How to Train Your Rotator Cuff.
The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that are deeper than your superficial prime movers such as your pecs, traps, and deltoids and surround your shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint). Their primary role is thought to involve co-contraction to stabilize the head of your humerus (arm bone) onto your glenoid fossa (shoulder blade) during movement (co-contraction is essentially contraction on the opposite side of the joint to the prime mover). In short, your rotator cuff is an important group of muscles for shoulder function during movement. They help you manage forces on your shoulder and help you keep your shoulder healthy and protect it from injury. The purpose of this blog post is to show you ways you can train your rotator cuff to keep your shoulders thriving and healthy.
We used to think there were only a few ways ways to train your rotator cuff, and most of them looked like this…
The classic band external rotation exercise where you’re rotating your arm against band resistance with your elbow by your side.
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There’s nothing wrong with this exercise, in-fact it’s something that we prescribe when people are in pain since it’s often an easier starting point. However, there are many other ways to train your rotator cuff both with more intensity and variability. Let’s start with getting more intensity into the rotator cuff. Research shows that the posterior rotator cuff (back of the shoulder) is more active when your arm is elevated and supported., such as in the video shown entitled DB Elevated ER.
A way to get increased activity into your rotator cuff and possibly a more intense way to train it.
Further, the interesting thing about your rotator cuff is that you don’t actually have to be rotating to strengthen it…in fact many exercises you probably already have in your program strengthen the cuff. This includes exercises such as rows, bench press, front raises and lateral raises.
Research shows that the rotator cuff has what we call a ‘direction specific’ action, meaning that the rotator cuff doesn’t co-contract equally with all movements. For example, the posterior rotator cuff (back) is more active during flexion based movement which would include exercises such as front raises and dumbbell chest press. Whereas the anterior rotator cuff (front) is more active during extension based movement which would include exercises such as banded A’s and dumbbell rows. So this means that you’re probably training your rotator cuff already! Essentially, your rotator cuff is involved in most movements of the shoulder acting as a sort of ‘tug of war’ balancing act to maintain stability in your shoulder joint.
So far, we’ve shown you how to ramp up the intensity of your rotator cuff strengthening, but on the other hand we also think it pays to have variability in your training. Your shoulder is a ball and socket joint which means it has MANY ways of moving. We also know that your rotator cuff probably has a role in most of these movements, so why not try and find different ways of exercising and challenging it. Anytime your shoulder is fighting for position, we know the previously mentioned tug of war action is likely to be occurring. Here’s a few exercises to spice up your rotator cuff training, add some variability, and get your shoulder ready for action.
Palloff press w/ and w/out overhead reach
There are many more options! But these are a few fun ones to try.
In Summary
The rotator cuff is an important muscle group that plays tug of war around your shoulder joint to keep it where it is!
If you want to train your rotator cuff more intensely, try elevating your arm AND doing rotation.
Traditional exercises have the added benefit of strengthening your rotator cuff
Include some exercises that give you variability, and that challenge the co-contraction of your rotator cuff
If you are interested in taking a deeper dive into your shoulder health and how the rotator cuff plays an important role in that health. You can get access to a free recording of our shoulder health webinar below.
References
Wattanaprakornkul, D., Cathers, I., Halaki, M., & Ginn, K. A. (2011). The rotator cuff muscles have a direction specific recruitment pattern during shoulder flexion and extension exercises. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 14(5), 376-382. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2011.01.001
Boettcher, C. E., Ginn, K. A., & Cathers, I. (2009). Which is the Optimal Exercise to Strengthen Supraspinatus? Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(11), 1979-1983. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3181a740a7