Shoulder Exercises/Working Around injuries

[Bazza]

Anybody have any different delt or rotator cuff exercises that are good to strengthen the old shoulder joints? I have one shoulder in particular that suffers from an old torn tendon from my rugby years, and have started the glucosamine etc which has helped somewhat. I have done the 'T' bench with 2 benches pushed together with elbows resting on the top of the 'T' then talking the dumbells to 90 degrees to work on the rotator cuff... but just wanted to know if anybody had experience of similar problems and other exercises.

On a similar vein, what do others do when they have injured an area, just carry on with working other body parts and up the aerobics?

[trainharder]

shoulder injuries and rotator cuff injuries are very common

i cant tell you any good strengthening or rehabilitive exersizes though

what i find works for me is i avoid exersizes i feel pain on after an injury

so if i feel it doing chins and heavy lat pulldowns i avoid them

the times ive tried working through injuries by going lighter or more reps just prolongs the healing process for me.

[musclenz]

Yep further to what trainharder says its a good idea to pull in all your arm, shoulder & chest exercises into close grip. The wider you perform these exercises the greater emphasis on the shoulder joint & rotator muscles & tendons. In most cases muscle tears will repair on their own with a strengthening of the rotators. You can do these with DBs & on the Cable Rack. You know the ones everyone hates to be seen doing with pathetic little weights Tendon tears are another ballgame. They generally need to be repaired by an orthopedic surgeon. I said no to mine as the rebuilding process can be up to a year or more. You can work around them & maintain size even grow them but many lifts will be compromised especially militaries & seated DB press. Maybe get your Doc to refer you to a Sports Physician who will arrange a MRI Scan (on ACC) if you are lucky.

[SoaringSwine]

Anybody have any different delt or rotator cuff exercises that are good to strengthen the old shoulder joints? I have one shoulder in particular that suffers from an old torn tendon from my rugby years, and have started the glucosamine etc which has helped somewhat. I have done the 'T' bench with 2 benches pushed together with elbows resting on the top of the 'T' then talking the dumbells to 90 degrees to work on the rotator cuff... but just wanted to know if anybody had experience of similar problems and other exercises.

On a similar vein, what do others do when they have injured an area, just carry on with working other body parts and up the aerobics?

Two minute shoulder warmup:

Shoulder rehab vid:

Check the video description, it has a detailed approach to rehabing a shoulder.

[Bazza]

Thanks guys for your replies..I will try a narrower grip particularly of some of my pressing exercises so not pressuring those leverage areas more than necessary..Bazza

[musclenz]

Great Vids SS. Tks for those.

[Bazza]

Thanks SS...much obliged. I will let you know the outcome.

[Marcus]

Here is another one that I use. It's really worked.

[Bazza]

Thanks Marcus...nice and simple and low tech....Will give it a whirl cheers

[xen]

Yeh shoulder dislocations are a great dynamic stretch. To fix your sholders and get everything back in balance do Turkish Getups. Start with a low weight and workup. I've had great results with them and my once weak, imbalanced shoulders now feel bullet proof.

[Mrbig]

did you know glucosamine doesnt actually do anything :shock:

[Gasp]

Thanks for posting those exercises SS. Very handy.

Very keen to rip into these as I`ve had ops on both shoulders over the years and some resulting discomfort remains.

On a slightly different note. I have managed to gain back reasonable size on my shoulders but cannot get good peaks.

Be good to get some feedback from some of the guys on best exercises for gaining good width and peaks.

[shruglife]

Here is another one that I use. It's really worked.

Does this exercise hit all the muscles in the Rotator Cuff or just some. I just want something simple rather than a big circuit workout like smittydiesel created which would interfere with anyones regular program...

[runveerun]

I do a exercise lying on my side (say right side) and with my left arm bent and with a DB bring my left arm up to shoulder level and back down again repeat on the other side again. This is good for working the rotator cuff.

Here's a long winded video of it:

[shruglife]

I do a exercise lying on my side (say right side) and with my left arm bent and with a DB bring my left arm up to shoulder level and back down again repeat on the other side again. This is good for working the rotator cuff.

Here's a long winded video of it:

I know most exercises that work the Rotator Cuff, I was just after a simple movement that didn't require equipment and worked the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis all at once.

[SoaringSwine]

I do a exercise lying on my side (say right side) and with my left arm bent and with a DB bring my left arm up to shoulder level and back down again repeat on the other side again. This is good for working the rotator cuff.

Here's a long winded video of it:

I know most exercises that work the Rotator Cuff, I was just after a simple movement that didn't require equipment and worked the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis all at once.

Those are the muscles that stabilise the rotator cuff and prevent other should issues. I don't know why you wouldn't want to train them as part of your prehab routine, it shouldn't take away from your workout at all...

[shruglife]

I do a exercise lying on my side (say right side) and with my left arm bent and with a DB bring my left arm up to shoulder level and back down again repeat on the other side again. This is good for working the rotator cuff.

Here's a long winded video of it:

I know most exercises that work the Rotator Cuff, I was just after a simple movement that didn't require equipment and worked the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis all at once.

Those are the muscles that stabilise the rotator cuff and prevent other should issues. I don't know why you wouldn't want to train them as part of your prehab routine, it shouldn't take away from your workout at all...

No, the Rotator Cuff is comprised of the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotator_cuff). The program smittydiesel created isn't flexible and hard to incorporate into my training routine. If I did SD's workout on top of my normal training my Rotator Cuff wouldn't have time to repair properly, making it prone to further injury. On top of this it would extend my workout to about 2 hours which would compromise the progress I would make. I need a small set of exercises or one all encompassing exercise that doesn't require gym equipment and is flexible so I can make sure my Rotator Cuff has time to repair itself fully and I don't compromise my normal routine.

This seems to be the go:

[SoaringSwine]

I know most exercises that work the Rotator Cuff, I was just after a simple movement that didn't require equipment and worked the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis all at once.

Those are the muscles that stabilise the rotator cuff and prevent other should issues. I don't know why you wouldn't want to train them as part of your prehab routine, it shouldn't take away from your workout at all...

No, the Rotator Cuff is comprised of the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotator_cuff). The program smittydiesel created isn't flexible and hard to incorporate into my training routine. If I did SD's workout on top of my normal training my Rotator Cuff wouldn't have time to repair properly, making it prone to further injury. On top of this it would extend my workout to about 2 hours which would compromise the progress I would make. I need a small set of exercises or one all encompassing exercise that doesn't require gym equipment and is flexible so I can make sure my Rotator Cuff has time to repair itself fully and I don't compromise my normal routine.

This seems to be the go:

Are you rehabing or prehabing? Rehab movements are done light enough that they don't break muscles down to the extent a workout does. I don't know why you think this is going to blow your workout time out, it literally takes a few minutes...

Besides, from the sounds of it you're only looking to prehab right? Just do the 2 minute warmup... It will hardly detract from your workout or mess with your "recovery time".

[shruglife]

Those are the muscles that stabilise the rotator cuff and prevent other should issues. I don't know why you wouldn't want to train them as part of your prehab routine, it shouldn't take away from your workout at all...

No, the Rotator Cuff is comprised of the Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotator_cuff). The program smittydiesel created isn't flexible and hard to incorporate into my training routine. If I did SD's workout on top of my normal training my Rotator Cuff wouldn't have time to repair properly, making it prone to further injury. On top of this it would extend my workout to about 2 hours which would compromise the progress I would make. I need a small set of exercises or one all encompassing exercise that doesn't require gym equipment and is flexible so I can make sure my Rotator Cuff has time to repair itself fully and I don't compromise my normal routine.

This seems to be the go:

Are you rehabing or prehabing? Rehab movements are done light enough that they don't break muscles down to the extent a workout does. I don't know why you think this is going to blow your workout time out, it literally takes a few minutes...

Besides, from the sounds of it you're only looking to prehab right? Just do the 2 minute warmup... It will hardly detract from your workout or mess with your "recovery time".

I have a shoulder niggle at the moment so I would say it's more prehab. Just doing that warmup would be perfect actually I might go a bit heavier with the DBs so it strengthens my RC rather than just warming it up. Cheers SS :wink:

[xen]

Shruglife: That single, simple movement you wanted is the Turkish Getup, as mentioned. Here are some demos:

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Cros ... neTGU1.wmv

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Cros ... neTGU2.wmv

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Cros ... neTGU3.wmv

It's good because it naturally balances the strength between all muscle in the shoulder/upper back. According to the video, Russian weightlifters used to have to do only this exercise until they could lift 40+kg. After that, they could then learn the basics of lifting, i.e. this was the prehab they did before even basic movements. Apparently these lifters never suffered from Rotator Cuff problems...