The Best Rotator Cuff Strengthening Routine (BULLETPROOF YOUR SHOULDERS)

If you want to lose your gains in the fastest way possible, then it's simple. Get injured. Because nothing is going to set you back more than injuries will in your quest to build muscle and lose fat. With shoulder injuries not only being one of the most common injuries lifters experience, but also one of the worst injuries for your gains, since it often prevents you from doing any upper body training whatsoever. So how can you prevent this from happening? Well, aside from choosing the right exercises and performing them correctly, there's also a key set of four muscles surrounding the shoulder joint, collectively termed the rotator cuff, that lifters often unknowingly overlook, leading to these muscles becoming underdeveloped and weak as a result. This is detrimental since these four muscles collectively act to help stabilize your shoulder joint during the various push, pushing and pulling movements you perform in the gym. And when these muscles become weak, it causes a great deal of instability in the shoulder during your lifts, which often leads to shoulder pain, impingement, and eventually even rotator cuff tears. And although these muscles do get indirectly worked in many of the gym exercises that you're doing, they often end up getting taken over by stronger muscle groups like the delts and the chest, which creates harmful imbalances in your shoulders over time. Meaning that you should be directly training and strengthening the rotator cuff, because by doing so, you'll be better able to prevent shoulder injury from occurring, alleviate any shoulder pain that you're currently feeling, and likely boost your strength in the gym as well. But in order to best strengthen these four muscles and bulletproof your shoulders, it's vital that you both choose the right exercises for each of them and perform them in the right manner. And in this video, with the help of current scientific literature and our anatomical understanding of these muscles, that's exactly what I'll show you how to do. The first exercise is something called the full can, which is going to target the supraspinatus muscle of the rotator cuff. This exercise is likely your best bet for strengthening this muscle since, as shown in a 2007 EMG analysis, when compared to other rotator cuff exercises, the full can elicits a high amount of EMG activity of the supraspinatus with the least amount of deltoid activity, which is beneficial as this has been shown to reduce shear force placed on the shoulder joint and better help strengthen the rotator cuff without having the deltoid compensate by overpowering it. But in order to maximize the effectiveness of this exercise, it's crucial that you perform the full can exercise correctly. Start with your arms by your sides with a set of light weights in each hand, keep your arms straight and raise them up in the scapular plane as shown here, which is about 30 degrees from directly sideways. Point your thumbs up towards the ceiling and raise your arms up until you reach around shoulder height. Since research has shown that this is the range of motion where the supraspinatus is most active, pause at the top position for a second or two before lowering down and as you perform the movement, you'll want to keep your shoulder blades parallel, pinned together and pulled down, as research indicates that this both increases joint space and allows you to strengthen the supraspinatus in a more mechanical, advantageous position. In addition, as you raise, avoid shrugging your shoulders up and instead keep them down with your upper traps, remaining as relaxed as possible throughout each rep. Implementing the aforementioned tips will help you best strengthen the supraspinatus while minimizing any compensations from other stronger muscle groups. I'd suggest starting out with lighter weight for two to three sets of 15 to 20 reps with a focus on form and then over time continue progressing from there. The next exercise side lying external rotation, is going to be used to target the two posterior rotator cuff muscles at once, the infraspinatus and the teres minor, and this exercise is your best bet at doing so since, as shown in the following two EMG graphs from a 2004 analysis of the rotator cuff muscles, this exercise elicits the highest infraspinatus and teres minor activation when compared to several other rotator cuff exercises in addition to having the lowest strain on the shoulder joint as well. But again, to reap the full benefits of this exercise, it's vital that you perform it correctly. To start, assume a side lying position with a towel roll pinned between your top sidearm and ribcage. The towel is a really important step since research has shown that adding a towel roll to the exercise boosts EMG the two posterior rotator cuff muscles by roughly 20% as it helps minimize any movement compensation from a current. Next, pull your shoulder blades back and down and keep them this way as you start doing reps. Start with your arm parallel to the floor and then, while keeping your elbow pinned to your side, slowly externally rotate outwards by pulling your hand up towards the ceiling and then return back down to parallel and repeat. You want to focus on avoiding letting the elbow drift up off your side as you raise the weight, as this will start involving more of the deltoids. Instead, keep the Elbow locked in place against the towel at your side as you perform each rep. But if you struggle to do so, or you feel pain at the very top position, then you can start with partial reps in a pain free zone and then progressively increase the range of motion from there. Over time, I'd suggest starting out with a lighter weight or even no weight at first for two, three sets of 30, 15 to 20 reps each side, and then progressing from there as you get stronger. For the last exercise, we're going to move on to something called the external rotation press, which is going to challenge and strengthen all four rotator cuff muscles to a certain degree. Now, while the prior two exercises are great at strengthening the various rotator cuff muscles, many of the movements lifters perform in the gym take place above shoulder height or in positions where the shoulder joint becomes more vulnerable to instability and injury. Therefore, it's vital to include this exercise to enhance your shoulder stability by training the rotator cuff muscles in a more functional manner. To perform it, get down on one knee with an upright posture and grab either a band or a cable handle attachment set at roughly shoulder height. Pull the cable towards you in a rowing motion with your elbow kept high at shoulder height. Your hand should now be directly in front of your elbow with your arm parallel to the ground. Hold this position briefly and then externally rotate the shoulder by bringing the hand up towards the ceiling with the elbow still locked in the same place. Next, press your arm up overhead and hold the top position briefly. Then reverse the pattern and repeat for more reps throughout the movement, your rotator cuff muscles will be working hard to counteract the resistance by pulling your arm forward. But as you perform each rep, you'll want to avoid compensating by arching the lower back as you press up. Instead, keep the core tight and contracted to maintain a neutral back as you perform the movement. I'd suggest starting out with light resistance for roughly two to three sets of 1015 reps, with a focus on slow and controlled execution for each rep. Now, some of you keeners may have noticed with the previous exercise selection that one of the rotator cuff muscles, the subscapularis, hasn't really been emphasized as much as the other three have. And this is for good reason, since the subscapularis is the only rotator cuff that performs internal rotation of the shoulder, which most people actually have too much of from poor posture and or from the many pressing movements in the gym that involve internal rotation. So in this case, it would be best not to emphasize the subscapularis as much and instead focus more so on the other three rotator cuff muscles responsible for external rotation, which is exactly what we've done. So with that being said, here is the full rotator cuff strengthening routine that you can do using the exercises previously discussed. I'd suggest doing this routine roughly two to three times per week, but it's absolutely vital that you treat your rotator cuff muscles just like any other muscle group by progressing these exercises over time as you continue to get stronger. Otherwise, you'll honestly just be wasting your time. And for a completely free downloadable PDF of this rotator cuff routine that will show you exactly how to safely progress these exercises over time, how much weight to use, and how to perform each exercise step by step, then just head on over to builtwithscience.com rcpdf and I'll send it right over to you.

It's key muscle groups like the rotator cuff that are often overlooked, but really are what's going to protect you from injury and enable you to progress that much faster. And and that's exactly why within my Built With Science programs, there's a high priority placed on key muscle groups like the rotator cuff, which is all integrated into your weekly weights routine such that you can effectively transform your body without developing imbalances in the process. To join today, simply head over to builtwithscience.com and take this Starting Point Analysis quiz to determine what program is best for you. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the video. Please don't forget to give it a like Leave a comment down below as to what you'd like to see me cover next. Subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications for my channel as well as this all truly does help me out. Thank you so much for all your support everyone. I really do appreciate it. I'll see you next time.