Who here trains their Rotator Cuffs as its own muscle group?

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

So I always sort of worked my Cuffs at the start of shoulder and chest workouts and did a few sets but mainly just as a sort of warm up and make sure i didnt injure them.

But the past 2 months i've been working them like they were their own muscle group one day a week and doing warm up sets before chest and shoulders and i'm truly surprised by the difference it has made.

Usually i'll gain about 0.5 - 1.5 kilo strength gain in my Shoulder and Bench press a month but the past few months its only been about 0.5kg so i did abit of research and decided to finally set a day a week aside for a full workout of my rotator cuffs, as i had always meant to do it but got lazy and limited them to just warm ups.

Well over the past 2 months i gained a 6.5 kilos on my bench press and 4 kilos on my shoulder press and i feel so much less of a struggle now its just amazing, and i'm pretty confident i will be doing more soon as i further strengthen my rotators.

This article here has some of the exercises i do http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm

But i have some others that i have picked up from friends that i do aswell.

So i'd like to know who else here trains their rotators and to what extent aswell as if you could describe some exercises that you do and how you work the sets out.

 

[Keosawa]

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

So I always sort of worked my Cuffs at the start of shoulder and chest workouts and did a few sets but mainly just as a sort of warm up and make sure i didnt injure them.

But the past 2 months i've been working them like they were their own muscle group one day a week and doing warm up sets before chest and shoulders and i'm truly surprised by the difference it has made.

Usually i'll gain about 0.5 - 1.5 kilo strength gain in my Shoulder and Bench press a month but the past few months its only been about 0.5kg so i did abit of research and decided to finally set a day a week aside for a full workout of my rotator cuffs, as i had always meant to do it but got lazy and limited them to just warm ups.

Well over the past 2 months i gained a 6.5 kilos on my bench press and 4 kilos on my shoulder press and i feel so much less of a struggle now its just amazing, and i'm pretty confident i will be doing more soon as i further strengthen my rotators.

This article here has some of the exercises i do http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm

But i have some others that i have picked up from friends that i do aswell.

So i'd like to know who else here trains their rotators and to what extent aswell as if you could describe some exercises that you do and how you work the sets out.

I think you will find that most people around here do shoulder and rotator cuff prehab work. You will also find that very few people train individual muscle groups on separate days; so you are probably the only person in this forum that has a day devoted to training the rotator cuff.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

I think you will find that most people around here do shoulder and rotator cuff prehab work. You will also find that very few people train individual muscle groups on separate days; so you are probably the only person in this forum that has a day devoted to training the rotator cuff.

Well i would usually be doing 6 days a weeks of exercise with 3-4 weight lifting sessions and 3 kickboxing spread out through it with my only day of rest being Sunday.

Now i do a 30-35 minute Rotator Cuff workout every Sunday so its not like a i was terribly going out of my way and doing the rotators doesnt take much out of you energy wise.

 

[redaxe]

Yes I do, and that is a big reason why I recovered so quickly from my pec tear injury and surgery last April, and why I am now able to bench press more, with better form, than I could before the injury.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

Yes I do, and that is a big reason why I recovered so quickly from my pec tear injury and surgery last April, and why I am now able to bench press more, with better form, than I could before the injury.

Did you do any rotator exercises before the injury?

 

[Cr3do]

I train them after my MMA sessions on Mondays and Fridays. I also do some mobility drills for them before all training sessions.

 

[AtlSteel]

I don't think pre-exhausting rotator cuffs before shoulder/chest work is a good idea. Should do them after or on separate days.

 

[chaospfa]

Usually i'll gain about 0.5 - 1.5 kilo strength gain in my Shoulder and Bench press a month but the past few months its only been about 0.5kg so i did abit of research and decided to finally set a day a week aside for a full workout of my rotator cuffs, as i had always meant to do it but got lazy and limited them to just warm ups.

How long have you been training and what do your lifts look like.

 

[redaxe]

Did you do any rotator exercises before the injury?

A little. I did the internal and external rotation drills as a warmup, but with a band not a cable. But I don't think I did them the day I tore my pec. It was mostly my shitty technique that caused the injury--I was gripping too wide and bouncing the bar off my chest.

 

[EddieLovesYou]

Is there a fairly "definitive" set of movements to perform to maintain rotator cuff health?

 

[JauntyAngle]

Is there a fairly "definitive" set of movements to perform to maintain rotator cuff health?

As I have gleaned from Handsome Miaou, the basic rotator cuff exercises are internal and external rotations with a band. I think it is also good to scapular stability exercises (like scapular pushups) and stuff for the back shoulder like band pull-aparts and face pulls etc. I don't think these work the RC but rather decrease the stress on it.

I also do band abductions (holding band in front of hips with thumb in, then pulling the band apart) because this targets the supraspinitus, which is what I tore.

 

[Stargazer Rex]

I don't except De francos upper body warm up. Never had trouble with my shoulders.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

How long have you been training and what do your lifts look like.

I've been weight training since 10th grade highschool so about 7 years now for the first 2 and a half years i was very diligent with it but after that i slacked off for multiple reasons and usually only got 2-3 workouts in a week and there was little strength progression but the past year and a half i've really got all my schedule planned out perfectly.

What do you mean what do my lifts look like? numbers of my main lifts?

Sorry but i'm abit behind on all the obvious phrases here

 

[Eric Brown]

Is there a fairly "definitive" set of movements to perform to maintain rotator cuff health?

http://www.sweatpit.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=shoulder

 

[chaospfa]

I've been weight training since 10th grade highschool so about 7 years now for the first 2 and a half years i was very diligent with it but after that i slacked off for multiple reasons and usually only got 2-3 workouts in a week and there was little strength progression but the past year and a half i've really got all my schedule planned out perfectly.

What do you mean what do my lifts look like? numbers of my main lifts?

Sorry but i'm abit behind on all the obvious phrases here

0.5kg-1.5kg a month is awfully slow progress (unless you're at advanced training age). Your programming could be the reason you're progressing so slowly and have nothing to do with your rotator cuffs. The reason why I ask what your other lifts look like is you seem to be a beginner to strength training and your entire pressing platform (chest, lats and delts) can be a weak point and not just your cuffs.

Though this thread brings up a valid topic. Shoulder (p)rehab is a good idea. But I do it every day as part of my mobility work.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Though this thread brings up a valid topic. Shoulder (p)rehab is a good idea. But I do it every day as part of my mobility work.

For me, the issue is not whether you train it as a separate body part, but whether you

a) Don't don't do RC work at all
b) Do it, but do pretty much the same sets, reps and intensity each time (e.g. 3x10 with the same band)
c) Do it, and try to progress (e.g. trying to add reps and progress to heavier and heavier bands.

When I was rehabbing, I did c) - on day 1, for example I did 3x3 internal rotations with a single band and about 6 weeks later I had worked up to 5x20 with 3 bands. Now, though, it is b)- I just do a few sets of 10-20 with a medium band to make sure my RC is warm. It is possible that it is actually slightly weaker than it was, in terms of the contractile force it can generate.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

0.5kg-1.5kg a month is awfully slow progress (unless you're at advanced training age). Your programming could be the reason you're progressing so slowly and have nothing to do with your rotator cuffs. The reason why I ask what your other lifts look like is you seem to be a beginner to strength training and your entire pressing platform (chest, lats and delts) can be a weak point and not just your cuffs.

Though this thread brings up a valid topic. Shoulder (p)rehab is a good idea. But I do it every day as part of my mobility work.

I havnt really changed up my program in awhile but the program i do at the moment is great for my kickboxing ensures my muscles dont gas and i maintain quick twitch speed in them, so if i switched to a more strengthbuilding program i have no doubt i would get larger strength gains but at the moment my quick twitch are as fast as they ever were.

Also for just abit of extra information i have a relatively small upperbody compared to the size and length of my legs think similar to pride Cro Cop tho he probably had wider shoulders. So because of this my upperbody strength is abit harder than the usual person to progress with where as my legs are the complete opposite.

 

[RedNeckJiuJitsu]

You still didn't give any numbers to your lifts. Muscle size is not equal to strength, not by a long shot.

Oh, also, I do internal and external rotations when I remember (not nearly as often as I should) to re/prehab a slight AC Joint separation... I should get back to doing them at least a couple times a week.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

You still didn't give any numbers to your lifts. Muscle size is not equal to strength, not by a long shot.

Oh, also, I do internal and external rotations when I remember (not nearly as often as I should) to re/prehab a slight AC Joint separation... I should get back to doing them at least a couple times a week.

Yeah i know but usually larger people will have higher starting strength than smaller people and people with smaller frames and builds would have to work alot harder than those with larger ones to get to the same strength standard.

Anyway heres my lifts, for 1 rep maximum, tho these are a month and a half old so i should be abit higher,

Bench Press - 92.5 kilos
Squat - 182 kilos
Deadlift - 213 kilos
Military Press - 63.5 kilos

Edit: I feel bad for that military Press number tho i know i did it with bad form