Broomstick Pass-Throughs

What you'll gain

• Takes the shoulders through a full overhead arc with a simple stick.

• Is an easy warm-up for overhead pressing, carrying, and throwing patterns.

• Needs only a broom handle or dowel, so it works in home and gym settings.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Stand tall with the feet about shoulder-width apart and hold a straight dowel in front of the thighs.

2. 2

   Take a wide overhand grip, wider than the shoulders, with both elbows straight.

3. 3

   Brace the trunk so the ribs stay stacked over the pelvis.

4. 4

   Raise the stick in a wide arc over the head, keeping the arms long.

5. 5

   Continue the arc until the stick travels behind the hips as far as the shoulders allow.

6. 6

   Reverse the same path back to the front of the thighs without bending the elbows.

Common Mistakes

• Bending the elbows to cheat the stick over the head.

• Using a grip so narrow that the shoulders pinch at the top.

• Flaring the ribs or leaning back to make the stick clear the head.

• Forcing the stick to the lower back through a painful end range.

About This Exercise

Broomstick pass-throughs, also called PVC or dowel pass-throughs, take a straight stick from the front of the thighs, over the head, and behind the hips with the elbows kept straight. A wide overhand grip is the starting point; the grip narrows only as the shoulders allow. The stick is a range-of-motion tool, not a load. The pass-through is an upper-body warm-up that opens the shoulders and the muscles around them, using a PVC pipe, broom handle, or wooden dowel. For a catalog this is the shoulder-mobility page that sits next to overhead pressing. App builders use it in warm-up blocks, Olympic-lift prep, and mobility collections. The approved frame shows a thin grey dowel, not a loaded barbell.

Looking for an exercise animation collection for your app, coaching platform, or content workflow? MoveKit gives you consistent quality across every movement so your product feels cohesive from first launch through scale.

Build faster with related MoveKit resources