Skip to content
← Back to library

PhysicalIsolatedMovement

Thoracic and shoulder mobility for the high catch

Link thoracic spine mobility to shoulder mobility, so the goalkeeper reaches the arms overhead without compensating through the lower back — reinforces the thin shoulder-mobility topic at its root.

Add to a session

Which session should use this exercise?

You do not have any sessions yet. Create the first one to add this exercise.

New session
Choose a session and the exercise is added to today’s plan.

Load

minutes
9
Intensity
Low
Sets and reps
2 × 8

Microcycle days it fits

MD+2, MD-4, MD-1

Each bar’s height is that day’s dive ceiling.

Setup

Goalkeepers
1
server
0
outfield player
0

Space: 5 × 4 m

Equipment: Markers

The coach serves and manages the breaks.

Thoracic rotations and extensions combined with arm elevation, first kneeling and then standing, to free the shoulder’s rise from a mobile spine.

Coaching points

  • Full arm elevation needs a mobile thoracic spine; forcing the shoulder on a stiff spine arches the lower back.
  • Rotate and extend the spine with control, following with the breath.
  • The standing position demands more trunk stability — advance only once the kneeling one is clean.
  • No pain; seek the range, not the forced extreme.

Progressions

  1. Move to standing.
  2. Combine rotation and elevation at once.

Regressions

  1. Keep the kneeling position.
  2. Reduce the rotation range.

Sources · 2

  1. StudyInjuries and Pain Associated with Goalkeeping in Football — Review of the Literature (2021), Applied Sciences
  2. StudyNeuromuscular Performance of High-Level Football Goalkeepers by Age Category and Sex: A Systematic Review (2025), Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology