Excercises to strengthen rotator cuff? First post

[Melo255]

Hey, this is my first post as I just found this site the other day. I've read a bunch of the articles but I wanted to get some firsthand help on a particular issue that is ruining my time at the gym.

I have rotator cuff pain and annoyance a good amount of the time when I do:

bench press, barbell or dumbell - often

any kind of shoulder press - arnold presses are the least aggravating but I still have to stop pretty quickly, I haven't done any kind of behind the neck raise in years as that will just immediately tear me up

front or side lateral raises - almost always

barbell curls - sometimes

and many others, example. just holding the stupid bar when I do squats - from pushing back my shoulders

Now I don't really have any pain during normal everyday life and I do not have a tear of the rotator cuff just apparently extremely weak cuff muscles.

I try to avoid aggravating my shoulder but inevitably it begins to hurt and I have to decide to stop lifting to avoid injuring myself. Naturally this leaves me extremely frustrated and I haven't been able to have a solid workout in some time that wasn't interrupted by this. Now I'm finally smart to enough to ask some people for some HELP!

I would be eternally grateful for some assistance on various exercises that I can do to strengthen both my rotator cuff and the other areas of my shoulder that will hopefully allow me to be strong enough in those areas to work out relatively pain free. If in this post I've made various noob mistakes and egregious offenses I'll learn them all as I spend more time here so not to worry. Also I'm 25 if age matters with any of this.

Thanks in advance for any help as I need it. Michael

[jmonty]

have you been doing anything for your rear delts? i neglected that part of my shoulder for a long time and found that after i incorporated rear delt training into my routine that i was less prone to shoulder injury.

here is a link to an exercise for the rotator cuffs:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lRotation.html

if you do that with a bar bell and two hands it is called a 'cuban rotation'. i don't do them often, but i should.

[jmonty]

here are a couple more:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lRotation.html

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lRotation.html

[J2jud]

here are a couple more:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lRotation.html

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lRotation.html

You can do the first one with a light DB the same way....standing...it's not the same kindof tension, but it works.

[rockhuddy]

First, stop doing things that give you pain. The exception to this is the squats; even though they might hurt, they are therapeutic in that they stretch and increase the flexibility of your shoulders. Every time you squat, try to bring your hands in as closer, but without too much pain. In time, this alone will do wonders for your shoulder flexibility and stability.

In the meantime, try broomstick stretches (google it). I used to have VERY bad shoulders, and the combination of using a lower bar position and as close a hand position as possible on squats and doing broomstick stretches at least 4 times a week helped them immensely.

[Lencho]

In the meantime, try broomstick stretches (google it).

Feeling a little lazy today, rock?

http://www.intens************/showthr...7&page=1&pp=25

These work.

[rockhuddy]

Feeling a little lazy today, rock?

http://www.intens************/showthr...7&page=1&pp=25

These work.

Yeah.


I used to have a bookmark for them, but it got taken down.

[John Prophet]

I have done the broom thing as part of my warm up for a few years now....I can go stiff arm all the way around with absolutely no problem.....but still my shoulders ache bad lately...mainly the right one

I also do little rotator cuff warmups but I havent directly WORKED the rotator cuff in any signicifcant way and also havent really done any significant rear delt work since adding about 100 lbs to my bench last year

so I suppose my issue is just straight out imbalance which has led to soreness/tenderness