Training Rotator Cuff to Fatigue = FAIL!
When it comes to keeping the shoulder healthy (and thus, athletes on the playing field) there are a whole host of things to consider:
- Making sure one has ample t-spine mobility.
- Is glenohumeral strength up to snuff?
- What about scapular stability? For many, it stinks, and they’re essentially shooting a cannon from a canoe.
- Are they making my eyes bleed when I watch them perform a push-up? (Ie – elbows flared out, forward head posture, neck in cervical extension).
- What about general programming parameters? Are they doing too much pressing as opposed to pulling? Are they doing a lot of back squatting (which lends itself to placing the shoulder in the “at risk” position)? Is it “suitable” for them to even attempt to perform any overhead pressing?
- And, least we forget other things like acromion type, soft tissue restrictions, as well as breathing patterns. ALL will undoubtedly come into play insofar as the shoulder is concerned.
In consideration to the points above, many (if not all) trainees will at some point or another enter what is known as “shoulder prehab” mode. Others reading may call it something different: shoulder rehab, shoulder prehab, preventative maintenance (I like this one), “I have an ouchie and I want to fix it,” so on and so forth. The point is, the shoulder is arguably the most beat up joint on the human body, and, as such, we’re always trying to figure out ways to prevent that from happening in the first place.
This is especially true with the population we deal with at Cressey Performance, which, coincidentally enough, is about 80% baseball players. But, just so we’re clear: the advice I’m going to lay out below applies to EVERYONE reading whether or not you throw a baseball for a living.
I’m not going to go into detail on every nook and cranny of shoulder health here – as that would make for A LOT of typing – but suffice it to say, one common mistake that I see many of our high school, college, and even professional guys make is thinking that the rotator cuff needs to be trained to fatigue or failure.
In a word: OMGPLEASESTOPDOINGTHISBECAUSEITSDUMB!!!!!!
The above couldn’t be further from the truth. And, as Mike Reinold has noted on numerous occasions, training the rotator cuff to fatigue increases superior humeral head migration. Put another way, when the rotator cuff is fatigued, the humeral head will shift superiorly towards the acromion process, effectively increasing the likelihood of shoulder impingement. So, contrary to popular belief, all of those 50-100 rep sets of band or side lying DB external rotations you’re doing to keep your shoulder “healthy” isn’t doing your shoulder any favors. In fact, you could be doing more harm than good.
Now, this isn’t to say that band work or side lying external rotations are necessarily bad exercises! Far from it. In fact, side lying external rotations (with the arm abducted slightly) have been shown to have the greatest EMG actvation of the rotator cuff – when done correctly.
All I’m saying is that you don’t need to go all powerlifter like a nd start doing max effort rotator cuff work, or worse, training the RC to failure. While I can appreciate people wanting to work hard and push their body to the limits, training the RC in this fashion isn’t productive, and shouldn’t be high on your list. No, seriously, stop it.
Better yet, do yourself a favor and check out Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body (wink wink, nudge nudge). There, I go into A LOT greater detail on this and other shoulder shenanigans. Plus, you can actually hear my voice, which, you know, is incentive enough. Not really, but whatever.
Comments for This Entry
Dean Somerset
Damn, G, you could have thrown in a plug for MIRU on this one, seeing as how it ties in nicely to your first product, but since you missed the boat on it, here's the link for everyone's enjoyment. http://somertyme.mirupper.hop.clickbank.net/?page=upper-body For those who haven't seen it, Tony gets all up in the face of shoulder issues and outlines the good stuff and the bad stuff for training, plus drops more knowledge bombs than SEAL Team 6 along the way.September 21, 2011 at 7:56 am |
Tony Gentilcore
Shit...hahaha. How bad is is that I completely forgot to promote my own product!?!?!September 21, 2011 at 8:24 am |
TJ
Bought Muscle Balances Revealed - Upper Body specifically for your presentations. Excellent. In fact, I just had 4 high school baseball players sign up for winter training, and I had to review your presentations over the weekend.. Great info for any trainer dealing with overhead athletes.September 21, 2011 at 9:12 am |
Alicia
Shoot, it's like you are talking directly to my left shoulder. Thanks for the reminder to stop treating my shoulders like red-headed stepchildren, and for introducing me to a strengh I didn't even know I had...glenohumeral?!September 21, 2011 at 10:48 am |
Dean Caroll
Muscle imbalances revealed-upper body is a must have for any trainer out there. I think it's great...September 21, 2011 at 11:09 pm |
Joe Rogers
Hell Tony, why can I subscribe to Eric on Facebook but not you. He must be well ahead of the times!? ;) Another great blog as always. Never miss one!September 22, 2011 at 5:31 am |
Stevo
This was such a simple but excellent reminder. I find it very common to keep form in check on the big lifts, yet the same athlete can then get carried away by cranking away at his/her RC exercises once they step away from the barbell/dumbbells. That or the coach may carefully monitor the volume of big strength work but then haphazardly throw in loads of band work for the cuff. Good points all around Tony.September 22, 2011 at 7:53 am |
Tony Gentilcore
@ TJ and Dean: MANY thanks for the kind words, and I'm really glad you found MIRU useful. Spread the word.....;o) @ Joe: if you go to the home page here and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you should be able to click a link to my Facebook page. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll let my web guy know. @ Stevo: thanks my man! Hope to see you at CP next month!September 22, 2011 at 9:03 am |
Stevo
Oh you bet! 32 days (not that I'm counting).September 22, 2011 at 5:29 pm |
NPF
Wopuld it be wise to do cuff work before pushing/pulling work if cuff work is a weakness? I have seen some well respected guys advocate this. I wonder because would the cuff be fatigued and potentially in danger due to doing the cuff work before larger exercises like the bench press or rows?September 26, 2011 at 4:40 pm |
Mesothelioma
Yes these all things are most important for player to keep in view these all factors.September 27, 2011 at 10:55 pm |
Sven
What's the motive for propping the humerus at 30° abduction in the side-lying external rotation exercise?September 28, 2011 at 4:17 am |
ugg classic tall
I like the writing s blog and it does a pretty decent job of presenting the material.October 11, 2011 at 11:25 pm |