your shoulder blades back and together.
5. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Tips:

• Rest your head on a folded towel or foam pad to keep your neck neutral
• Place a folded mat under your hips for comfort.
• Keep your hands off the floor or lower them between movements and reps for an easier workout.
• Make this exercise more challenging by holding weight plates or light dumbbells.

YTW Benefits

Not sure if you need to do YTWs? Consider these benefits and then decide!

1. No equipment required

There is no rule that says you have to do your prehab exercises in the gym. YTWs are a bodyweight exercise, so you can do them anywhere and anytime. A lot of exercisers will find this more convenient, and it means you can keep your prehab separate from your main workout, e.g., do it upon waking or before going to bed.

2. Good for general shoulder health and posture

Shoulder problems are common among gym goers, and anyone who spends time hunched over a keyboard or screen will probably have issues with their posture. YTWs address both these issues with one simple do-it-anywhere exercise.

3. A useful upper body warm-up exercise

When most people warm up, they focus on generalities, such are core temperate, heart rate, and mobility. YTWs are much more lifting-specific and will help fire up your shoulders and upper back while increasing shoulder and scapular stability. A few sets of YTWs before, e.g., bench presses, overhead presses, or deadlifts, will improve your performance.

4. Easy to learn

YTWs are very straightforward, making them easy to learn and master. It’s pretty hard to do them wrong. However, despite this simplicity, they’re a very effective exercise for beginners and more experienced exercisers alike.

5. Not too taxing

YTWs are a low-intensity exercise. They aren’t overly challenging for your muscles or your central nervous system. As such, you can do them frequently, e.g., daily, without worrying about wearing yourself out.

Drawbacks

While YTWs are a mostly beneficial exercise, there are also a few drawbacks to consider:

1. Limited overload

When you do YTWs, the resistance comes from the weight of your arms and the tension in your chest, neither of which are especially significant. As you get stronger, you may find that YTWs become less effective, and you’ll need to find ways to make them more challenging. This is an exercise you’ll outgrow if you do it often enough.

2. A tight chest could make this exercise impractical

A lot of lifters have tight chest muscles. This can make performing YTWs uncomfortable, and they could even be impossible to do correctly. You need flexible pecs and good shoulder mobility to perform YTIs without lifting your chest off the floor or making other accommodations to the exercise. If your pecs are too tight, you’ll need to find alternative ways to prehab your shoulders, e.g., band pull-aparts.

7 YTW Variations and Alternatives

YTWs are a highly effective shoulder prehab exercise, but that doesn’t mean you need to do them all the time. There are several variations and alternatives you can use to keep your workouts productive and interesting:

1. Standing YTWs

Standing YTWs are a great way to break up long periods of sitting. Do them anytime you need to wake up your postural muscles or just get your shoulders moving. They’re also a valuable alternative when lying on the floor may be impractical, such as before going for a trail run.

Steps:

1. Stand with your arms by your sides, knees slightly bent, and shoulders down and back. Rotate your wrists, so your thumbs point forward.
2. Raise your arms up and over your head to form a Y-shape.
3. Next, lower your arms to parallel the floor and make a T-shape. Point your thumbs behind you.
4. Finally, bend your arms and pull your elbows into your sides as you rotate your shoulders and arms outward to form a W-shape.
5. Lower your arms to your sides and repeat.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: N/A.

Benefits:

• Potentially more comfortable and convenient than prone YTAs.
• Less muscle tension, so a useful exercise for beginners.
• A good warm-up exercise as your heart rate is less likely to drop while standing.

Tips:

• You can also do this exercise seated.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades back and together throughout.
• Use this exercise to break up long periods of sitting, e.g., a few reps every hour.

2. Bent-over YTWs

While standing YTWs are a good exercise, they don’t put your muscles under much tension. Bending forward means gravity has a stronger effect on your traps, rhomboids, and deltoids, making this variation a little better for building strength.

Steps:

1. Stand with your feet between shoulder and hip-width apart. Bend your knees slightly. Hinge forward from your hips until your upper body is inclined to around 45 degrees. Do not round your lower back.
2. With your thumbs pointing forward, raise your arms up and out to form a Y-shape.
3. Next, lower your arms, so they’re perpendicular to your body and make a T-shape. Point your thumbs behind you.
4. Finally, form a W-shape by bending your arms and pulling your elbows into your sides as you rotate your arms and shoulders outward.
5. Continue for the desired number of reps.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: N/A.

Benefits:

• A little more challenging than prone YTWs.
• An excellent shoulder and upper back mobility and activation exercise.
• Good for shoulder and thoracic spine posture.

Tips:

• Do this exercise between sets of bench and overhead presses to improve shoulder stability.
• Lead with your thumbs and keep your shoulders down and back to maximize the effectiveness of this exercise.
• You can also do bent-over YTWs with dumbbells or weight plates for added resistance.

3. Stability ball YTWs

Doing YTWs on a stability ball means your glutes and lower back get a workout alongside your shoulders and upper back. A few sets of this exercise will help you stand straighter and adopt a more upright posture. This is an excellent movement for desk warriors and anyone who spends a lot of time seated.

Steps:

1. Kneel behind your stability ball and lean your abdomen and hips against it. Straighten your legs and find your balance point. Drive your toes into the ground for stability.
2. With your thumbs pointing up, raise your arms forward and out to form a Y-shape.
3. Next, lower your arms, so they’re perpendicular to your body and make a T-shape. Point your thumbs behind you.
4. Finally, bend your arms and pull your elbows into your sides, rotating your arms and shoulders outward, forming a W-shape.
5. Continue for the desired number of reps.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: Gluteus maximus, erector spinae.

Benefits:

• A more advanced version of YTWs.
• Lying on a ball is more comfortable than on the floor.
• Provides your entire posterior chain with an effective workout.

Tips:

• You can also do stability ball YTWs with dumbbells or weight plates in your hands.
• The more horizontal your body position, the more demanding this exercise becomes.
• Use a larger diameter ball to make this YTW variation easier.

4. Incline bench YTWs

If you’ve been doing YTWs for a while, you are probably ready for a more challenging exercise. Incline bench YTWs use weights to overload your muscles and make your workouts more progressive. However, even if you are strong, you should start with light weights, as this exercise is pretty challenging.

Steps:

1. Set an adjustable bench to a 45-degree angle. Lie face down on the bench with a dumbbell or weight plate in each hand. Let your arms hang downward and pull your shoulders down and back. Your palms should face inward.
2. Raise your arms forward and up to form a Y-shape. Lower your arms.
3. Next, lift your arms out to the side to form a T-shape. Lower your arms.
4. Finally, pull your elbows into your sides and rotate your shoulders and arms outward to form a W-shape.
5. Lower your arms and repeat the sequence for the desired number of reps.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: N/A.

Benefits:

• More overload for the target muscles.
• A very lower-back-friendly exercise.
• You can adjust the slope of the backrest to hit your muscles from different angles.

Tips:

• You can also do this exercise on a flat bench.
• Place your bench on blocks if your hands touch the floor.
• Use small dumbbells or weight plates, as a little weight goes a long way.

5. Suspension strap YTWs

Suspension straps such as the TRX add a whole new dimension to your bodyweight workouts. By shortening or lengthening the straps, you can change the angle of your body and make your chosen exercise easier or a whole lot harder. Suspension strap YTWs involve a large range of motion, making them potentially more effective than the prone version.

Steps:

1. Attach your suspension straps to a high anchor point. Take a handle in each hand and lean back, so your arms are straight.
2. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
3. Keeping your arms straight but not locked, raise and open your arms to form a Y-shape. Lower your arms.
4. Next, pull your arms apart and parallel to the floor to form a T-shape. Lower your arms.
5. Finally, bend your elbows and rotate your arms up and out to form a W-shape.
6. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: Gluteus maximus, erector spinae.

Benefits:

• A full-body exercise that emphasizes the all-important postural muscles.
• Easy to modify the difficulty just by moving your feet.
• Teaches you how to stabilize your upper and lower body simultaneously.

Tips:

• Use a split stance so you can use your rear leg for assistance as you feel your muscles begin to fatigue.
• Rotate your arms outward to maximize back and shoulder engagement.
• Move your feet away from the anchor to put your body in a more upright position for an easier workout. Alternatively, walk your feet forward to put your body at a steeper incline for a more demanding workout.

6. Resistance band YTWs

Prone YTWs are a great at-home exercise for more stable shoulders and better posture. However, they may not be challenging enough for more experienced lifters. Resistance bands are an excellent solution as they’re light, portable, cheap, and low-tech but will make this exercise more demanding and effective.

Steps:

1. Attach a resistance band to a chest-high anchor. Hold the band with an overhand grip and take 1-2 steps back to tension it. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Raise your arms up and out to form a Y-shape. Lower your arms to parallel.
3. Next, open your arms and stretch the band out across your chest to form a T-shape. Return to the starting position.
4. Finally, pull your arms in and rotate your forearms upward to form a W-shape.
5. Extend your arms and repeat the sequence for as many rounds as required.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: N/A.

Benefits:

• A very joint-friendly exercise.
• Ideal for home exercisers.
• More challenging than prone YTWs, so good for more advanced exercisers.

Tips:

• Use a lightweight resistance band; this exercise is much harder than it looks.
• Adopt a staggered stance for balance and stability.
• Step back further to increase the tension in the band and the difficulty of this exercise.

7. Cuban press

Like YTWs, Cuban presses combine three exercises to hit your shoulders from several different directions. The Cuban press is rumored to originate in Cuba, where it was a cornerstone of the Cuban Olympic weightlifting team. Also, like YTWs, Cuban presses are a prehab exercise that helps strengthen and stabilize the entire shoulder and upper back complex.

Steps:

1. Hold a barbell in front of your hips using an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Use a thumbless or false grip as preferred.
2. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, core braced, and shoulders pulled down and back.
3. Bend your elbows and upright row the barbell up to your sternum/lower chest. Your upper arms should be roughly parallel to the floor, elbows bent to 90 degrees.
4. Next, externally rotate your shoulders and raise the bar up so it’s just above your head.
5. Press the bar up to arm’s length.
6. Lower the bar back to the start by doing the movement in reverse – lower the bar to your head, rotate the bar down to your sternum, and return the bar to hip height.

Muscles Targeted:

• Primary: Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
• Secondary: Biceps, rotator cuff.

Benefits:

• A complete shoulder exercise that works all three deltoid heads, your rotator cuff, traps, and rhomboids.
• Good for shoulder mobility and stability.
• Easy to progress and regress just by adjusting the weight.

Tips:

• Experiment with your grip width to see what feels most comfortable/effective.
• Skip the overhead press part to focus more on your traps, medial and posterior deltoids, and rotator cuff.
• You can also do this exercise with dumbbells, like this:

YTW FAQs

Do you have a question about YTWs? That’s okay because we’ve got the answers!

1. How often should I do YTWs?

Because YTWs are a low-intensity exercise, you can do them daily to improve shoulder mobility and stability. Use the bodyweight or low-load versions and stop your sets well before failure to avoid overtraining your shoulders.

However, if you do any of the more intense weighted variations or push your sets closer to failure, you should only do YTWs 2-3 times per week to give your muscles adequate time to rest and recover between workouts.

2. When is the best time to do YTWs?

If you are using YTWs for general prehab, you can do YTWs anytime you have a few minutes spare, such as before breakfast or before bed. But if you are going to do them as part of a workout, they’ll probably work best in your warm-up. YTWs before your main workout will help stabilize and mobilize your shoulders for better training performance.

3. I’m finding it hard to lift my arms off the floor during YTWs. What’s up with that?

There are two possible causes of this problem.

Firstly, and most likely, is that you’ve got tight pecs. Tight pecs pull your arms forward, making it much harder to raise them off the floor. You can learn how to stretch your pecs for healthier, more mobile shoulders in this article.

Secondly, your mid traps and rhomboids may be weak. This is less likely if you train your upper back regularly, but you never know! So, if you suspect your upper back is weak, start doing more face pulls, band pull-aparts, and wide-grip rows to fix the problem.

4. Which is better – YTAs or YTWs?

YTAs and YTWs are very similar. In fact, the only difference is the last exercise in each three-move sequence. With YTAs, you finish with your arms down by your sides and pressed backward. With YTWs, you raise and rotate your arms outward.

Is one better than the other? Probably not, and both exercises are great for developing shoulder mobility and stability. However, YTWs involve a bit more rotator cuff activity, which may be beneficial for some lifters.

Unable to choose between these two exercises? We hear you! Why not do a couple of sets of each, alternate between them workout by workout, or combine them to make YTWAs, like this:

5. How many reps of YTWs should I do?

This is one of the few YTW questions we can’t answer! Prone YTWs are a bodyweight exercise, and, as such, their difficulty depends on things like the weight and length of your arms, pec tightness, and your strength.

We have no way of knowing this information, so we can’t say how hard you’ll find YTWs. So, just do as many reps as you need to feel your muscles working. Continue to within 2-3 reps of failure, rest a moment, and repeat for the required number of sets.

Try to do more reps as you get stronger to maintain your progress.

YTWs – Wrapping Up

The shoulders are one of the hardest working joints in the human body. Shoulder injuries can be very debilitating and can even stop you from training your upper body. Sore shoulders don’t help with your leg workouts either and can make barbell back squats impossible to perform without pain.

So, it makes sense to look after your shoulders and do all you can to keep them in tip-top shape. Always warm up, stretch your lats and pecs regularly, avoid most behind-the-neck exercises, and include shoulder prehab exercises in your workouts.

Face pulls and band pull-aparts are great options, and so too are YTAs and YTWs. Investing a small amount of time in your shoulder health could save you many months of aches and pains in the future, so it’s time well spent. It’s generally best to prehab than rehab.

If you have any questions or require further clarification on this article, please leave a comment below. Patrick is dedicated to addressing your queries promptly.