The Rotator Cuff

The rotator cuff is a very important group of muscles found in the back of the shoulder coming from the shoulder blade to the shoulder joint. They are important for posture, stability and movement of the shoulder and comprise of the teres minor, infraspinatus, supraspinatus and subscapularis.



A lot of injuries occur due to ignorance of these four muscles and any athletes or gym goers should become familiar with them not just to prevent shoulder injuries but to increase performance too. If you are looking to do any sort of isolation exercises then it should be rotator cuff exercises.


Good shoulder health will help performance in other exercises and sports from bench press to tennis. Working the rotator cuff will strengthen the shoulder girdle making it more stable and will aid anyone looking to lift more on the bench, shoulder press and other upper body exercises. It will also improve posture especially with those who have over worked the ‘mirror muscles’ thus improving rounding of the shoulders making the shoulders look wider and giving a bigger V shape as it helps to bring the shoulders back to their natural position.


Also along with improvements in shoulder stability exercising the rotator cuff will improve flexibility in the shoulder helping golfers, tennis players, javelin and most other team sports and individual sports where shoulder movements are demanding. Maintaining a flexible shoulder joint allows for greater range of movement over the joint therefore it can improve force whilst preventing injury.


Exercises for the rotator cuff are varied try these to take your body to the next level:

Swiss ball press up – place your hands on the Swiss ball shoulder width apart and take up the press up position, lower chest to ball keeping shoulders, hips and ankles in line then raise again.

Lateral Raise – holding dumbbells, if required, stand with arms by the sides thumbs facing body and palms facing backwards. Raise arms to shoulder level keeping pinkie finger facing the sky and thumb facing the ground then lower back to sides.

Lying Rotator Roll – lying on one side hold a dumbbell in hand of side facing ceiling, bend arm at elbow to ninety degrees and have wrist across front. Rotate arm at shoulder bringing hand up towards ceiling and keeping elbow in at side then lower.


Daniel
Personal Trainer