Hi, got a question about how i am strengthening my rotators if anyone can give some advice.
ok well i workout 3x a week: (Tues/Thurs/Sat), im not doing any pressing/push movements, i am only doing legs/back/core & rotator strengthening… anyway here’s what i am doing
day1: 1) squat, 2) rows or chins 3) shrugs, 4) internal rotation exercise and external rotation exercise & core strength
day2: 1) squat, 2) rows or chins 3) core strength 4) external rotators
day3: 1) squat, 2) deadlift 3) external rotators
ok so there i have only one internal rotation workout, and 3 external rotation workouts
ive always noticed a big difference in my ‘external rotation strength’ compared to internal… internal is much much stronger when doing the rehab exercise such as pulley rotation. (im doing pulley rotation for int/ext, L-lateral raises, cuban press, and stretching them thats about it)
so you dude’s with really strong rotators, does that look good? and, has your external rotator strength become even with internal or somewhat even?
so far they havn’t gotten really sore, which is a good thing im assuming. also my left external rotation is getting a greater ROM (my left arm has less ROM it seems)… so i think its working!
ok peace (any comments i would appreciate!) thanks
There are a few exercises that I think work well for the ER/IR’s, in addition to what you are already doing. Two of them are based on PNF patterns. They are known as the sword and the seat belt. You will use a cable machine for these exercises. For the sword you will reach your arm across your body, gripping the ball of the cable mech (you can use a typical hand grip if the machine does not have a rubber ball stopper at the end of the cable) at appx. waist height. Starting in a thumbs down position, you begin to abduct the arm across your body and up, as you ER the shoulder. This motion is like drawing a sword from it’s sheath, thus the name. The next exercise, the seat-belt, is basically the reverse of the previous exercise. You will start reaching across yor body with the hand by your opposite shoulder, with a thumbs up grip, and you will pull down and across while IR the shoulder as in the motion you do to fasten a seat-belt.
I also like doing an exercise with the cable, where you face the machine and start with your arm in the follow through position of a throw and then you cock the arm back into the 90-90 abd/er position.
You can also do a db ER exercise where you sit on the ground with your upper arm resting on a bench in the 90/90 ABD/ER postion, and using a light weight you let the arm IR toward the floor and then ER against the resistance.
I’ll post some add’l suggestions later
5{ drryan,i tried those today, really felt them.
drryan, my other question was, what is the external rotator strength compared to internal with athletes who strengthen their rotators very well? im curious, because my external rotators seem alot weaker… should they be almost equal? or will external always be somewhat less than internal? have any comment on that?
cya !
[quote]iamnobody wrote:
ive always noticed a big difference in my ‘external rotation strength’ compared to internal… internal is much much stronger when doing the rehab exercise such as pulley rotation. (im doing pulley rotation for int/ext, L-lateral raises, cuban press, and stretching them thats about it)
so you dude’s with really strong rotators, does that look good? and, has your external rotator strength become even with internal or somewhat even?
[/quote]
That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You’ll always be stronger in internal rotation, usually by at least 33%.
Interesting fact: take a baseball pitcher or tennis player, and then check their combined internal and external ROMs on both arms. They’ll be the same side to side, but the dominant (throwing/serving) arm will have a greater ROM in external rotation and lesser ROM in internal rotation. It’s just specificity of training kicking in.
Based on the info that I have seen, the shoulder adductors are the strongest muscle group, being twice a strong as the abductors. Therefore, if the strength of the add. is designated 100 percent, then normal strengths of the other groups are as follows: abd 50%, IR 45%, ER 30% w/arm elev 90 deg and 45% with the arm at your side in the neutral position. The ER/IR ratio is appx 80 percent. One reasearcher indicated 65 percent with the arm in neutral position, but since the infraspinatus is very important in preventing excessive forward glide of the humeral head during overhead actions, the higher (80%)ratio is probably more desirable.
These numbers are based on the text Sports Injury Assessment and Rehabilitation by Reid. The numbers are based on those found in several studies, and the references are provided in the text.
Therefore, I would suggest that you shoot for about 80%. I hope this helps. Take care.