here's the two most effective rotator cuff exercises you should do this video explains the
benefits optimal technique and how to progress get ready for bulletproof shoulders stronger
overhead pressing and pain-free training how do you guys like to train your rotator cuff barbell
band or dumbbells let me know we're going to start with the dumbbell external rotation
this is a very popular exercise and for good reason let's discuss why all right guys part
of being human is it's normal to have side to side differences we've got a dominant arm
and a non-dominant arm the good news about our dumbbell external rotation unilateral training
we can focus on one arm at a time and reduce the strength deficit that exists between sides
with regard to the intensity when we're using a dumbbell it's the most challenging at the outer
to mid range of motion as we externally rotate more towards a vertical alignment the intensity
drops off and we've got a movement for that a bit later on with regard to the scapular position
just avoid extremes i don't want you elevating up like this and you don't need to fully depress
down to this extent somewhere in the middle is going to be best for most people basically you
need to choose a level of elevation or depression that allows you to feel the rotator cuff those
external rotators on the back of the shoulder working play around and choose what suits you best
let's talk about range of motion this depends on your level of shoulder mobility you want to go
down as far as you can while keeping your scap retracted as i'm going down you can see that
that's probably the limit for me if i start to go forward i'm getting a deeper range of motion
but it's coming at the expense of me dumping my shoulder forward so this really depends on your
level of mobility you just want to get that big stretch in the posterior cuff and then when you
get that with your scapular being set you want to externally rotate so that the wrist joint is above
your elbow and then you're just repeating that for reps while maintaining that scapular control
and feeling the posterior cuff sensation let's talk about your overall body posture you can
see that i'm posted up on my hand i've got a proud chest and my torso is facing forwards
this allows me to really get a nice contraction in that posterior rotator cuff a big mistake that
people make is they start to hunch like this you're just going to get a terrible functional
activation sensation through the rotator cuff stay proud stay forward and you're set up for success
a really important part of your setup is placing the elbow onto the vmo this way you can push
against your quad muscle and it gives you a really nice resistance when you're doing your external
rotations if you've got on top of the knee you're very likely to start losing position you start
losing that scapular retraction you stop feeling your rotator cuff not good put it on the vmo
and you're set up to win what i find fascinating about rotator cuff training is how your setup
determines the difficulty if we're in a position like this you can see i'm quite horizontally
adducted my rotator cuff is quite mechanically strong in this position the same weight if i
a b duct my shoulder becomes increasingly challenging so keep that in mind as a form of
progression you can increase your weight over time but you can also change the amount of a b duction
to challenge that rotator cuff arguably the most important part of rotator cuff training is tempo
the speed in which you do every rep we've got small muscle groups in our external rotators we
really need to make sure they're actually working on the way down and the way up i like to use
around a two to three second eccentric and similar time on the way up as you come to the top just to
fully feel those muscle groups working let's move on to the 90 90 band external rotation i love this
one because it makes up for the deficits in our dumbbell training let's talk about it the unique
benefit of this setup is how the resistance acts on our rotator cuff with the bands we have the
luxury of being challenged in the horizontal plane of motion this is perfect for overloading that mid
to end range of motion this is great because that's when our rotator cuff is actually the
weakest another advantage of this exercise is it better replicates the real world challenges that
we face what i mean by this is our elbows are unsupported this involves the whole shoulder
complex into our rotator cuff training this better replicates what we have to go through with our
overhead pressing exercises how that rotator cuff has to stabilize amidst movement great for dynamic
demands here's your technique checklist for the band external rotation you want to anchor the band
with enough height to clear your head you want to drop down onto your knees because this way we can
fix our lumbar pelvic region so that we're locked in and working our external rotators arms at 90 90
position and you want a hand width which allows you to get that orientation from here you want to
externally rotate so that the fist is above the elbow every single rep the most important part
about your technique is pausing at end range we want to do that because that inner range
contraction is the most difficult point and where you've got the most to gain i recommend a one to
three second contraction every rep and controlling the negative so it should look like this
you go here you get a powerful external rotation contraction you pause you light up that posterior
cuff you control it down and you come back again you really have to own that end range of motion
because that's where the magic happens simplicity of progression is what makes this so effective
over time gradually increase the band thickness as you get stronger and just keep staying challenged
in the prescribed rep range and one that allows you to fill your rotator cuff working
let's discuss rotator cuff training in your routine i'm going to summarize why when and how
firstly our overhead pressing exercises require posterior cuff strength the reason for this is
when we're going overhead we want our elbows to be tracking in that scapular plane if we have
weakness in our rotator cuff the elbows are going to start flaring and we're going to be less likely
to use our prime mover muscles in our shoulder chest and our triceps to their maximum potential
you should be training your rotator cuff because your body is very intelligent what i mean by this
is if your nervous system determines that there is a limitation in your body such as your rotator
cuff it will reduce your output and it will reduce your strength the perfect example of this
is the foundation of a house if you have a foundation built on mud and twigs or if you
have a rotator cuff that is weak and doesn't create stability for your shoulder then your
house aka your big boys your prime mover muscles in your upper body won't be able to display
their maximum strength that's the value of rotator cuff training and why you should take it seriously
as part of your training practice if you're doing a lot of stretching overhead and you're getting
quite loose in your shoulder joint stabilization with rotator cuff exercises is going to help you
bulletproof your shoulders to be stable strong overhead in that new range of motion when doing
external rotations as part of your warm up do them shorter fatigue with the goal of getting blood
flow to your rotator cuff and this is best done before any overhead pressing in regard to strength
training for the rotator cuff it's simple use a progressive overload mindset with a frequency of
two to three times per week two to three sets of eight reps is the sweet spot for intensity
volume and just a sustainable progression model cheers for watching legends check out fitness faqs
everywhere online to learn everything you need about calisthenics see you next time