From: lylemcd@edge.edge.net (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Re: Rotator Cuff Date: 7 Nov 1996 03:29:36 GMT In article <32811B5A.6F32@primenet.com>, galtar@primenet.com wrote: > I just broke 310 on the bench, I know it's not a lot but I'm stoked, and > now my right sholder is hurting. It feels like a rotator cuff injury, > like I know what that is, but that is what it feels like. > > Does anyone have any **productive** advise to help me keep gaining > without the pain in my sholders. > > Needless flames not appreciated, productive advise greatly appreciated. Here's a crude yet easy test to see if you're starting to pull a rotator cuff problem. Stand with arms at sides. Rotate arm you want to test so that your thumb is facing your body. Raise arm straight out to side (like doing a lateral raise). If it hurts as your approach the point where your arm is parallel to the floor, you probably have some rotator cuff problems. So, how to fix it. 1. Stretch, stretch, stretch. A lot of guys who bench and bench (and bench) some more get adaptively shortened rotator cuff and pec muscles. So, start stretching them out between sets. 2. Maintain a good balance between back and pec strength. Again, all you benchers out there who ignore your back muscles, don't. That kind of major strength imbalance across the joint will cause problems. Cable rows and pulldowns/chins are the order of the day. 3. Work your rotator cuff directly. Descriptions of these exercises are fairly useless. Two resources are: " The 7 minute Rotator Cuff Solution" by Jerry Robinson and Joseph Horrigan available from Health For Life." Believe it or not, the most recent issue of Muscle Media 2000. Charles Poliquin has an entire article dedicated to the rotator cuff, how to train it, and how to keep it from being injured. Rotator cuff injuries are nothing to joke about. If the cuff gets injured and you let it go too long, it can eventually tear (happened to a buddy of mine) and then you go under the knife to reattach the muscle. Get a bad job done (happened to a professor of mine) and you can't raise your arm past shoulder level. Better to get it taken care of sooner rather than later. Oh, yeah, quit doing heavy benches all the time too. There are some other muscles in the body (you know who I'm talking to). Lyle McDonald, CSCS From: Kelly Mc Subject: Re: Rotator Cuff Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 08:53:22 -0800 Lyle McDonald wrote: > > In article <32811B5A.6F32@primenet.com>, galtar@primenet.com wrote: > > > I just broke 310 on the bench, I know it's not a lot but I'm stoked, and > > now my right sholder is hurting. It feels like a rotator cuff injury, > > like I know what that is, but that is what it feels like. > > > > Does anyone have any **productive** advise to help me keep gaining > > without the pain in my sholders. > > > > Needless flames not appreciated, productive advise greatly appreciated. > > Here's a crude yet easy test to see if you're starting to pull a rotator > cuff problem. > > Stand with arms at sides. > Rotate arm you want to test so that your thumb is facing your body. > Raise arm straight out to side (like doing a lateral raise). > If it hurts as your approach the point where your arm is parallel to the > floor, you probably > have some rotator cuff problems. > Another test often used. Reach straight out in front of you about shoulder height and rotate your palm outward and your elbow upward as you would if you were reaching into the front pocket of your Ogio bag while it's in the locker. From: lylemcd@edge.edge.net (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Re: Rotator Cuff Date: 7 Nov 1996 16:30:44 GMT In article <32821402.EF3@indirect.com>, Kelly Mc wrote: > > Stand with arms at sides. > > Rotate arm you want to test so that your thumb is facing your body. > > Raise arm straight out to side (like doing a lateral raise). > > If it hurts as your approach the point where your arm is parallel to the > > floor, you probably > > have some rotator cuff problems. > > > > Another test often used. Reach straight out in front of you about > shoulder height and rotate your palm outward and your elbow upward as you > would if you were reaching into the front pocket of your Ogio bag while > it's in the locker. Kelly, sounds like a similar test. Basically, what we're looking for is problems with external rotation and abduction of the shoulder. Both tests are putting your arms in an externally rotated and abducted position. According to "The 7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution" the majority of rotator cuff injuries occur to the external rotators (Poliuqin's article concurs). This is due to the fact that the are only two external rotators (teres minor and infraspinatus) which tend not to be very strong in most people while there are more internal rotators (including pecs and lats) which do tend to be very strong. This is why there's such a problem with strength imbalances (where's Chuck, I know he could shed more light on this) across the shoulder. By the same token, exercises which put your shoulder in an externally rotated and abducted position (upright rows and any movements behind the neck qualify) can cause major rotator cuff problems. Even for assymptomatic individuals, I don't suggest these types of movements. Pulldowns to the front and overhead presses to the front will work just fine. Also, bench presses to the neck can cause problems. Lyle McDonald, CSCS From: gringo@carroll.com (Tom Hayes) Subject: Re: 7-minute rotator cuff solution Date: Sat, 9 Sep 1995 06:10:42 GMT Rob LaChance wrote: >There was a recent post which mentionned the "7-minute Rotator Cuff >Solution" along with a phone number. The phone number had a California >area code. I remember seeing a 1-800 number for this but forgot where. >Does anyone have it? >Thanks >Rob Hi Rob! The Health For Life phone number is 1 800 874 5339. Good Luck Tom Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 23:08:19 -0500 (CDT) From: lylemcd@onr.com (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Strength_List: Rotator cuff >Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 15:04:56 -0700 >From: "Rob and Sonia" >Subject: Re: Strength_List: RE: Close Grip Benching > >AC joint stretching . . . any pointers? As far as strengthening exercises, >I have a whole "rotator" routine I do. prone L-Raises, lying side L-raises, >seated L-raises, Seated l-raises? What direction are you moving the db's? A trend I've been seeing is for people to externally rotate DB's horizontally against gravity. Which does absolutely nothing for the rotator cuff since gravity is pulling downwards. >lying rear delt raises and prone rear delt raises. It >seems to keep my shoulder joint from going from a state of "achey and sore >and weak" to a state of "ripped from the socket". > >Any other exercises might help? Standing external rotations to strengthen the teres minor. Stand holding small plates (2.5-5 lbs is a good place to start). Elbows are level with the shoulder out to your sides. Arms should start internally rotated (arms rotated towards the floor until you feel a stretch in your rotator cuff, there should be no pain). Slowly roatate the weight until your arms are pointed straight up. Keep this movement VERY slow (like all rotator cuff work) unless you really want a rotator cuff tear. Go for 8+ reps and add weight VERY conservatively. You will need very small plates (like 1.25 lbs) to increment this exercise. Either get some Platemates (little magnet weights) or some record weights (either 0.5 kilo which is a little less than 1.25 lbs or some 1.25 lb Olympic plates) to add weight. A book that I would *most* highly recommend to anyone with shoulder problems is "The 7 Minute Rotator Cuff Solution" from Health For Life. Before I quit personal training a few months ago, probably the most common ailment I saw was shoulder problesm caused by rotator cuff weakness, strength imbalances and overtightened chest muscles. All add up to shitty posture (shoulders rolled forward) which causes problems. and what's sick is that, unless you have a major injury like a muscle tear or a ligament strain, rotator cuff problems are very easy to fix. I worked with one kid (22 years old) who had had a shoulder problem for over 2 years (football injury) that was keeping him from workout out as hard as he wanted. WE fixed it with about 2 weeks of stretching (anterior delt) and strengthening (rear delt, rotator cuff). Also, if shoulders are problematic, here's a few exercises that you should probably avoid. Upright rows: a true shoulder wrecker, they can be done as long as you don't bring your elbows higher than your shoulders. ABove that point, you rapidly impinge your AC ligament. If you've had a previous shoulder injury, I'd say never do these Behind the neck presses/pulldowns: very hard on most people's shoulder Very wide grip bench pressing/bench pressing to the neck Lyle McDonald, CSCS Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 20:17:01 -0600 From: "Chris and Angie Zell" Subject: RE: Strength_List: rotator cuff work (kinda long) I had one of my shoulders rebuilt a little while back, and did much rotator work. Most of the work was done with either surgical tubing, giant rubber bands (similar to the jumpstretch bands for those who use them) and very light dumbells (although plates will do the trick). With the tubing I would do internal and external rotation exercises by looping the band around one side of a door knob and shutting the door. I would grab the free end of the band, and while keeping my elbow pinned to my side and standing about a foot away form the door, I would either pull the band away from my body (external) or towards my body (internal) depending on which way I was facing. You can obviously set the tension by looping more of letting free more of the band. I would do the same internal and external rotations with a light dumbbell while laying on either of my sides. You can do this on a bed, bench, or floor, doesn't matter. I would always use light resistance, and a higher rep range, say 10-12 reps, say 2-3 times a week. Once I got my rotator in shape, I have found that heavy plate raises (to the front) have really helped put on some size and add considerable stability to my shoulder (anterior dislocations). Behind the neck presses are out of the question for me. I'm not really sure if arm circles with plates would give the desired effect. Hope this helps a bit. Chris Zell Montgomery, Al