Tuesday, March 8

How To Strengthen The Rotator Cuff With Exercises

By Tom Nicholson


Have you ever thought about how much we use our shoulders? Without them, we couldn't throw a ball, scratch our back, swing our arms, or even raise our arms up and down. Our shoulders get a pretty good workout day in and day out. But all of this use also makes our shoulders susceptible to injury-and that susceptibility increases even more with stress and age. The primary set of muscles in the shoulder-the rotator cuff-is where most shoulder injuries occur. By performing exercises specifically selected to strengthen these rotator cuff muscles, you can help reduce your chances of shoulder injuries.

Like any other muscle, the development of the rotator cuff muscle requires stretching, toning, and training. This will help make it more resistant to injury, strain, and the effects of advancing age. A stronger rotator cuff is less likely to get injured.

It is important to do the exercises properly to prevent injury during exercising.

Begin with the following exercises for the rotator cuff muscles.

Start With A Warm up

Warm ups are essential to a good exercise routine-with the rotator cuff as with any other muscle group. You need to stretch the muscles slowly to help prevent injury or muscle strain. Warm ups for your rotator cuff muscles are simple. Arm circles are a great way to start. Complete 20 reps of each movement to make a complete set. Perform three sets.

* With your arms at your side, lift them slowly. * Bring your arms up over your head. * Lower your arms behind your back slowly. Then return to the original position. * Repeat for 20 reps per set.

If you're familiar with doing arm circles, this is the basic concept with this warm up. Simply make slow imaginary circles by rotating your arms at the shoulders. Warm up exercises like these are designed to get the blood flowing to your muscles and get them ready to exercise.

Doing Rotations

Bring your arms up so they are at shoulder height, parallel to the surface on which you are standing. Then bend the forearms, making a right angle at your elbow. Begin to rotate your shoulders and rotator cuffs slowly. Complete 20 reps to make a set and do three sets. If desired, add weights gradually as you build your muscle strength.

Lateral raises

Using small weights in each hand, raise your arms up straight out from your sides until they are parallel to the surface you are standing on. Then lower your arms slowly. Complete 20 reps to make a set and do three sets.

There are also additional exercises that will work well to strengthen shoulder muscles like the rotator cuff group of muscles. These are a good beginning workout. When you finish, don't forget to cool those muscles down. Simply repeat the exercises you did for the warm up.

Start slow and build up your endurance with these exercises. Don't race through them or it defeats the purpose and actually increases your chance of injuring the muscles instead of building them up. Use a steady, calm pace to maintain muscle control and build strength.




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